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We propose an educational initiative based on the open education resources (OER) available on the Internet. If we can develop an educational context around the open resources that are freely available, this might provide a low cost solution to capacity building in developing countries. This added context would include:
- Materials: a repository for accessing materials which are linked to identified competence development, and can be modified to reflect local settings
- Teachers: the teaching or facilitation of learning
- Adoption of the Web 2.0 philosophy – collaborative participation among teachers and users to make sure that the education is relevant and of high quality
- Accreditation of learning: a system for accrediting learned competencies
The process: Identify an important Public Health problem (such as maternal mortality); assess the most pressing educational need (such as for masters or certificate level competence for midwives, doctors or others); identify the competences required to met the need; find on-line resources available to meet these competences; develop a set of focussed discussion topics that will help students to collaboratively learn to meet the required competencies with the assistance of group facilitators; assess and accredit the learned competencies.
Course modules will be built around these steps, and hosted on a repository. The course modules will be adapted by both facilitators and students to reflect local settings and issues. Students will be helped to navigate the courses and chart their competence development using cutting edge learning technology.
Develop partnerships with individuals and organisations, including Universities, in high, middle and low income countries.
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