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Abstract
As the intensity and frequency of wicked challenges faced by vulnerable communities continue to rise, collaborative, bottom-up approaches to support global health and well-being are imperative. Informal and incidental learning (IIL) can offer pathways for progress in an increasingly digital world. Today, IIL calls us to consider how technological tools can expand the reach of learning processes to organizational networks that share and generate knowledge in evolving contexts. The overall purpose of my four-article dissertation research is to advance scholarship and praxis of informal and incidental virtual learning (IIVL) as an educational strategy to provide needed training for diverse (health)care workers and improve health outcomes. The first article reviews one variation of IIVL, global health virtual communities of practice (VCoP), and proposes a typology of their functioning. The second article conducts a mixed methods evaluation of a digital peer learning-to-action model used for continuing professional development to improve health outcomes of a neglected tropical disease. The third article conceptually explores the features of VCoPs and provides insight into how they may combine and intersect with those of digital learning networks (DLNs) to address critical issues of global concern. The fourth article conducts a mixed methods exploration of organizational learning culture and the ways in which a digital peer learning-to-action model enhance network capacity to provide mental health and psychosocial support. Findings from this research hold significance for global health leadership, working to advance continuous professional development opportunities valued by practitioners across its multiple landscapes of learning. For methodologists, policymakers, and funding bodies, this research shares contextualized health outcomes connected to a comprehensive evaluation of large-scale, multinational, and inter-organizational learning events. For health professionals, findings provide timely insight into how IIVL can support health initiatives in their contexts.