Twenty Plus Years of Distance Learning: Lessons Learned.

Private institutions of higher education in the United States were hesitant to institute programs of distance learning for fear that they could not maintain the quality of the education they had delivered in face-to-face programs. Vanderbilt University allowed their School of Nursing to embark on such an endeavor in 1996, as long as quality measures were incorporated. The result has been a comprehensive resource support team using Quality Matters and an increase in program rankings.

Using Contemporary e-Learning Tools to Teach Staff How to Use New Online Documentation Systems.

Medical centers, hospitals, and health care practices are implementing electronic documentation systems and regularly adding new features to these systems. Training users to effectively use these systems in a scalable way has been a challenge. Learners learn at different rates and have different needs.

Designing New Buildings to Accommodate Current Technologies.

Growing higher educational programs are always interested in adding physical facilities to their campus. Many times the initial plans do not include all the technology details needed for either a standard or a cutting-edge program. This paper describes planning and implementation efforts at the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, which has resulted in a new 29,947-square-foot facility addition.

Expanding Virtual Reality to Teach Ultrasound Skills to Nurse Practitioner Students.

This team has had prior successful production efforts in the use of Second Life to implement a virtual reality world into both nursing education and practice. Our current efforts center around a virtual reality application that provides learners with the opportunity to master competencies in the use of ultrasound technologies, which have surfaced in many nurse practitioner certifications as a necessary skill. Using the authoring tool of CenarioVR™, and capturing video footage of a nurse practitioner using the ultrasound equipment, students can don a VR headset for an immersive experience.

Distance Education Programs: The Technical Support to Be Successful.

Academic success requires support on a variety of levels as well as access to contemporary tools and services. Supporting students enrolled in a successful higher education distance learning program, requires a strong, properly trained IT support staff in addition to a stable IT environment. Our distance education program began with a regional market but has grown significantly over the past few years.