Education
Education is a focus of ILAE’s activities, supporting the League’s mission to ensure that health professionals, governments, and the public world-wide have the essential educational and research resources to understand, diagnose, and treat persons with epilepsy. ILAE has developed a robust curriculum for epileptologists – under the umbrella of the new ILAE Academy. In addition to regional and national congresses, conferences, and symposia, this curriculum includes online self-paced and the VIREPA tutored courses.
New Primary Care Curriculum
The ILAE recognizes that training of non-specialist health care providers can help reduce the epilepsy treatment gap as this is the entry point of most people with epilepsy. To improve the quality of epilepsy care in primary care services, we are developing a competency-based primary care educational curriculum that cuts across diverse health care systems and socio-economic settings. Input from around the world has been sought on the curriculum and is currently being reviewed.
View draft curriculum -- Available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish.
ILAE Academy
Enrich your learning journey in epileptology with the improved ILAE Academy platform
What is the ILAE Academy?
ILAE has assembled a competency-based curriculum that encompasses 7 domains of knowledge, 42 competencies, and 124 learning objectives that address entry level to advanced proficiencies. Educational activities of different types can be mapped to specific learning objectives and competencies and endorsed by the ILAE.
The ILAE Academy provides a structured learning environment where you will enroll in courses, access course materials, and track your progress according your level of proficiency in epileptology. Courses may be face-to-face, online self-directed, or online tutored, depending on the topic.
The ILAE Academy was launched in July 2020 with a course portfolio for the entry Level 1.
What is new and planned for 2022?
- New fee structure to support making the content as widely accessible as possible
- Earn Continuing Medical Education credit - AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ available for select ILAE Academy educational activities
- Self-assessment for the transition from Level 1 to Level 2
- Adaptive learning formats adjust to learners’ needs
- Fresh design and quick links to support your learning process
- Evolving language translations of course content
Level 1
ILAE Academy Self-Assessment: Free Trial Offer*
Assess your knowledge, competence and confidence in epileptology
Take advantage of a time-limited, free trial offer to assess your knowledge, competence and confidence of the entry Level 1 learning objectives of the ILAE curriculum as an option for entry into the proficiency Level 2 of the ILAE Academy. The free trial offer ends 30 June 2022.
Admission into the ILAE Academy’s proficiency Level 2 program is open to individuals who have earned the entry Level 1 certificate or successfully passed the Self-Assessment, an online confidence-based exam covering the learning objectives of the Diagnosis, Counseling, Treatment and Emergencies competencies in the ILAE Curriculum for Level 1.
For each of the 30 multiple-choice questions, applicants provide a response and state their level of confidence. Both numbers contribute to the final score necessary to pass the exam. The results will highlight knowledge in the various competency domains with the aim of helping learners better prepare for Level 2, and to highlight critical areas that may require particular focus and further study, possibly through participation in the Level 1 program.
Once enrolled, the Self-Assessment subscription period allows access for 3 months.
*Note: All learners who have purchased the Level 1 package in 2022 already have access to this Self-Assessment.
Level 2 coming soon
Level 2 learning activities will include an evolving series of self-paced and tutored e-learning activities including diagnosis, treatment, and counseling of common as well as rare epilepsies, at a higher level of care. A common trunk of e-learning offerings will be completed by every participant of Level 2. Learners may also specialize in epilepsies specific to pediatrics or adults and their specific teaching domains, i.e., seizure semiology, EEG, MRI, antiseizure medication, and comorbidities.
New interactive tools and formats, including adaptive learning, will focus on the patient, and support the learning process according to the learner’s level of proficiency and learning style:
- Adaptive learning courses will adjust to the learner’s level of proficiency to overcome knowledge gaps
- E-semiology modules allow learners to recognize and correctly classify a patient’s seizure
- MRI reading platform to support the learner’s proficiency in MRI diagnosis
- Virtual, tutored webtorial series on pre-defined topics for small groups in different languages and time zones
Online Learning Program
Watch on YouTube | Ver en YouTube (en español)
Explore the ILAE Academy and the courses, patient cases, and other valuable resources that are offered. Subscribe to the ILAE Newsletter to stay up-to-date with news about new courses and ILAE Academy activities.
Online Learning Program Reviews
Taking the Learner on a Journey – An analysis of an Integrated Virtual CME Program in Epilepsy during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Ina Weisshardt, Ivo Vlaev, J. Helen Cross & Ingmar Blümcke. Journal of European CME 2021; 10:1. DOI: 10.1080/21614083.2021.2015190
e-learning comes of age: Web-based education provided by the International League Against Epilepsy
Sándor Beniczky, Ingmar Blümcke, Stefan Rampp, Priscilla Shisler, Eva Biesel, Samuel Wiebe. Epileptic Disorders 2020; 22 (3):237-244. DOI: 10.1684/epd.2020.1157
E-learning modules on rare epilepsies
ILAE Academy and EpiCARE partnered to develop free, self-paced e-learning modules for healthcare professionals. These interactive, case-based lessons focus on the diagnosis and management of some rare and complex epilepsies in accordance with ILAE curriculum level 2 competencies. Topics include Dravet syndrome, autoimmune encephalitis, hypothalamic hamartoma and more.
ILAE Curriculum
- Explore the ILAE curriculum for epileptology. The competency-based curriculum addresses three different levels of professional expertise: 1) Entry, 2) Proficiency, 3) Advanced proficiency. As the curriculum is developed, you will see endorsed educational activities which address the competencies
- Read the Roadmap for a competency-based educational curriculum in epileptology. Blümcke et al, Epileptic Disorders 2019
Other Education Resources
Diagnostic Manual: cutting-edge online diagnostic manual of the epilepsies designed to make available, in an easy to understand form, the latest concepts relating to seizures and the epilepsies.
Virtual Epilepsy Academy (VIREPA): Internet-based, e-moderated courses about the diagnosis, treatment and management of epilepsy. The courses are highly interactive and involve a great deal of collaboration and discussion among students and faculty.
Books on Epilepsy: Listing provided as service to members. Some discounts available.
Videos: Links to videos created by the ILAE
Videos of Epilepsy Cases: Educational database of videos from Epileptic Disorders
Infographics: Key concepts from ILAE definition and classification documents in visual format
ILAE Regional Educational Activities: Congresses and courses conducted by the ILAE regions.
ILAE Sponsored Meetings and Courses: Summaries of future and past courses provided by ILAE, organized by course
Education Review Articles: Articles selected by the Education Council for providing important educational content that is related to specific Learning Objectives of the ILAE Curriculum
Endorsement procedure: Procedure for endorsement of meetings by the ILAE.
Non-ILAE Educational Resources: Valuable educational resources from other organizations
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