The Informatics Collaboratory: building an online community to support health care informatics students
Skiba, D.J.; Barton, A.J.; Howard, A.; Fields, L.; McCullar, W.
Studies in Health Technology and Informatics 107(Part 2): 1383-1387
2004
ISSN/ISBN: 0926-9630 PMID: 15361042 Document Number: 576278
For the past decade, the School of Nursing has examined the role of computer mediated communication and virtual environments in both health care and educational systems. This recent project, the I-Collaboratory, draws upon previous work and builds on recent studies examining the role of social presence in learning communities. The I-Collaboratory creates a virtual infrastructure to support a collaborative learning environment for Master level students in a web-based health care informatics program. This innovative and supportive environment allows students to learn through collaborative inter-actions and have access to a cadre of professionals associated with nursing, informatics and health care. This paper provides an introduction to the concept of a collaboratory and describes the set of principles derived from the literature that serve as a foundation. The process of selecting a web-based platform and the development of the online community based on the results of a need assessment is also detailed. The paper concludes with an outline of the online community components and the plans for evaluation.