pros and cons of distance learning in health informatics

[Sandhya]

Hi all,
I would like to get your comments on the pros and cons of distance learning in health informatics courses.
Is it advantageous to go for a full time course in health informatics?
Thanks in advance

Sandhya

[Viquar Syed]

Hi,
Many universities in USA have started Health Informatics program, and most of them offer various courses online. The one I am attending is purely online apart from the Symposiums etc. One reason is that this program is basically designed for working professionals, in medical and IT fields. Most of them have very busy and diverse schedules, thus online makes sense.
Nevertheless, to answer your question, Health Care Informatic professional is already half way even before education, as this is designed around either health professional or IT professional.
So an online class would be enough to guide them in the right direction, thus the neccessity for a live class is reduced.
If you dont have a back ground in either then I would suggest you get into live classes program, or maybe look into possibility of enrolling into a medical profession or IT, then maybe switch gears.

[Brian]

Hi Sanjoy,

I am thinking about the Edinburgh course. Do you recommend it? Is it useful for someone practicing in the NHS?

Many thanks for any info you have for me!

Brian

[Chris Paton]

Hi Sandhya,

At the University of Auckland in New Zealand, we're about to offer our Health Informatics Post-graduate Diploma via distance learning.

Drop me an email [e-mail] if you are interested.

Cheers,

Chris

[jack]

Hello Sanjoy,

Your article is pretty good.Where can i find full version of your paper?

[Geethika]

I do not support distance learning unless there is a financial problem. Learning together not only provides us education but also many new aspects of life, which can't be taught out side of the campus.

[Aaron Smith]

There are a lot of pros and cons when it comes to online courses.

Pros = Cheaper, much more convenient
Cons = no real-life personal attention (although you still often receive personalized attention from your instructors), some employers don't look at it in such a high regard, you don't get to know your classmates as well

[Sunil Kumar]

Hi Sandhya,
there are two aspects. Time and Money...
If you are working and does not have enough time then preferably distance learning is one solution for you. If you are still studying then preferably go for full time course in any university campus. The advantages of learning through campus in full time may be help you to accelerate the learning process quicker and fix the gap of your understanding clear by interacting directly with other students with your convienient time. Also as you are able to interact with other students, you will have advantage of getting new ideas and solutions in fly when you need to explore them. Although now the technology gives you enough opportunity to learn by yourself by searching a contents in web or getting information from the internet but the great debate here is how interactively with specific time you will get your solutions for any findings.
Secondly assuming you are working and may be considerably going for distance learning, then you can depend on community portal for getting information and make ease of learning process. Most of the distance education provider now shooting out with e-learning concept which also called virtual learning portal. They brings up feeling of classroom in those learning process. I still feel if you have time and in studying phase you can go for full time health informatics courses and after completion look for a job. But if you are working i can suggest to go for distance learning with a good university offered course with referrals.
Also I feel there is no practical guided study in healthinformatics curriculum unlike in medicine practice people have to must go for regular or fulltime course as practical approach in curriculum is most dependable factor in medicine practice.
Thanks

[Lynden Crawford]

Hi there,
I am studying a Grad Cert in Health informatics at present and on my last 2 subject. I have found distant learning fine, it seems to be more flexible as I also work full time in the Health Informatics Industry also.

I am studying out of http://www.utas.edu.au/ Australia