The USF College of Public Health’s Sandhya Srinivasan, director of the Office of Educational Technology and Assessment (ETA), has been appointed as chair of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health’s (ASPPH) Learning Futures Forum.

ASPPH created the Learning Futures forum, open to faculty and staff from ASPPH-member schools and programs of public health, as a way for those working in public health education to collaborate and discuss trends in the rapidly growing field of online education.

“I think it’s valuable to know what other schools and programs of public health are doing in the field of online learning,” Srinivasan said. “It is important to constantly assess and reassess our practices so we are delivering the best possible education to our students.”

The COPH’s ETA office oversees all aspects of the technology in online courses for programs across the COPH. Since 1996, Srinivasan and her team of seven instructional designers and one graphic designer, have assisted faculty with course development as they transition traditional courses for delivery to an online audience.

Srinivasan will lead members of the Learning Futures Forum as they respond to and adapt to rapid growth in online learning, as well as changes to CEPH accreditation criteria, according to Emily Burke, manager of data analytics for ASPPH.

She will hold this appointment for two years.

The first forum meeting under Srinivasan’s leadership is scheduled to take place at the 2017 ASPPH Annual Meeting, March 17 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va.

“It’s a good exchange of information,” she said. “It’s a way to understand the technology and in this case, understanding how technology impacts the new CEPH criteria, so that we are all on a level playing field; it’s very helpful.”

According to Srinivasan, every accredited school of public health that has membership with ASPPH is asked to send a facilitator or distance learning coordinator to attend these distance learning forums, something she said the COPH’s ETA office has participated in for the past several years.

“I’m hoping with each chair, the forum is reenergized and starts to scope out an agenda that is useful to all schools and programs of public health,” she said. “We’re hoping with the webinars and new criteria this coming year, we will have a good amount of interest in being an active participant of the committee.”

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health