Edouard Guévart, Dominique Billot, Moussiliou Paraïso Noël, Francis Guillemin, Khaled Bessaoud, Serge Briançon
Service de Coopération et d'Action Culturelle, French Embassy, Cotonou, Bénin;
Pan Afr Med J. 2009 Oct 14;3:5.
Distance learning (e-learning) can facilitate access to training. Yet few public health E-learning experiments have been reported; institutes in developing countries experience difficulties in establishing on-line curricula, while developed countries struggle with adapting existing curricula to realities on the ground. In 2005, two schools of public health, one in France and one in Benin, began collaborating through contact sessions organised for Nancy University distance-learning students. This experience gave rise to a partnership aimed at developing training materials for e-Learning for African students. The distance-learning public health course at Nancy teaches public health professionals through a module entitled "Health and Development." The module is specifically tailored for professionals from developing countries. To promote student-teacher exchanges, clarify content and supervise dissertations, contact sessions are organized in centres proximate and accessible to African students. The Benin Institute's main feature is residential team learning; distance-learning courses are currently being prepared.
The two collaborating institutions have developed a joint distance-learning module geared toward developing countries. The collaboration provides for the development, diffusion, and joint delivery of teaching modules featuring issues that are familiar to African staff, gives the French Institute credibility in assessing research work produced, and enables modules on specific African issues and approaches to be put online.
While E-learning is a viable educational option for public health professionals, periodic contact can be advantageous. Our analysis showed that the benefit of the collaboration between the two institutions is mutual; the French Institute extends its geographical, cultural and contextual reach and expands its pool of teaching staff. The Benin Institute benefits from the technical partnership and expertise, which allow it to offer distance learning for Africa-specific contexts and applications.
远程学习（电子学习）有助于人们获得培训。然而，鲜有关于公共卫生电子学习实验的报道；发展中国家的机构在建立在线课程方面面临困难，而发达国家则在使现有课程适应实际情况方面存在问题。2005年，法国和贝宁的两所公共卫生学院开始通过为南锡大学远程学习学生组织的联络会议进行合作。这一经历促成了一项旨在为非洲学生开发电子学习培训材料的伙伴关系。南锡的远程学习公共卫生课程通过一个名为“健康与发展”的模块来教授公共卫生专业人员。该模块是专门为来自发展中国家的专业人员量身定制的。为了促进师生交流、阐明内容并指导论文，在非洲学生附近且方便到达的中心组织联络会议。贝宁学院的主要特色是住宿式团队学习；目前正在准备远程学习课程。
这两个合作机构开发了一个面向发展中国家的联合远程学习模块。这种合作包括开发、传播和联合提供以非洲工作人员熟悉的问题为特色的教学模块，使法国机构在评估所产生的研究工作方面具有可信度，并使关于非洲特定问题和方法的模块能够上线。
虽然电子学习是公共卫生专业人员可行的教育选择，但定期联络可能会有好处。我们的分析表明，这两个机构之间合作的好处是相互的；法国机构扩大了其地理、文化和背景范围，并扩大了其教师队伍。贝宁学院受益于技术伙伴关系和专业知识，这使其能够为非洲特定背景和应用提供远程学习。
