Recorded presentation

David Potenziani, PhD, Instructional and Information Systems, UNC-CH School of Public Health, Campus Box 7400, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, 919-966-9761, david_potenziani@unc.edu

Education and training in public health has been transformed in technology over the past decade. Instruction that once took place in face to face settings first shifted to synchronous compressed video in electronic classrooms and then to asynchronous methods using the Internet. These two methodologies emerged in an uneasy relationship as faculty struggled to adapt to the confines of electronic media. The reduction of a natural communications process to electronic video and text challenged faculty to adapt to the small screen. Support systems of technicians arose to assist or -- depending on perspective -- frustrate faculty in using electronic communications media. While the shift of emphasis has focused more and more on asynchronous methods and web-based resources, the rise of widespread high speed Internet access promises to shift the instructional paradigm again. The coming shift may make the future look more like the past as faculty interact in personal videoconference sessions with students in real-time using standard computers from their offices and homes. Blended instruction, the use of a variety of synchronous and asynchronous technologies, may become blended classes with students simultaneously attending from both a distance as well as in the room. The session will explore the emergence of electronic media for instruction and will suggest perspectives for approaching likely changes to come.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Session attendees will understand the emergence of distance learning technologies in a developmental context that assess their impact on instruction.
• 2. Session attendees will be able to consider the application of various electronic media for public health instruction within their business environments.
• 3. Session attendees will be able to discuss the convergence of simultaneous on-site and off-site instruction and student interaction.

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.

Recorded presentation