Virtual classroom part of plan.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: Northern Ontario Rural Medical School - Brief Article

E-learning to play vital role in delivering quality education

Although planning of the Northern Ontario Rural Medical School (NORMS) is. still in the conceptual stages, e-learning and the virtual classroom will be an integral component in delivering a high-quality medical education comparable to any national program.

About 25 per cent of the curriculum will rely on Internet technology for distance education, and students will also use the link-up to stay in touch with the school while completing their hands-on medical and residency training in communities across the North.

Great emphasis is being placed on medical school students having the latest research and basic science material from electronic library databases at their fingertips within the framework of the clinical teaching process, says Geoff Tesson, executive director of health initiatives at Laurentian University in the City of Greater Sudbury.

"The electronic challenge is making sure they have access to the same level and quality of material sitting in the library at the University of Toronto," Tesson says.

Preliminary discussions are already underway to use existing telehealth networks used by rural Ontario physicians in delivering health care as an assisted knowledge system designed to train students working in specialty placements across the North.

"We're developing a relationship with telehealth networks in order to explore their educational value for training students at remote locations," Tesson says.

With many northern communities already connected to fibre optic networks or in the process of doing so, much of the infrastructure for this non-traditional medical school concept is already in place, including a telemedicine network considered one of the best in the country.

The Northern Ontario Remote Telecommunications Health Network (NORTH) is one of a number of sophisticated networks designed for consultation in rural areas which delivers services at distance. Dr. Rob Williams, medical director of the North Network based at Timmins and District Hospital, is following the discussion with great interest, wondering what their expected role will be.

The NORTH network provides specialist consultations, continuing medical education and patient education through video conferencing.

"It's a great service," says Williams, a former hospital chief of staff at Timmins and District Hospital. "The education that we can deliver to remote physicians and health-care providers is very well...