The purpose of this proposal is to develop and test one module for a Web-based course to prepare nurse for employment in critical care. This course, designed as an Online Community of Professional Practice (OCPP), will use the collaborative work tools within the course to create an environment in which core content, clinical practice and interaction with expert nurse clinicians, researchers, and learning resources will provide nurses and nursing students an opportunity to acquire the knowledge, skills, and best practices, and become socialized to critical care nursing. Upon completion, the entire course will provide a professional certificate with continuing nursing education contact hours or can be transferred as academic credit in an undergraduate-nursing program. The model for the OCPP to be developed in this project has three components: didactic core content, clinical practicum, and a Virtual Center of Best Practices. The core content will include principles, nursing care management, and critical thinking skills. The clinical practicum component of the course involves the use of preceptors to facilitate learning, skills demonstration and validation, and evaluation of learning in the clinical setting. The centerpiece of the project, The Virtual Center of Best Practices, will offer state-of-the-art online skills demonstration, clinical databases, nursing practice protocols, access to learning resources, and dialogue with expert clinicians and researchers in critical care nursing. Test of feasibility for the one module includes comparing learning outcomes with traditional learning methods and assessing the impact of using technology and educational practices on the outcomes of the course. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: The target market for this course is nurses who are seeking an educational program to prepare them for employment in critical care. The course will also have market potential for health care agencies that wish to recruit and prepare nurses for practice in critical care. The course will be appealing to nursing students who seek entry into critical care practice after graduation and schools of nursing who wish to offer a basic or elective course in critical care. When proven effective, the model maybe applied to different areas of healthcare education, thereby broadening the scope of impact considerably.