The community in the classroom: designing a distance education community health course for nurses in Solomon Islands

In 1994 in order to improve educational opportunities for nurses in the Solomon Islands and to try the distance learning model as an educational method, the Distance Education Programme of the Ministry of Health implemented five post basic nursing certificate courses for health workers. This paper focuses on issues and experiences in the development of the Community Health course which in some ways as the most difficult of the courses to prepare. As in many Pacific Island countries, the geographic context of Solomon Islands creates isolated working situations for rural health practitioners, with difficult and limited communications. Each module in the course consists of a study guide with glossary and in-text questions, hand-outs, and an assignment. Videos are available to accompany several units and practical teaching aides are also given. Audiotapes for teaching sessions are currently being developed. The benefits of the distance education model offered in this course are discussed in detail and attention is drawn to some of the difficulties encountered. Overall, the outcome of the trial of this method has been highly successful.