We have created an innovative interactive online course Making Sense of Research and Evidence.
Click here to play the modules which are designed to be an enagaging introduction to research and evidence-based medicine. The materials also are designed to encourage involvement and participation in research, and offer an innovative way of contributing to the work of The Cochrane Collaboration.
The ALOIS Community project
Over the past two years, The ALOIS Community project team has built a lively community of online volunteers - ALOISers - actively contributing to the work of the Cochrane Dementia Review Group from the comfort of their own homes.
“All you need to volunteer with ALOIS is an interest and an internet connection”
We ask our volunteers to read reports of dementia trials, and extract key pieces of information from the reports such as the number of participants, the treatment being tested, the outcomes being measured, and to populate our vital database of dementia trials - ALOIS - directly online.
We can offer a high level of feedback, encouragement and personal support to our new volunteers to develop their skills and confidence. This is paying dividends in terms of the real contribution our volunteers are making helping us keep ALOIS up to date. Now, more experienced volunteers are able to mentor the new volunteers.
Some of our star ALOISers have become consumer referees on Cochrane reviews and protocols, are coding studies from trial register records, tracking trials with unpublished results, and even coding diagnostic test accuracy studies – an impressive achievement!
We are developing a portfolio of tasks some of which can be done on mobile devices, and we hope there will soon be something which appeals to everyone.
Interested in finding out more about the ALOIS coding task, or some of the other tasks we are developing to get more people contributing to Cochrane? Click here to send us an email, and we'll tell you more about how you can get involved now, and our exciting plans for the future!