Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.

Kofi Annan

The AUA’s Office of Education works very hard to be a strong partner to urology residency training programs. Our goals include developing educational activities and tools that are complementary, not competitive, to local efforts at different institutions. In that regard, we are proud to offer a strong suite of educational programs geared to residents, including the In-Service Exam, Self-Assessment Study Program, Update Series, the Annual Meeting Course Pass, as well as the Fundamentals (Intern Academy) and Annual Review Course. However, these educational resources are most valuable if they meet educational needs, improve measurable outcomes, and are used by our resident members.

Knowledge is power. The Office of Education wants Residency Program directors and faculty to use the plethora of AUA’s education offerings as a tool to address specific gaps in knowledge, competencies, and performance among trainees. This is the underlying premise for launching the new Resident Education Platform. This system will give faculty at training programs specific data on how residents in training are using AUA educational activities.

Information is liberating. If a resident has an identified educational need, the Resident Education Platform will allow program leadership to develop a curriculum using the wealth of AUA resources. Importantly, progress in using this material can be tracked to determine how residents are engaging with the content. The information can span from use of sections of the Core Curriculum or Update Series to attendance at live or virtual educational activities, as well as completion and performance on Self-Assessment Study Program questions. In short, it is a mechanism to help programs ensure that resources are well utilized and expenses for programs (when incurred) are well spent.

The anticipated release of the Resident Education Platform is June 2024. This system was beta tested by 5 residency programs to ensure that the system was meeting a need and was user friendly.

As we roll out this new tool, AUA staff will email every Residency Program coordinator with the link and instructions. An informational video is also available on the AUAUniversity’s YouTube channel within the Lunch and Learn playlist (https://www.youtube.com/c/AUAUniversity). I am sure there will be a learning curve on the use of the platform, but we believe that this data will be powerful for each program to ensure alignment of educational goals and improve performance when needed.

If you have any questions or recommendations, please email education@auanet.org. We welcome an open dialogue with our members.