title: An exploratory study of co-location as a factor in synchronous, collaborative medical informatics distance education.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study determined differences in learning, judgments of teaching and technology, and interaction when videoconferencing was used to deliver instruction on telemedicine to medical students in conditions where they were co-located and dispersed. A lecture on telemedicine was given by videoconference to medical students at a distant site. After a question and answer period, students were then given search problems on the topic and encouraged to collaborate. Half the students were randomly assigned to a co-located condition where they received the presentation and collaborated in a computer lab, and half were assigned to a dispersed condition where they were located in different rooms to receive the presentation and collaborate online using the videoconferencing technology. Students were observed in both conditions and they individually completed a test on presentation content and a rating scale about the quality of the teaching and the technology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no differences between the two groups in the learning outcomes or judgments about the teaching and technology, with the exception that more students in the dispersed condition felt more interaction was fostered. The level and patterns of interaction were very different in the two conditions and higher for dispersed students.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Synchronous communication at a distance via videoconference may give sufficient sense of presence that the learning experience may be similar to that in actual classrooms, even when students are far apart. The technology may channel interaction in desirable ways.
authors.affiliation: Office of High Performance Computing & Communications, National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA. locatis@nlm.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Locatis
authors.forename: Eta S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Berner
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hammack
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Maisiak
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ackerman