Lemmens The Virtual Challenge to International Cooperation in Higher Education Bernd Wächter (ed.) Aca papers on International Cooperation in Education The V irtual Challenge to International Cooperation in Higher Education

Participants in the course became very aware of the fact that there is, on the
one hand, a large terrain of commonality of issues between countries and,
on the other hand, a unique quality of each culture in nursing informatics and
the practice of nursing. Combining resources and bringing together students
from four countries with different cultural backgrounds and languages was a
novel and unique undertaking. It was important, therefore, to learn from this
experience. Students, encouraged to share their experiences in a two-hour
group discussion and in course evaluation surveys, applauded the multicultu-
ral course format and reported that it provided them with new ways of think-
ing and cooperating. Country borders and time mattered little when sharing
information and ideas in cyberspace. The course had provided them with col-
leagues from other countries and lasting collaborative relationships for the
future. It should also be mentioned that the course was awarded the Sigma
Theta Tau International (STTI), Region 2 Education Technology Award for
Computer-Based Professional Education in April 2001 by the Honor Society
of Nursing, STTI.
Melanie Dreher, Dean of the College of Nursing at the University of Iowa and
a participant in the course’s concluding session in Reykjavik, captured the
essence of the collaboration:
This project is a perfect experiment in global education. It gives us just a
glimpse of what is possible with today’s technology – but its overwhelming
success was clearly the result of four dedicated, future-oriented faculty mem-
bers who truly understand the possibilities and who care about changing the
course of nursing education and public health through collaboration as well as
technology. The students in this course brought an intelligence and élan to
their studies and cross-continental affiliations that were no less than inspiratio-
nal. (Delaney et al, 2000).
The experience gained from this international collaborative experience begs
nursing to expeditiously address issues that may be barriers to distance edu-
cation and enhanced knowledge building, including intellectual property poli-
cies, faculty workload issues and university collective investments in courses
and content. We share the hope expressed by the executive director of the
US-based Distance Education and Training Council: “It is my hope that the
debate of context versus content dies quietly, so that all of us can get on with
the business of creating and offering the best possible learning opportunities
in the world, using every means at our disposal” (Lambert, 2000).
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References
Lambert, M. (2000). “Context Versus Content”.
Syllabus, Syllabus. Dom/,
June, 24.
Delaney, C., Thoroddsen, A., Ruland, C., Ehnfors, M. (2000). “Linking Hands
Online: the Scandinavian Connection”, 
Reflections in Nursing Leadership,
26(4), 20-4,45.
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Professor Sølvi Lillejord
University of Bergen, Norway