Image of a computer screen with image of a young patient connected to ventilator, and simulation of the ventilator displays.

Screen shot from a video overview of the OPENPediatrics Virtual Ventilator. (Courtesy of OPENPediatrics.)

The Tech Awards is an annual program run by The Tech Museum of Innovation in Silicon Valley to honor a select group of innovative projects and high-impact young companies working in education, healthcare, economic development and the environment. In 2005, MIT OpenCourseWare was named a Tech Awards Education Laureate.

The 2015 Laureates have just been announced, and as always they’re an inspiring group. See the full list.

Congratulations in particular to OPENPediatrics, a fellow member of the Open Education Consortium that provides “free, online medical education content to pediatric health care providers and is used by more than 800 hospitals worldwide.”  Highlights of OPENPediatrics’ content include:

  • The virtual ventilator, an interactive mechanical ventilation training tool. In the coming weeks, the virtual ventilator will be joined by a new peritoneal dialysis simulator that has already received recognition.
  • A recently released Nursing Cardiac Intensive Care Unit guided learning pathway, including 36 videos and associated assessments, available on their clinician community site.
  • A World Shared Practice Forum series of videos that feature world experts on the forefront of pediatric care, structured to foster global asynchronous discussion.
  • A public multimedia library of animations and illustrations drawn from OPENPediatrics’ videos, openly licensed and available for free download.