Abstract:

Health care provision is a global enterprise affecting the entire world's population. The magnitude of this service sector is staggering in all countries, with up to twenty percent of a nation’s economy dedicated to the provision of this vital service. Yet the delivery of health care, relative to cost and quality, varies considerably across nations. Within nations, measurable differences have been observed in even smaller geographic regions. The United States, in particular, stands out as one of the more complex models, representing a combination of high costs, inconsistent quality, and cumbersome practices within both for profit and non-profit settings. This model is supported by technology with both advanced and legacy systems lacking interoperability, as well as an absence of pertinent consumer driven information.

Within this framework, our University offers an on-line instructional program in health care informatics and technology. This program is offered across borders to a global population of students. In doing so, we have recognized the need to maintain both systems and cultural universality as a critical factor associated with the overall effectiveness of our instructional efforts, and as a framework for present and future program development. The diversity of our student body with regard to differences in nationally defined health care system attributes can be striking. These differences can prompt discussions among course participants that can be both lively and expansive. Concurrently, it requires that our course content, student assignments, learning models and applications reflect the available global health care body of knowledge. Central to this approach is the understanding that information technology is the key differentiator associated with health care management and delivery. And, that as a differentiator, information technology needs to be taught on-line within the context of universality. To do otherwise suggests an instructional approach grounded in singular thinking and biased with regard to sound learning practices and meaningful student achievement.

Our paper examines this issue, and explores the concept of instructional universality as it applies to on-line learning. The value of technology as a care and quality driver is presented in a health care context. It is an essential differentiator because each nation, and even regions within a nation, have unique characteristics. These necessitate an all-encompassing learning framework that is simultaneously stimulating and individually tailored to a student’s unique learning style. Further, because health care is so unique and personal, the habits of mind that each student brings to the instructional experience requires an understanding of what is the baseline of context for each health care setting. This paper will advance the understanding of how to build health care knowledge within a very diverse context and outline how on-line programs can adopt this approach to improve instructional effectiveness.

Keywords:

Education in Multicultural society, Industry and Business Innovation, Virtual Learning Environments, New Experiences for Curriculum Design.