1,188
Views
22
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

Facilitators’ experience of delivering asynchronous and synchronous online interprofessional education

, , &
Pages 1051-1056 | Published online: 20 May 2014
 

Abstract

Introduction: Online delivery of interprofessional education (IPE) is an emerging area with very little research to date focusing on the experience of the facilitator in this process. The purpose of this article was to explore the facilitator experience of online asynchronous and synchronous IPE facilitation of pre-licensure students.

Methods: Nineteen online facilitators participated in semi-structured telephone interviews to explore this experience.

Results: Findings from Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis indicated that the facilitators found positives of the experience including perceiving that the students were learning, their own development as a facilitator, the flexibility of the role and feeling supported as a facilitator. Challenges of the experience were also noted including technological problems in the synchronous environment and engaging some students or teams in both the synchronous and asynchronous environments.

Discussion: While this study identified positive aspects of the facilitation experience it also highlighted some key topics which need to be addressed in training for online IPE facilitators to further enhance their experience, and subsequently the experience and interprofessional learning of their students.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflict of interest.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.