Impact of a New Virtual Health Humanities Approach for Collaborative Online International Learning: Mixed Methods Study
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Heather Meredith Gaunt1, Kwang Meng Cham2, Florian Knothe3
1Museums and Collections Department, Chancellery, University of Melbourne, Grattan Street, Parkville, 3010, Australia, 61 0447068084, 61 3 9347 5904.
Background:
This study presents a novel virtual health-humanities approach to collaborative online international learning, developed and delivered between 2023 and 2025. The approach, which we describe for the purposes of this study as a "Health Humanities Global Classroom" (HHGC), aimed to raise health professions students' awareness of intercultural perspectives, potentially fostering more interculturally attuned health professionals. In the HHGC, students across 3 international universities participated synchronously in a virtual object-based learning seminar using shared teaching expertise and digitized artworks and museum objects drawn from the universities' diverse art and cultural collections.
Objective:
This mixed methods research study aimed to assess the HHGC's impact on encouraging a deeper awareness of intercultural perspectives in participants.
Methods:
A mixed methods study was conducted, involving 58 health professions students from universities in Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong in February 2025 and March 2025. All students participated in a 2-hour online seminar with the theme of global health and well-being, during which they undertook guided exploration of virtual museum objects and artworks. Data on students' seminar experiences were collected through presurveys and postsurveys, written reflections created during the seminar, and online focus groups conducted immediately afterward.
Results:
All 58 students participated in the focus groups. Among the participants, 84% (49/58) completed the postseminar survey; 96% (47/49) agreed that the seminar increased their awareness of how they communicate and exchange meanings with peers from diverse cultures; 98% (48/49) agreed that engaging with the museum objects in the seminar with peers heightened their awareness of diverse perspectives; and 86% (42/49) agreed that the seminar increased their awareness of local health in interprofessional contexts. Four primary themes were identified through qualitative analysis, including (1) key learning outcomes (intercultural, analytical, and empathic capacities, and knowledge acquired), (2) enabling factors (pedagogy, environment, and peer interaction), (3) barriers to learning (pedagogical approach, learning resources, time factors, and virtual constraints), and (4) novel and distinctive experiences (international, arts-integrated learning).
Conclusions:
This study provides early evidence for an innovative and accessible pedagogical approach. The HHGC is promising as a valuable educational activity, with positive student engagement in a safe environment for intercultural dialogue mediated by virtual museum objects and artworks. This approach may be useful to enhance participants' awareness of cultural humility.
