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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Lorraine K. Alexander, DrPH, MPH¹, Jennifer A. Horney, MA, MPH¹, John Wallace, BS¹, Mary Davis, Dr PH, MSPH², Pia D.M. MacDonald, PhD, MPH¹, and Rachel Wilfert, MD, MPH¹. (1) North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8165, 400 Roberson, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, 919-966-4085, rachel_wilfert@unc.edu, (2) North Carolina Institute for Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 8165, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8165

The North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness (NCCPHP) has developed a comprehensive public health preparedness distance education program to meet a variety of learning outcomes and training needs for public health professionals.

This presentation will illustrate the guiding principles used by NCCPHP for course development through discussing the development and implementation of three different types of Internet-based preparedness courses for public health professionals: short (30-60 minute) Internet courses for continuing education credit; a 15-week blended learning (Internet/face-to-face) communicable disease course for continuing education credit; and a 16-month Internet-based graduate-level field epidemiology certificate program for academic credit.

The overall guiding principle of NCCPHP when developing Internet-based course materials is that the technology should not drive the content – but the content should drive the technology. All courses are based on core public health, bioterrorism and emergency readiness, and public health epidemiology competencies, and are composed of learning objects that can be categorized, reused, and self-contained or grouped into modules. Courses are designed to meet desired educational objectives, audience learning styles, training needs, and audience time commitment. All courses are customer-oriented with varying levels of content and technical support, incorporate blended learning where applicable, have a consistent look, and are evaluated.

NCCPHP has worked to create a made-to-order, flexible, and expandable distance education program to fit the ever-changing needs of public health professionals. NCCPHP is a program of the North Carolina Institute for Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to

• Describe the guiding principles used by NCCPHP for developing distance education courses.
• Describe the ways in which NCCPHP developed and implemented three different public health preparedness distance education courses to address a range of learning outcomes and training needs.
• Identify lessons learned in developing distance education courses.

Keywords: Internet, Education

Related Web page: www.sph.unc.edu/nccphp/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Handout (.pdf format, 133.8 kb)