E-health and online teaching: a successful synergy

Knowledge of the successes and failures of a variety of e-health applications has contributed to the teaching process as well as the content of an online e-health course. Examining the synergy between e-health and online teaching as forms of technologically mediated communication is useful in developing knowledge about both. Two conclusions may be drawn. The first is that success rests on the ability to make sense of the information that is communicated. The second is that success depends on building social networks. We have developed an online course in e-health in which participants develop an understanding of the domain both through sharing their own experience of online delivery and through course content that illustrates the successes and failures of others.