Responding to Demand In response to growing demand from the field for technical updates, USAID identified eLearning as a solution. It allows USAID and its partners to expand the reach and use of critical program guidance to its staff in the field and to their collaborators, partners, and stakeholders.

Using a Proven ApproachIn 2005, the USAID Global Health Bureau contracted Management Sciences for Health (MSH) to develop a custom eLearning platform for low-bandwidth Internet connectivity. The Global Health eLearning Center (GHeL) was launched and field tested in diverse settings around the world, including South Africa, India, and the United States. The instructional design of the platform targets learners’ knowledge and comprehension levels, based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, a foundational learning theory within education. Today, GHeL reaches over 53,000 registered users with over 40 global health and development courses.

Overview of GHeL The Bureau for Global Health’s professional development team coordinates USAID and partner involvement and manages and sets overall priorities. While Management Sciences for Health (MSH) provides technical assistance and hosts the IT platform, the Knowledge for Health (K4Health) Project at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) provides expertise in course design and development. K4Health course developers work with technical experts to ensure that

courses highlight essential concepts and objectives, while prioritizing key information and filtering or synthesizing content to avoid overwhelming the learners.

Once learners register with the site, they have free access to all courses available in addition to access to nine new certificate programs which enable learners to receive a certificate for successfully completing a series of courses in a specific technical or programmatic area. This helps learners focus their study and expand their knowledge in key public health areas. Learners work through courses at their own pace. They test their knowledge of the subject matter at progress checkpoints throughout the courses in pre- and post-tests as well as in a final exam. The courses often include country examples or case studies to stimulate thinking about ways in which the learner can use the principles or information covered in the course to solve problems in the field.

As of September 2010, the certificate tracks on GHeL Center include:

• Child Survival • Cross-Cutting Topics • FP/RH• Gender and Health • Health Systems • HIV/AIDS • Infectious Diseases • Maternal Health • Neonatal Health

• Interpret facts, compare, contrast • Order, group, infer causes • Predict consequences

COMPREHENSION

Skills Demonstrated: • Understand information • Grasp meaning • Translate knowledge to new contexts

KNOWLEDGE

Skills Demonstrated: • Observe and recall information • Recall dates, events, places • Recall major ideas • Master subject matter

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Courses are generally designed to be completed in one to two hours. Learners can download course materials for further study or use the print-friendly option which allows them to select and print portions of the course or the entire course for further study.

Course Development ProcessThe course development process includes the following steps: • Draft course purpose statement • Brainstorm key concepts• Cluster key concepts into sessions• Draft high level objectives• Draft detailed learning objectives• Write questions for each detailed learning objective• Flesh out course text and graphics• Upload draft course in content management system

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What learners are saying about GHeL’s eLearning courses …Clear, concise information that I could access during my free time (in the middle of the night)....I am too busy during the day to focus on learning key data collection issues.

-LearnerfromNigeria

Good to spend the short period of time to get knowledge from this web access.

-LearnerfromCambodia

Acquisition of certificate within hours. Wonderful instructions of the course. Well structured course.

–LearnerfromUganda

For more information please contact the Global Health eLearning Center at ghlearningadministrator@usaid.gov.

Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Knowledge for Health project is implemented by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs, FHI, and Management Sciences for Health.

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