The University of Saskatchewan, College of Nursing created a platform for long distance, robotic-assisted telementoring to reach rural, remote and northern communities of Saskatchewan. Using state-of-the art technology, it is now possible for teachers to remotely work alongside community leaders to build an innovative learning environment for health education. This presentation will demonstrate how a new approach to educational programming has moved beyond traditional methods of distance delivery, to include a more learner-centered approach, referred to as “Learn Where You Live”. Establishing the remote telementoring platform as a means of removing geographical barriers to support students to learn where they live required the development of a systematic approach for testing the proficiency, performance competencies and satisfaction of student learners using the remote telementoring program. The ‘Learn Where You Live’ program began as a means of providing accessible, quality undergraduate nursing education to northern rural and remote communities. The methodology challenges pedagogy designed for face to face classroom teaching by shifting the focus such that it is the educator and not the student who is remotely situated. An additional, powerful outcome is the extension of telementoring to health care service delivery in the north and in rural regions across the province.

Published in: World Congress on Education (WCE-2018)

• Date of Conference: 15-18 July 2018
• DOI: 10.2053/WCE.2018.0008
• ISBN: 978-1-908320-91-9
• Conference Location: Dublin, Ireland