Health Information Dissemination During Pandemics and Epidemics : Key requirements for online learning platforms and materials

Tämä väitös tutki terveystiedon levittämistä asynkronisena verkko-oppimistarjontana terveyskriiseissä erityisesti terveysalan ammattilaisille, ja samalla kenelle tahansa avoimista verkko-oppimisaineistoista kiinnostuneelle. Tutkimus sisältää aineistoja epidemia- ja pandemia-aiheisista ja -aikaisista laajamittaisesta oppimisvasteesta ja se sijoittuu informaatiotutkimuksen, terveysviestinnän ja oppimisteknologioiden aloille. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin edellytyksiä maailmanlaajuiselle oppimismateriaalin levittämiselle, niin aineiston kuin verkko-oppimisympäristön näkökulmasta. Väitös pohjautuu neljään vertaisarvioituun tutkimusartikkeliin, joista kolme käsittelee COVID-19 -pandemian aikaista terveystiedon levittämistä ja käyttöä ja yksi artikkeli Ebolaa. Tilastotieteellisiin havaintoihin perustuvat datan meta-analyysit pohjautuvat Maailman Terveysjärjestön (WHO) avoimeen verkko-oppimisympäristöön, OpenWHO.org, ja sisältävät koko oppimisympäristön kattavaa suurta dataa ja kyselypohjaisia analyyseja. Julkaisujen aineistot käsiteltiin temaattisen analyysin keinoin ja niistä nousevat teemat koottiin verkko-oppimisympäristöjä ja -aineistoja koskeviksi suosituksiksi. Tutkimus pyrki hahmottamaan ja toiminnallistamaan keskeisiä elementtejä ja huomioitavia näkökulmia terveysinformaation välittämisestä omatahtisena verkko-oppimisena. Tutkimuksessa esitetään kahta eri viitekehystä reaaliaikaisen, verkko-oppimisen kautta tehtävän terveystiedon levittämisen tueksi: oppimisympäristöjen kapasiteettiin liittyviä ja verkkojen kautta jaeltavien aineistojen muotoihin liittyen. Väitöskirjatutkimuksen tulokset voivat hyödyttää tiedontuottajia, jotka tarjoavat verkko-oppimisympäristöjä, tavoitteenaan saavuttaa laaja määrä oppijoita helposti skaalautuvilla keinoilla erityisesti yhtäkkisissä ja nopeasti etenevissä kriisitilanteissa, joissa ensisijainen tarkoitus on pelastaa ihmishenkiä.The thesis examined dissemination of public health information through asynchronous online learning provision. The context is public health emergencies, and the study includes evidence from epidemic and pandemic learning responses through online dissemination targeted to health professionals and open to any interested audiences. The research is placed at the crossroads of information dissemination, health communication and learning technologies. The research investigated key considerations for platform requirements to mount a learning response with a global reach; and core requirements for the learning material packaging to suit massive audiences. The thesis consists of four publications of which three provide evidence on COVID-19 online learning material, and one provide evidence from other infectious disease online courses on Ebola. Statisticsdriven findings were made based on meta-data analysis of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) open-source learning platform, OpenWHO.org, and included platform-wide big data metrics and several survey analyses. All data and evidence outputs were analysed utilising the thematic analysis approach and were coded into emerging themes of importance that shed light on the utility of the information dissemination. The study sought to operationalise key considerations relating to health information dissemination as an asynchronous online learning delivery and recommends two frameworks; one for considerations relating to platform capabilities and the other for aspects relating to the packaging of online learning material. The findings of this thesis can inform any learning provider who operates through online learning means with an aim to reach unlimited mass audiences in an easily scalable way, with particular emphasis on adjustments required for sudden onset events and emergencies where the aim is to save lives through online learning and information dissemination

Observations from three years of online pandemic learning response on OpenWHO

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Using Digital Tools to Train Health Emergencies Personnel in Fragile Contexts

The Leadership in Emergencies learning programme, launched in 2019, was designed to strengthen the competencies of World Health Organization (WHO) and Member State staff in teamwork, decision-making and communication, key skills required to lead effectively in emergencies. While the programme was initially used to train 43 staff in a workshop setting, the COVID-19 pandemic required a new remote approach. An online learning environment was developed using a variety of digital tools including WHO's open learning platform, OpenWHO.org. The strategic use of these technologies enabled WHO to dramatically expand access to the programme for personnel responding to health emergencies in fragile contexts and increase participation among key groups that were previously underserved.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Scale Up Multilingualism in Health Emergency Learning : Developing an Automated Transcription and Translation Tool

World Health Organization's (WHO) emergency learning platform OpenWHO provided by Hasso Plattner Institut (HPI) delivered online learning in real-time and in multiple languages during the COVID-19 pandemic. The challenge was to move from manual transcription and translation to automated to increase the speed and quantity of materials and languages available. TransPipe tool was introduced to facilitate this task. We describe the TransPipe development, analyze its functioning and report key results achieved. TransPipe successfully connects existing services and provides a suitable workflow to create and maintain video subtitles in different languages. By the end of 2022, the tool transcribed nearly 4,700 minutes of video content and translated 1,050,700 characters of video subtitles. Automated transcription and translation have enormous potential as a public health learning tool, allowing the near-simultaneous availability of video subtitles on OpenWHO in many languages, thus improving the usability of the learning materials in multiple languages for wider audiences.publishedVersionPeer reviewe

Digitalizing WHO’s Health Emergency Leadership Training During the Pandemic

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Harnessing technology to respond to the global demand for learning during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic generated an unprecedented global demand for learning about the disease and how to manage it. This paper draws on theWorld Health Organization (WHO)'s experience of COVID-19 knowledge-transfer to a worldwide audience of millions of learners registered on OpenWHO, WHO's massive open online course platform. It aims to illustrate the technological solutions that WHO, in collaboration with the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI), OpenWHO's platform provider, employed in response to the unique challenges this surge in demand for learning engendered. Data on OpenWHO use, including geographic patterns and certificate attainment, were extracted from OpenWHO's internal and external reporting systems. Descriptive analysis was employed to identify trends and compare OpenWHO use with COVID-19 caseload in each WHO region. Data on the OpenWHO system load were obtained from the OpenWHO load balancer (HAProxy). The OpenWHO team responded to the need for trustworthy, evidence-based knowledge on COVID-19 via three main avenues: increased scale, targeting the needs of affected and underserved communities, and prioritising multilingualism. Each approach brought novel problems, which WHO and HPI leveraged their collaboration to meet by employing technology. This included increasing server bandwidth, expanding support teams, adding new language capabilities, and deploying functions to streamline workflows and boost learner experience. In doing so, the ability to effectively and efficiently harness technology became a critical step towards empowering learning's life-saving potential during the COVID-19 pandemic.publishedVersionPeer reviewe