The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #69561

Judith A. Barton, RN, PhD¹, Nancy Brown, RN, PhD, FAAN¹, Marlaine Smith, RN, PhD¹, and Marilyn L Stember, RN, PhD, FAAN². (1) School of Nursing, C-288, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, 4200 East 9th Avenue, Denver, CO 80262, 303-315-8137, judith.Barton@uchsc.edu, (2) School of Nursing, University of Colorado, 4200 East Ninth Avenue, Denver, CO 80262

With grant funding from HRSA, The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center School of Nursing offers a web-based certificate program focusing on the core public health professional competencies including emergency preparedness as developed by the Council on Linkages between Academia and Public Health Practice (2001). The program targets practicing public health nurses (PHNs) in the states of Colorado and Wyoming. The program consists of two 3-semester online credit courses. All completers receive undergraduate credit for the courses. With additional course work, completers may receive graduate credit. Completers of both courses receive a Certificate indicating they have received training in the core public health competencies. Development of the program curriculum was a collaborative process between project faculty and leaders in public health nursing from both Colorado and Wyoming. Dr. Kristine Gebbie serves as the project’s expert consultant. This presentation will showcase course content, how it was derived, and how it is structured across the two courses entitled PHN1: Understanding & Managing Population-Focused Information and PHN2: Designing & Evaluating population-Focused Interventions, the conversion of the content to an online format, examples of threaded discussion postings in response to practice problem assignments, example student projects, student testimonies about their experience, and the strengths and limitations of online learning.

Learning Objectives:

• Articulate resources and processes for developing course competencies that reflect public health nursing competencies for the 21st Century in an online learning environment.
• Describe a framework for presenting content reflecting public health nursing competencies in an online learning environment.
• Assess quality of student learning in an online environment.
• Recognize the strengths and limitations of online learning.

Keywords: Distance Education Development, Distance Learning

Related Web page: www.phnconnect.com

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.