Use of WebBoards for distance learning: A physical therapy model

Military Medicine, Apr 2001 by Teyhen, Deydre Smyth

In today's world of ever-increasing knowledge and technology, mastering the use of information is critical for success. U.S. Army physical therapists have successfully used the Knowledge Management Network as a tool to foster communication, education, and training. The model outlined in this article can serve both as a model for promoting distance learning and as a success story of how to merge today's technology with the medical community to improve productivity and communication.

Not So Historic Background

In today's world of ever-increasing knowledge and technology, mastering the use of information is critical for success. Regardless of the discipline, the integration of information technology with professional practice will be considered a requisite job skill. As students, clinicians, scientists, and educators, we have distinct needs for convenient and efficient management of vast amounts of information that are exchanged in the learning process. To this end, the U.S. Army physical therapy community is participating in an Internet-based project called the Knowledge Management Network (KMN) at http://kmn.army.mil.1

The KMN is a World Wide Web site created by the Army Medical Department Center and School to provide widespread and easy access to professional and educational information. The EMN uses the WebBoard Software,1,2 which provides the user with a collaboration tool to help build virtual communities among geographically separated individuals. The EMN offers various organizational structures; one of the most helpful structures is the "community." A community represents a collection of persons sharing a mission, collaborating among themselves to achieve that mission, and both contributing to and relying on knowledge from others within the community. Currently, some of the registered programs with communities include 91C Branch-Army LPN Training, Clinical Investigations, Information Management, Physician Assistant Program, the U.S. Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing, and the U.S. ArmyBaylor University Program in Health Care Administration.1

One of the most useful features within the community is the WebBoard Discussion Forum (or Discussion). Essentially, this functions as a computerized bulletin board providing the capability to post, read, and reply to messages. There is a chat feature allowing multiple users to participate in real-time conferences. The WebBoard tool has helped to foster communication, to disseminate information, and to build communities among users.1,2

Purpose of the WebBoard Discussions

1. Provide an efficient and convenient method for disseminating information and collaborating with distant users (interservice, intradeparment, school, and clinical sites).

2. Provide a large pool of expertise (all affiliated physical therapists) to answer questions, stimulate thought, brainstorm, foster collaborative learning, and encourage knowledge sharing.

3. Provide a method for posting and conveniently retrieving attachments such as documents and images (i.e., educational materials, patient handouts, and/or information papers).

4. Capitalize on lessons learned.

5. Create a record of posted information that is retrievable at the convenience of the user.

6. Minimize redundancy when addressing issues that may be of interest to many users.

7. Provide a method to practice and improve written communication skills while involving all staff in the discussion process.

8. Provide convenient long-term access (through archives) to resources from the various subject areas.

9. Provide subject-oriented real-time chat by numerous users.

Rules of the WebBoard

1. Users must use real names; no anonymity is allowed.

2. Questions and messages should be posted according to conference subjects.

3. When providing information or answers to specific questions of fact, messages should be referenced.

4. Appropriate courtesy is required; no personal attacks (flaming) are permitted,

5. To request a new discussion topic, the user should e-mail the "community manager."

6. Topics can be edited and deleted by the community manager as needed.

Successful and Planned Physical Therapy Uses Interservice Communication

The KMN and the associated WebBoard has allowed all Department of Defense physical therapists (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Public Health) to communicate through postings placed on the WebBoard. This has helped to ensure interservice communication and cooperation in the different Tricare regions. "[The] WebBoard's ability to store information by topic and attach files, combined with its fast search engine, makes it an excellent choice for offsite groups collaborating on the same project. "2 Schooling

Currently, the U.S. Army-Baylor University master's degree program in physical therapy is using the WebBoard to enhance educational training. Professors post course information, class presentations, data files, and homework assignments for students to download from home during their studies. This information can also benefit the clinicians associated with this community. For example, the students were given a homework assignment to find World Wide Web sites related to arthritis and discuss the validity of the information provided. The results of these Internet-based searches were posted, making this information available for clinicians to download and give to patients. Another way the WebBoard has helped both students and clinicians is through the students' research on injury-specific treatment options. As the students study each new body region, they are assigned an area/injury to research and to write a paper on how to rehabilitate patients with those types of injuries. When these papers are published on the WebBoard, associated clinicians can use them to help update their working knowledge of the topic with current research/teachings.