DISTANCE LEARNING: VIDEOCONFERENCES AS VEHICLES FOR FACULTY DEVELOPMENT IN GERONTOLOGY/GERIATRICS

Satellite teleconferencing offers unique opportunities to bring together geographically dispersed groups for educational purposes. For Geriatric Education Centers with a federal mandate to train large numbers of faculty and practicing health professionals in geriatrics, teleconferencing has been a particularly appropriate vehicle for delivery of educational programming. For a 7-year period, 1985-1992, the Virginia Geriatric Education Center (VGEC) developed and broadcast via satellite a series of 22 live, interactive videoconferences that became internationally known. More than 22,000 health professionals of multiple disciplines participated in these programs at 850 downlink sites across the United States, Canada, and Bermuda. The primary objective was to bring state-of-the-art educational programs in gerontology and geriatrics to health educators who were least likely to be able to travel to professional conferences. A brief history of the VGEC videoconferences is provided. Program development and evaluation are described, and issues of cost-effectiveness and financial management are discussed.