Teaching and learning community medicine during the pandemic and beyond: Interactivity as an essential process

Abstract

Medical educators are restricted by the current pandemic in teaching community medicine. Although medical schools suspended the exposure of their students to real community settings, many community medicine educators advocate that learning in community medicine could be sustained during the pandemic as initially experienced in several medical schools in the Philippines. To maximize learning, it is essential to highlight interactivity as an important process in students' learning in whatever mode of delivery. This commentary focuses on the various forms of interactivities in teaching community medicine: student-t o-student, student-to-community, and student-to-teacher. It is suggested that the interactivity between the student and the teacher should be emphasized to address the potential limitations of the other forms.