Building a Virtual Classroom
Online Continuing Education for RCPs

Sponsored by The Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences, Toronto, and hosted by Internet Based Learning, a division of Software Applications in Medicine Inc, London, Ont, the course is open to any RCP, nurse or physician who registers for it through the Michener Institute. U.S. RCPs who successfully complete the course may also be eligible for AARC approved CEUs, pending AARC approval of Williams' course evaluation request.

What makes this course different from other correspondence or distance-learning classes is its presentation medium, says Williams, Internet Based Learning project manager and Health Sciences Division professor at Fanshawe College, London, Ont. An Internet course uses colour, graphics, audio and animation in a way traditional text books, videotapes and cassettes don't, he explains. It also offers randomly generated multiple choice exams with immediate student feedback. If a student doesn't earn the minimum passing grade of 70 percent at the end of a chapter, he can review the material immediately and take the test again. Once he's successful, the student receives a congratulatory message and the program automatically notifies the Michener Institute, which issues the student a certificate of completion.

Although students take the course at their convenience, they are never alone. The course offers an online "WhiteBoard," where students working through the course can post and respond to both real-time and archived questions and comments. An instructor can monitor the WhiteBoard and offer immediate feedback.

"It's a great educational tool for generating student discussions," Williams says.

While Ventilator Waveform Analysis is the first Internet course he has coauthored for the Michener Institute, Williams is no stranger to online education. His first Internet course, Aeromedical Critical Care Transport was funded by the Ontario Provincial Government and co-hosted by the Respiratory Therapy Society of Ontario, went "live" in 1995.

Williams also worked with occupational health and safety professionals to create an online occupational health and safety training program. The course provides federally mandated Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System training to employees, while saving employers money, Williams says. By eliminating on-going instructor costs, one institution found it could provide online WHMIS training for about $5 CDN per employee, instead of the $25 spent per employee for traditional classroom delivery, he says.

Cost savings are similar for other Internet courses.

"From a delivery standpoint, it's very cost efficient," Williams says. "You have just two costs - development and on-going maintenance."

Once other institution learn of these potential cost savings, Williams predicts an online course boom at both post graduate and undergraduate levels.

"It's not that far off," he says. "It's simply a matter of making the two (online classes and undergraduate RCP curricula) compatible. ... Education as we all think of it is changing very quickly."