G.L. Allan* (a), J. Zylinski (b), J. Hislop (a), K.P. Maher (a), and V. Harkin (c)

a Department of Medical Radiations Science
b Faculty of Biomedical and Health Sciences
c Commercial and Legal Services Group
(all units within RMIT)

Contact: garry@rmit.edu.au

The quality of learning occurring in on-line environments and the true financial costs associated with implementing IT-supported learning is central to the evolution of effective on-line programs. The Faculty of Biomedical and Health Sciences at RMIT has developed an on-line health education system over the past three years designed to be cost-effective whilst maximising the quality of on-line learning experience for the student. In achieving this, a systems thinking [1] approach has been undertaken with emphasis placed on creating a complete learning environment whose basis is supported by Information Technology (IT). The centre-piece of this system is the Faculty Centre, which has been created, both in space and layout, to promote collaborative learning between the students, and so that the educator is physically assimilated with the student body. These facilities are supplemented by high-speed IT infrastructure, with a WWW server as the main vehicle for course content provision. Over the past twelve months extensive evaluations have been made of subjects or components of subjects that have been transferred to this on-line environment. In addition, full financial costings of subjects delivered by on-line means have been undertaken. Presented here are the current evaluations, both pedagogical and financial of our on-line health education system.

[1] Senge PM, The learning disciplines. In The Fifth Discipline, Appendix 1, Random House Australia, Sydney, 1994.