Objective: To develop clinical leadership among health professionals working in public sector organisations to improve their skills in ensuring high quality and safe health services. Methods:A longitudinal pre-post-intervention mixed methods study that included 60 health professionals working in one state in Australia. Results:The program was successful in the development of clinical leaders.Conclusions: An interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral leadership development program involving health professionals from metropolitan, regional and rural areas can be successful in developing knowledge, skills and competencies among these health professionals in health service quality and safety.Implications: Health professionals can participate in a development program to enhance their clinical leadership skills. While this was a post-qualification course, targeting experienced health professionals, the learnings could be applied to pre-qualification education of health professionals.

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This article examines problem based learning (PBL) as a basis for the design of interactive multimedia. To be effective, interactive multimedia should be stimulating and challenging, while providing students with a learning environment in which they can carry out investigations and have access to resources and tools for finding and manipulating data. PBL is an ideal approach to instructional design for multimedia, as it provides a scenario of problem presentation, investigation, resolution and presentation that can form the basis for the multimedia activities. Carried out effectively, this approach can enable high level learning, as the students are required to use the higher order mental processes of analysis, comparison and contrast, hypothesis and synthesis in order to propose a solution to the problem. Students need to take an active rather than a passive approach to learning when using this method. The theoretical basis for this approach is discussed. A case study of higher education course materials in grazing management is used to illustrate the way the PBL approach is used in the instructional design of the materials. Evaluation data from trials with students is included to illustrate the effectiveness of the materials for teaching and learning.

This article reports on a qualitative evaluation of student use of a computer-assisted learning (CAL) program and associated learning outcomes. Learning outcomes were classified by analysis of examination scripts using the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy, and individuals were interviewed to uncover aspects of their learning processes while using the CAL program. All students were aware of the "design for learning" features of the CAL program, although not all students were able to take advantage of these because of their own note-taking practices. Verbatim or excessive note-taking was associated with surface learning outcomes, while summarizing or personal note-taking and engagement with the program was associated with deep learning outcomes. Other factors affecting learning outcomes included students' perceptions of the role of the program, social elements of the learning environment, and a lack of distinction between major and minor issues in the content.

<span>To enhance a course in 3D Virtual Reality (3D VR) modelling for mining engineers, and to create the potential for off campus students to fully engage with the course, a problem based learning (PBL) approach was applied to the course design and all materials and learning activities were provided online. This paper outlines some of the theoretical background to online learning and PBL and its application to computer based courseware design and development. The application of this approach to the 3D VR modelling course is described. Evaluation data on student perceptions of the learning processes associated with PBL are included.</span>