The Use of Open-Source Online Course Content for Training in Public Health Emergencies: Mixed Methods Case Study of a COVID-19 Course Series for Health Professionals

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic generated an urgent need for credible and actionable information to guide public health responses. The massive open-source online course (MOOC) format may be a valuable path for disseminating timely and widely accessible training for health professionals during public health crises; however, the reach and effectiveness of health worker–directed online courses during the pandemic remain largely unexplored.

This study investigated the use of an open-source online course series designed to provide critical COVID-19 knowledge to frontline health workers and public health professionals globally. It examined global course enrollment patterns (N=2185) and performed in-depth interviews with a purposive subsample of health professionals enrolled in the course series (N=12) to investigate the sharing of online content in pandemic responses. The analysis revealed that the online course content helped fill a critical gap in trustworthy COVID-19 information for pandemic responses and was shared through health worker professional and personal networks. This study illustrates that health professional networks can facilitate the sharing of online open-source health education content; however, to fully leverage potential benefits, additional support is required to facilitate the adaptation of course content to more effectively reach communities globally.

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