Welcome to Public Health Communications. This course provides an opportunity to develop practical skills and knowledge in public health communications and covers the concepts, ethics, critical and creative thinking associated with a community approach to improving Public Health.

This Public Health Communications course is sponsored by the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT).  Like all NextGenU.org courses, is competency-based, using competencies from the ASPPH: MPH Core Competency Model, Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada, and CEPH. It uses learning resources from accredited, world-class organizations such as the Pan American Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and the World Health Organization. The course was developed by Lillian Niwagaba, PhD, MBA; Yanoh Jalloh, MPH; Margaret Niles, PhD, MEd, DipID; Hugo Rojas, MD, MSc, DiplEd; Genikka Camille Gabral, B.ED, MSc; Melissa Dassrath, BSc. MSc. Pablo Baldiviezo, MD, DiplEd; and Carolina Bustillos, MD, DiplEd. 

For publications on NextGenU.org’s courses’ efficacy, see “A Novel Integration of Online and Flipped Classroom Instructional Models in Public Health Higher Education,” (2014), BMC Medical Education, “Building Public Health Capacity through Online Global Learning,” (2018), Open Praxis, or on NextGenU.org’s publication page. Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified of future updates, new courses, and to be part of our community.

 There are 6 modules to complete, which provide an introduction to:

1. an introduction to public health communications;
2. ethics and public health communications;
3. information technologies for public health communications;
4. critical and creative thinking for public health communications;
5. influencing communities through public health communications; 
6. effective public health communications.

The completion time for this course is estimated at 114 hours and 41 minutes, 47 hours and 18 minutes of didactics and curated resources, and 67 hours and 23 minutes of work participating in activities and quizzes to assist the student in synthesis of the materials. This course is equivalent to three credit hours.

The course requires completion of all case studies, peer activities, and discussion fora. At the end of each lesson, there is a practice quiz. At the end of the course, after you’ve completed each lesson, quiz, and learning activity, you’ll have access to a final exam, and a chance to evaluate this course. Once you’ve passed that last test, you will be able to download a certificate of completion from NextGenU.org. We keep all of your personal information confidential, never sell any of your information, and only use anonymized data for research purposes, and we are also happy to report your testing information and share your work with anyone (your school, employer, etc.) at your request. 

Engaging with this Course:

You may browse this course for free to learn for your personal enrichment; there are no requirements. To register in this course, it is required that learners have obtained a college-level/bachelor's degree.

To PASS and Obtain a certificate a learner must successfully complete

• All the reading requirements,
• All quizzes and pass with a 80% with unlimited attempts,
• All case studies,
• All peer activities,
• All discussion forum,
• The final exam with a minimum of 80% and a maximum of 3 attempts, and
• The self and course evaluation forms.

To obtain credit 

• Complete all requirements listed above for the certificate, and
• Your learning institution or workplace should approve the partner-university-sponsored NextGenU.org course for educational credit, as they would for their learner taking a course anywhere.  

NextGenU.org is happy to provide your institution with

• A link to and description of the course training, so they can see all its components, including the cosponsoring universities and other professional organization cosponsors; 
• Your grade on the final exam;
• Your work products (e.g. case study activities), and any other required or optional shared materials that you produce and authorize to share with them;  
• Your evaluations -- course, and self assessments;
• A copy of your certificate of completion, with the co-sponsoring universities and other organizations listed.

To obtain a degree, NextGenU.org co-sponsors degree programs with institutional partners. To obtain a full degree co-sponsored with NextGenU.org, registrants must be enrolled in a degree program as a student of a NextGenU.org institutional partner. If you think that your institution might be interested in offering a degree with NextGenU.org contact us.

We hope that you will find this a rewarding learning experience, and we count on your assessment and feedback to help us improve this training for future students.

Here are the next steps to take the course and earn a certificate.

• Complete the registration form.
• Take the pre-test.
• Begin the course with Module 1: Introduction to Social and Behavioral Sciences. In each lesson, read the description, complete all required readings and any required activity, and take the corresponding quizzes.