DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF THE USE OF THE INTERNET AS AN EDUCATIONAL-TOOL IN OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL-HEALTH AND MEDICINE

The Internet, and specifically the World Wide Web (WWW), has an import ant role as a method oi learning in occupational and environmental hea lth and medicine, This paper provides a systematic overview of the dem ands and merits of this approach to learning in a range of higher educ ation courses in these disciplines. Drawing on a relevant theoretical framework for understanding how students learn, if: describes the desi gn and evaluation of specific resources developed for students to lear n using the WWW. The occupational and environmental health or medicine components of two undergraduate degree courses and of two postgraduat e courses were reviewed to determine what learning objectives would be achievable by adapting extant conventional material, or by developing new teaching and learning resources for the WWW. Depending on the obj ectives, Various learning resource formats were developed including de scriptive, interactive (such as case study or data-based), reference a nd self-assessment. One WWW based tutorial consisting oi an interactiv e resource with defined objectives. linked to constantly updated, in-h ouse information and external links, was chosen as a representative fo r detailed evaluation, Process evaluation was based on student feedbac k, and outcome evaluation on group reports submitted on completion oi the tutorial. Twelve of the 13 students who completed the tutorial ret urned the feedback questionnaire. All but one student rated it as 'goo d' or 'very good', with the majority of students reporting that it was easy to follow. Open-ended comments suggested that students valued th e flexibility timeliness, efficiency and breadth of access to relevant information offered by the WWW The outcome evaluation showed that all the main learning objectives had been achieved. This work indicates t hat the WWW can be a valuable learning resource for occupational and e nvironmental health and medicine.