Justice Health, Australia (Newman), Greater Western Area Health Service, New South Wales (Martin), Northern Sydney Central Coast Health (NSCCH) (McGarry), University of Technology, Sydney (Cashin)

This document reports on Australian quantitative research to evaluate the effectiveness of videoconferencing technology in the development of a community of professional development for rural and remote health professionals. It sought to answer the question: Are videoconferencing communities the answer to a lack of access to continuing education and an associated sense of professional isolation?

The study identified practical issues and raised a question about knowledge acquisition. In 2008 a videoconference symposia was held across four sites in New South Wales, Australia. From the document: "A survey developed and adapted from an existing model of online teaching and learning was completed by 55% (n = 56) of attendees. Survey findings revealed that successful aspects of the videoconference community included ‘being welcoming and providing useful information’, as partially or fully agreed by all respondents. Less successful aspects of the community included ease of use, with 44.6% (n = 25) either disagreeing or partially disagreeing that the videoconference was easy to use; reliability, with 33.9% (n = 37) either disagreeing or partially disagreeing that the community platform was reliable; and knowledge construction, with 69.1% (n = 38) identifying that they only took information and did not add ideas or content."

Difficulties in accessing the conference through the technology prepared for the conference included the temporary loss of the visual link with two sites, which impacted on the timing of the symposium. Additionally, there were limitations to the ability for those on screen to see the full audience at the larger site, which resulted in questions from the audience being restated by the speaker or site convener in order for all community members to hear. Questions and discussion was not completely spontaneous because the technical coordinator assumed the role of directing question opportunities. However, all respondents agreed fully or partially that the videoconference community was welcoming and that useful information was provided. However, similar to findings of previous research, "The videoconference community aimed for the construction of new ideas through discussion stimulated by the presenters. However 69.1% of respondents indicated that they only consumed information and did not add new ideas or content, even though 76.8% reported feeling able to contribute to knowledge construction. This suggests that despite the attempt at creating an interactive approach to the development of knowledge, a significant proportion of respondents only passively received knowledge from the environment."

The document concludes that: "Videoconferencing technology has the potential to enable rural and remote healthcare professionals to participate in a community for professional development. Common limitations to the technology cited in the literature relate to technical problems and difficulty in achieving a fully interactive environment. While both these elements were identified in the present survey, the inevitable technical difficulties were minimised by thorough preparation, rehearsals and the presence of technicians. The videoconference was an overall success, with respondents indicating generally positive results across the four areas of the survey. However the attempted move towards knowledge construction was not successfully achieved, despite the encouragement of an interactive environment. Further research is required to fully understand this phenomenon; however, a more naturalistic approach to communication that avoids a mediator at each site repeating questions and channelling information may be productive."

Rural and Remote Health - Article Alert on April 21 2009.