Health IT, computer science, and related technical courses can give students a strong theoretical understanding of healthcare data, interoperability, and digital health while still leaving relatively few opportunities to apply that knowledge using the technologies involved in building healthcare applications. But to add more hands-on learning, lecturers need access to suitable tools, practical exercises, and project materials. They also need enough space within an existing curriculum to use them, which can be difficult at a time when many faculties are under pressure to modernise their teaching without redesigning entire courses.
This article examines how Better UNI: Platform Hub, a free semester-long programme for health IT education and technical university courses, can bring that layer into existing teaching with ready-made materials, practitioner-led learning, and individual access to Better Platform, the same tool used in real clinical environments.
How hands-on learning strengthens health IT education
One of the clearest benefits of hands-on health IT education is that it gives students a way to connect concepts such as healthcare data standards, interoperability, and clinical data modelling that can remain separate or abstract when encountered only in theory. Geraldine Rivera Gutiérrez, a multiplatform developer in healthcare interoperability, described the shift this way:
“My experience of learning about healthcare interoperability and openEHR changed significantly when we moved from theory to working directly with Better tools. Concepts such as archetypes, templates, compositions, and AQL can feel quite abstract when you study them only from a theoretical perspective. Being able to see and use them within a real platform made it much easier to understand how all those pieces fit together.”
Her experience captures an important distinction: theory gives students the language and principles they need, while practical work shows them how those concepts behave and connect. An archetype stops being only a definition once students can explore how clinical information is structured within one, while AQL becomes easier to understand when they can use it to query data and see how that information can support an application. For Geraldine, that practical work was where many of those relationships became clear:
“Working with Archetype Designer helped me better understand how clinical information is structured and modelled, while exploring the data and running AQL queries helped me understand how that information can later be retrieved and used in real applications. I also found the AI assistant for AQL particularly useful while learning, not simply for generating a query, but as a way to understand its structure, identify errors, and gradually become more independent.”
Benjamín Guillén Hernández, a consulting analyst, described the same transition from understanding the principles behind openEHR to seeing how they work in practice:
“The theoretical part helped me understand the concepts and the philosophy behind openEHR, but what really made everything click for me was being able to put that theory into practice using Better tools. Once you start working with them, you begin to see how concepts that may initially seem abstract take shape and become something tangible.”
The point is not to replace theory with technology. A strong theoretical foundation remains essential, but practical work gives students the opportunity to apply that knowledge, test their understanding, and walk away with a real output to show for it.
How to bring practical learning into the health IT curriculum
The challenge is finding a way to add hands-on learning to the curriculum without asking lecturers to create a new programme, build all the materials, source the technology, and support practical work on top of everything they already teach.
That is the gap Better UNI: Platform Hub is designed to close. Designed for health IT, computer science, biomedical engineering, and related technical programmes, Better UNI is a free, semester-long partnership that brings hands-on healthcare technology teaching into courses you already run.
The programme includes:
- Five core courses taught by Better practitioners, with optional advanced modules for programmes that want to go further.
- Ready-made teaching materials, including slide decks, exercises, project briefs, and assessment guidance.
- Individual Better Platform access for every student, giving them a development environment in which to model clinical data, query it with AQL, and apply what they learn through project work.
- A portfolio-ready project, giving students an output they can show employers.
- A structure designed to fit into an existing course, without requiring a full curriculum redesign or new curriculum approval process.
Hands-on access is most valuable when students also have the context and expertise needed to make sense of what they are doing. Juan Fajardo Reyes, an interoperability developer specialising in openEHR, HL7, and FHIR, highlighted the value of combining learning resources with access to professionals who work with these technologies in practice:
“The courses have also helped me build a clearer foundation before putting that knowledge into practice. I also think it is a real advantage to be able to learn from professionals who work directly with these technologies and know first-hand how they are applied in real projects.”
Together, those elements connect theory, practical experience, and professional context, while giving lecturers a ready-made environment for hands-on learning rather than asking them to create one from scratch.
That is what Better UNI is intended to add to the university experience: not an alternative to theory, but the practical layer that helps students connect what they have learned, see how it works, and apply it themselves.
Want to see whether Better UNI could fit your course? Learn more about the programme or book a 20-minute call with our team.
FAQ
What should health IT education include?
Health IT education should combine an understanding of healthcare data, interoperability standards, and information systems with opportunities to apply those concepts using relevant technologies. Hands-on work with areas such as clinical data modelling, openEHR, FHIR, APIs, and querying can help students understand how individual standards and components work together in healthcare applications.
How can universities teach healthcare interoperability in practice?
Universities can combine teaching about standards such as openEHR and FHIR with practical work involving clinical data models, archetypes, templates, queries, and APIs. Giving students access to a development environment lets them explore how healthcare data is structured, exchanged, retrieved, and used in applications.
How can universities add hands-on health IT learning to existing courses?
Hands-on health IT teaching does not necessarily require a complete curriculum redesign. With ready-made teaching materials, practical exercises, platform access, and project work, practical learning can be incorporated into a course that already exists. Better UNI follows this model, providing five core courses, optional advanced modules, individual Better Platform access, ready-made materials, and practitioner-led teaching within a semester-long programme.
