Alan Vanbiervliet*, Univ of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, little rock, United States Track: Practice Presentation Topic: Web 2.0-based medical education and learning Presentation Type: Oral presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Building: MECC Room: 0.9 Athens Date: 2010-11-29 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM Last modified: 2010-09-21

If you are the presenter of this abstract (or if you cite this abstract in a talk or on a poster), please show the QR code in your slide or poster (QR code contains this URL).

Thousands of community-based health coalitions serve as advisors to medical centers and as partners in local health promotion. These typically volunteer organizations are charged with creating positive health changes at the community level. Yet the organizations typically do not have the tools to effectively manage information and communication. Three substantial challenges facing these coalitions are the needs to manage information, to maintain communication, and to plan, implement, and evaluate projects. CoalitionsOnline was designed to meet these needs. Web 2.0 content management and collaboration tools have been organized and tested in the CoalitionsOnline structure to meet the information and collaboration needs of health coalitions. CoalitionsOnline uses low cost, open source Web 2.0 tools to enable community health center staff and community members to effectively plan, implement, and evaluate activities. Beginning with an assessment of information/collaboration needs the tools can be expanded to meet the needs of health coalition regardless of size or activities. The core of CoalitionsOnline is collaboration software which provides a central, web-based “meeting place” where information can be exchanged, stored and retrieved. The implementation process utilizes diffusion of innovation approaches including the use of local champions, making the tools easy to use and compatible with familiar processes, allowing the users to try out or test features and participate in the design processes. Although CoalitionsOnline is built on an open source content management environment used by millions around the world, called Moodle, many organizations already have tools that can be adapted to provide the similar functions. Sharepoint and other content management systems already available to an organization can be readily adapted to serve the same purposes and utilize existing expertise. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used to evaluate CoalitionsOnline. Tools are available for the automated collection and analysis of usage data. Detailed analytics are available regarding which components of the system are used (i.e., discussion forum, or surveys). The data can be used to monitor the effectiveness of capacity building training or member interest in a project. The growth and sustainability of the health coalition are measured using standardized questionnaires. Social network analysis tools are used to measure the interaction patterns between members and between groups. Finally product or outcome analysis provides information about the effectiveness of the coalition. CoalitionsOnline provides low cost, easy to use Web 2.0 tools for conducting threaded discussions, archiving and retrieving messages, managing online work groups, conducting surveys, distributing documents, and conducting training. CoalitionsOnline members can access information and collaborate from any Internet connected computer. Computer-mediated-collaboration can foster new forms of interaction by providing the opportunity for people with common interests to connect, overcoming limitations in distance and time. CoalitionsOnline has been proven to be useful for a variety of health organizations ranging from small county based cancer coalitions to state wide planning boards, to multistate networks.