SOPE: A model for developing online materials in Chinese herbal medicine education

The application of online materials to support classroom teaching may increase the flexibility of students' access to course information and facilitate communication between teachers and students. Quality assurance is the key to the development of online materials. Chinese medicine degree training has recently been introduced into higher education systems of the western world. We have recently adapted a four-stage model (SOPE), including strategic planning, operational practice, product implementation, and evaluation, into the development of online materials for a Chinese medicine subject - Pharmacology of Chinese Medicine. Following this model, information on 350 individual Chinese herbs has been presented at RMIT's Distributed Learning System to facilitate learning and teaching. This paper describes the process of this development with a focus on activities and their quality criteria at the four stages. Findings from this study demonstrate the applicability of the SOPE model in the development of online materials for primary healthcare practitioner training, such as Chinese medicine. Further study is required to conduct formal evaluation of the proposed model and its effective implementation in other educational disciplines.