Office of Healthcare Statistics, Division of Policy, Planning and Assessment, Tennessee Department of Health , Nashville, TN , USA.
Department of Student Services, College of Public Health, East Tennessee State University , Johnson City, TN , USA.
Front Public Health. 2016 Apr 25;4:68. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2016.00068. eCollection 2016.
Online learning has recently garnered increased attention as technology use in the classroom grows. However, most of the published approaches regarding this topic in postgraduate education centers on clinical environments. Models of partnerships between applied public health agencies and academic centers to produce mutually beneficial online learning opportunities for graduate-level public health courses have not been explored in the literature.
East Tennessee State University (ETSU) and the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) partnered to build three online, asynchronous epidemiology modules for an interdisciplinary audience of graduate students. The goals of the modules were to (1) introduce students to a public health issue, (2) provide students with hands-on learning about data and information available through TDH, and (3) allow students to connect theory to practice by having them create a product for use by TDH. TDH created topic-specific modules that would be used within the infectious disease, chronic disease, and cancer epidemiology courses, and piloted during the 2015-2016 academic term.
Conference calls between the two institutions occurred in the spring and the summer of 2015. Two of the three epidemiology modules were presented to ETSU staff for critique and edits at an in-person meeting during the summer. The methods of delivery for each section within a module varied from recorded webinar format to self-guided instruction. One module utilized available learning tools provided by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, while the other module was constructed entirely using TDH data. Both modules included various exercises and assignments to be conducted in class and as homework and concluded with the student being asked to construct a learning product as a final project. The ETSU-TDH team decided that this learning product would be provided back to TDH for possible future use.
The innovative partnership between a state government agency and an academic institution has demonstrated the need for such collaborations in public health. Understanding how applied public health practice would utilize what is learned in the classroom and preparing students for real-world application may be the missing link between theory and practice.
随着课堂中技术的应用不断增加，在线学习最近引起了更多的关注。然而，在研究生教育中心，关于这个主题的大多数已发表方法都集中在临床环境上。在文献中，尚未探讨应用公共卫生机构与学术中心之间的伙伴关系模型，以针对研究生公共卫生课程创建互利的在线学习机会。
东田纳西州立大学（ETSU）和田纳西州卫生部（TDH）合作，为跨学科的研究生受众构建了三个在线异步流行病学模块。这些模块的目标是：（1）向学生介绍公共卫生问题；（2）为学生提供通过 TDH 获得的数据和信息的实践学习；（3）通过让学生创建一个供 TDH 使用的产品，使学生将理论与实践联系起来。TDH 创建了特定主题的模块，将在传染病，慢性病和癌症流行病学课程中使用，并在 2015-2016 学年进行试点。
2015 年春季和夏季，两个机构之间进行了电话会议。在夏季的一次面对面会议上，向 ETSU 工作人员展示了三个流行病学模块中的两个模块，以进行批评和编辑。每个模块中各部分的交付方式从录制的网络研讨会格式到自学指导不等。一个模块利用了疾病控制与预防中心提供的可用学习工具，而另一个模块完全使用 TDH 数据构建。两个模块都包括各种练习和作业，这些作业将在课堂上和作为家庭作业进行，并以要求学生构建最终项目的学习产品结束。ETSU-TDH 团队决定将该学习产品提供给 TDH 以供将来可能使用。
州政府机构与学术机构之间的创新伙伴关系表明了在公共卫生领域进行此类合作的必要性。了解应用公共卫生实践将如何利用课堂所学知识，并使学生为实际应用做好准备，可能是理论与实践之间缺失的环节。
