The provision of education and training for health care professionals through the medium of the Internet

Describes a new and experimental initiative to provide Internet‐based courses to student and professional occupational therapists in four centres in the UK, Belgium, The Netherlands and Sweden. The basis of this collaborative Occupational Therapy Internet School (OTIS) is the concept of the “Virtual College”. The aim is to support and facilitate the whole range of educational activities within a remote electronic environment. A major feature of the course organisation is the adoption of a problem‐based approach in which students will collaborate internationally to propose effective intervention in given case study scenarios. Outlines the rationale for OTIS, the content and structure of the courseware, the technical specification of the system and evaluation criteria. In addition to the more conventional Web‐based learning facilities generally offered, a number of agent‐based approaches are being adopted to assist in the management of the course by ensuring the proper delivery of course materials and to assist the functioning of project groups.