Health informatics education for undergraduates: teaching experiences with multi media

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics Education
• Information Literacy in Healthcare

Background:

• The global information society necessitates computing and information literacy for all students.
• The Faculty of Health Science at Central Queensland University introduced a compulsory Health Informatics course for first-year undergraduates.
• This initiative aims to equip the future health industry workforce with essential skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the lived experiences of teachers and students in an introductory Health Informatics unit.
• To evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various concurrent delivery modes and technologies.
• To analyze student feedback on the educational approach.

Main Methods:

• Concurrent use of multiple delivery modes for an introductory Health Informatics unit.
• Qualitative description of teacher and student lived experiences.
• Analysis of student evaluation results.

Main Results:

• The study details the practical implementation of blended learning in health informatics.
• Identified strengths and weaknesses of different technologies and delivery methods were discussed.
• Student evaluation results provided insights into the effectiveness of the educational approach.

Conclusions:

• Implementing diverse delivery modes in health informatics education is feasible.
• Understanding student and teacher experiences is crucial for optimizing blended learning strategies.
• The course successfully addresses the need for foundational health informatics skills in the future workforce.