Online Learning Technologies Leverage Public Health Education

As UC continues to realize its Third Century goal of excelling in eLearning, Andrew Maier is partnering with the Center for Excellence in eLearning to reach the Education and Research Center’s goal of promoting public health.

Maier, a professor of occupational health risk assessment, is the first UC ERC professor to develop online course content out of face-to-face courses. The courses that are part of this online learning initiative are some of the ERC’s continuing education courses designed to increase the expertise of practicing professionals in workplace safety.

The UC ERC is one of 18 centers across the country dedicated to providing interdisciplinary education to promote workplace health and safety.

Maier said the main goal of the ERC is to increase public health, so they are exploring how they can increase the number of people who see educational material to expand the ERC’s reach. 

“If we have good quality and good reach, then we should have good impacts,” Maier said. “Having the online option really improves our ability to reach out to a lot of different audiences.”

Maier said making course material available online will not only increase the number of people the ERC reaches, but also they will be able to reach a more diverse audience. 

Maier said the ERC is working on online course content through three approaches: online course lectures, self-study modules and videos. While all three mechanisms can be used to support face-to-face courses, they can also be shared online to increase awareness of the various programs the ERC offers.

“There are millions and millions of workers in the country, and health and safety training is a crucial aspect of making sure they can do their jobs effectively,” Maier said. “We have to find some way to develop the best information and get it out to these audiences, and technology is going to be an important way to help enable that.”