The SpRITE project was an online project aimed at the specialist registrar grade training to be consultants in thoracic medicine.

Background info on www.chestnet.net/.......

Notification of dates, venues and agendas for training meetings were seen as very valuable

In 1998 mobile phones were only used by a minority, today non mobile users are in the minority, in every day working practice at Ultralab and a growing number of online projects we use integrated e-mail and mobile phone text messaging to ensure urgent information gets through.

Sprs also took it in turns to provide a summary of activities that took place on the monthly face to face training days; this was very valuable to SpRs who had been unable to attend.

Lists of vacancies were also very popular.

What was missing was engagement in dialog, we identified a number of barriers to participation including:

lack of suitable machines in hospitals - often outdated machines with no sound card

lack of access to internet connection in hospitals

low level of SpRs and consultants with access from home

the high pressured working conditions of SpRs and consultants - long hours; often of intense concentration

preconceptions about the value of online learning

The most efficient way of presenting patient case histories, quizzes and tutorials was via multimedia content delivered via the www so a range of online tutorials and automated self assessment activities were developed. Removing the need for dialog with a tutor to confirm answers and progress activities meant the activities could be completed in a few minutes rather than as an extended dialog over several days or longer. It also reduced the need for consultants to correspond with around 20 SpRs - it became time efficient but did not encourage a sense of community.

The decision to present content on a public domain website further removed the need to login to the communal environment. Despite the glowing endorsement below the project did not engage enough participants.