First published on May 14, 2015 in observance of the COPH’s 30^th anniversary celebration.

Long before the deluge of online learning became a given of modern education replete with a glut of overnight “universities,” USF’s College of Public Health launched a distance-learning presence that was formidable before online classes even existed.

From 1990-93, 45 state health department employees in Tallahassee earned master of public health degrees from USF via the old-fashioned method of distance learning.  Every Tuesday, a COPH professor would journey to Tallahassee to teach a three-hour course that evening, said Dr. Charles Mahan, at that time state health officer, and later COPH dean.

Dr. Charles Mahan

“We gave them Tuesday afternoon off, and they gave up their evening,” Mahan explained.  “One professor would come up for a month and do the whole core segment of epidemiology and biostatistics, and then somebody else would come up and do the whole core of community and family health.

“When people in practice throughout the state at the health departments saw what we were doing up there, they came to the college and said, ‘Please, do that for our staff.’  That’s when we began the distance-learning program.”

Technology offered a more efficient means by 1994, when COPH began beaming public health courses via satellite to 33 host sites at state and local health departments across Florida.

Answering a mandate

“USF College of Public Health had a very good partnership with the Florida Department of Health,” recalled Sandhya Srinivasan, COPH director of educational technology and assessment, “and through this partnership, we were able to deliver public health education while utilizing health department meeting space and satellite equipment that was already part of the Florida Department of Health satellite network.  We were able to piggyback on that and beam our classes to busy health professionals.”

Sandhya Srinivasan, MPH, MEd

WUSF-TV had an uplink facility, Srinivasan explained, which enabled COPH to buy satellite time at the discounted educational rate.  The telecasts were cabled to the uplink facility in Clearwater, then beamed to the satellite from there.

As part of the founding of the college a decade earlier, USF and COPH had a legislative mandate to train public health employees statewide, Srinivasan said.  A needs assessment at the time signaled the need when it found that very few public health workers had had any formal public health training.

“They had come to public health through medicine or nursing or sociology, but they were not trained in public health,” she said, “and so the college had a huge challenge in front of it.”

Two evening courses were initiated to meet that challenge, she said.  Each met once a week for three hours, and each had an on-site technical point person should the satellite or any link in the technology fail.  Technical and material needs were communicated via phone or fax in those days before the advent of personal computers and e-mail.

Given those limitations, early growth was slow, but within a few years, the need for more courses and faster, easier means of delivery coincided well with the PC age.  In 2001, Srinivasan said, technical advances and growing interest in the program sparked its rapid expansion.

“We started incrementally,” she said, “moving our classes from satellite to a blended online-and-satellite format.”

The Department of Education weighed in with a $3-million grant for instruction in technology.  That IIT grant, as it was known (standing for Innovations in Technology and Training), enabled the college to hire instructional designers who brought in multi-media components that completed the transition from satellite-online hybrid to a fully online operation.

From online courses to online degrees

With all classes delivered entirely via Internet, geographic limitations were gone.  Anyone, anywhere could take courses on the World Wide Web, and host sites were things of the past.  It wouldn’t be long before the state’s first public health college conferred the state’s first fully online public health degrees.

According to figures supplied by David Hogeboom, statistical data analyst for COPH, the online degree program has conferred 383 MPH degrees in various concentrations since spring 2001.  The total represents more than one-fifth of all MPH degrees and more than one-eighth of all degrees awarded by COPH in that timeframe.  Srinivasan said nine students graduating on Dec. 13, 1998, from the Public Health Practice program were the first to earn their degrees via satellite.

COPH distance learning’s first nine MPH graduates made headlines in 1998.

“Today, in addition to public health practice, we have five other master’s concentrations online and 11 online graduate certificates,” Srinivasan said.

Unlike other classrooms, the virtual variety requires technical design specifically geared to disseminating educational materials.  Accordingly, full-time instructional designers are a big part of the picture at COPH online.

“Our office consists of six full-time instructional designers and a graphics designer,” Srinivasan said.  “The designers are assigned to particular courses and work hand-in-hand with faculty in preparing course materials and assessments.  They are able to parse down a lesson to bare essentials and match the right technology that can deliver that content efficiently to the students.”

Today’s COPH online learning team.  Back row, from left: Thomas Reilly, James Taylor, Andres Abril, Carlos Montoya, Samantha Lopez.  Front row, from left: Ana Vizcaino, Jung Lim, Sandhya Srinivasan, Trudian Trail-Constant.

Srinivasan said one of the concerns the designers address is interaction.

“It is less than ideal to listen to a talking head for three hours, so we use different types of interactive technologies that enable and even encourage student interaction,” she said.

Much of that interaction involves typed responses, she said, but even that is rapidly changing.

“As part of Canvas, the learning management system at USF, we now have access to an interactive virtual tool called Blackboard Collaborate.  Students and instructor log in at a given time and date, and the tools within that virtual classroom allow for interaction.  Students and faculty are able to interact via audio, video and whiteboard tools to do everything they could do in a traditional classroom.”

Alison Oberne, MA, MPH, CPH, an instructor in the USF College of Public Health, narrates a lecture for an undergraduate public health course using the recording space in COPH used for recording content for the lectures and modules of most of the college’s online degree programs.

It doesn’t take an instructional designer to appreciate the brightness of COPH’s online future.

When the college launched its online master’s program, Mahan said, deans at other colleges of public health told him it would never work.  In fact, he said, deans from the older schools of public health at revered institutions like Harvard and Johns Hopkins flat-out swore they would never do it.

“Now, of course, they all do it,” he said.  “Absolutely, we were the first to do it.  We were a couple of years ahead of everybody else in offering the full MPH by distance.”

“The tools from the beginning to now have undergone tremendous change,” Srinivasan said.  “We are committed to remaining on the cutting edge, so the future of our program will be wherever virtual classroom technology will allow us to go.”

Story by David Brothers, College of Public Health.

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In the wake of COVID-19, the demand for online education has never been greater. Whether by choice or circumstance, courses are increasingly being offered online. But who’s assessing their quality?

Since 2018, the USF College of Public Health (COPH) has adopted the state’s mandate to use Quality Matters (QM) in review of its online courses. QM is a non-profit, membership-based global organization with a faculty-driven peer review process designed to guide and certify the quality of online and blended courses.

“When you see the QM certification mark on courses, it means they have met QM course design standards in a rigorous review process,” said Sandhya Srinivasan, director of the college’s Office of Educational Technology and Assessment (ETA). “The course review process is a collegial discussion between faculty peers committed to quality improvement, and the QM standards are centered on national standards of best practice, the research literature and instructional design principles designed to promote learning.”

According to Srinivasan, all COPH faculty who teach online courses are required to complete the Quality Matters workshop on how to apply the rubric to their courses. The college offered its first workshop in August of 2018. Today, over 65 percent of COPH faculty have completed this training.

One of those is Dr. Donna Haiduven, a COPH associate professor.

Haiduven teaches three online courses within the MPH infection control concentration as well as the graduate certificate in infection control program. One course—Infection Control Program Design—recently went through QM review and received a near-perfect 98 out of 100 score, thanks, in part, to the guidance of Dr. Jung Lim, an instructional multimedia developer with the ETA and one of two QM facilitators for the college. This is the first COPH course that was submitted for QM review. The other two courses are to undergo QM review later this year.

“From a university perspective, I think it’s important to receive external validation,” said Haiduven. “From the viewpoint of prospective students, QM certification communicates a commitment to quality courses and programs. A prospective consumer/student has an option of which course to select, and this certification can influence that decision in a positive way. From my perspective, as an instructor, QM serves as a gold standard framework to model for online instruction. I believe that Quality Matters not only facilitates envisioning the ‘big picture’ for online course instruction, but it assists me in attending to the individual pieces that make up the whole, resulting in more organized and cohesive course design.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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For more than 30 years, the USF College of Public Health has played an active role in advancing the public’s health—at home and around the world.

COPH Dean Dr. Donna Petersen delivers the State of the College address Sept. 22 at the Sam Bell Auditorium.

While the COPH aims to focus on the future, as highlighted by Dean Donna Petersen during the State of the College Address on September 22, Petersen began by speaking of the present and acknowledging students, faculty and staff who put in hours of time and dedication helping with relief efforts after Hurricane Harvey and Irma.

“It is really emblematic of who we are as a college and how important our people are to us and to the community,” she said.

Adjunct faculty Elizabeth Dunn, MPH, CPH, and undergraduate student Jay Rajyaguru were honored for their disaster relief efforts (Photo by Fredrick Coleman).

Petersen highlighted all of the achievements and honors of faculty staff and students from the past year, including Sandhya Srinivasan being named chair of the ASSPH Learning Futures Forum and Dr. Russ Kirby as president-elect of the American College of Epidemiology.

The COPH also created a common core between PhD and DrPh programs focused on research, practice, leadership and professional development. USF will be the first public health program in the country to connect research and practice training in such a proactive way.

Other significant endeavors this year included:

• Cheryl Vamos launched MCH Pipeline Program. Twelve undergraduates received MCH-related research and training
• COPH launched Health Scholars Program to support and attract undergraduates to public health.
• Three new programs were launched: Veterinary Public Health Postdoctoral Fellowship, MSPH in genetic counseling, and the nutrition & dietetics and internship program
• 14 COPH graduate students contributed to the 9th annual USF Graduate Research Symposium
• 93 COPH students participated at USF Research Day

Last year Petersen shared that college leadership believed that the key to our shared future is the ability to recruit and retain our outstanding faculty. This year, she announced that the college invested almost $300,000 in year one of the faculty market salary increases to make them competitive with the faculty salaries at other colleges of public health. Year two of the plan begins in January 2018.

Petersen also took a moment to recognize the faculty and staff who have earned the CPH designation.

“While we have the most faculty with their CPH in the country, we want to continue to have our faculty sit for the exam and earn the certification,” Petersen said. “That signals something very important to students applying to this college, that we are a professional college with professional faculty who value public health and are willing to do what we ask of our students.”

Students, faculty and staff attended the annual State of College Address (Photos by Fredrick Coleman).

In closing, Petersen thanked everyone involved with making the COPH a success.

“As in the past, we have a lot to do but I know we can do it,” Petersen said. “We will continue to succeed and exceed expectations, on campus, in the community and around the world. We will grow enrollment, funding and our reputation. Stay tuned for another great year!”

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health. Photos by Fredrick Coleman, USF Morsani College of Medicine

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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.

Sandhya Srinivasan, MPH, MEd. (Photo by Natalie Preston)

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

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Public health offers seven master’s degrees and 11 graduate certificates in an online or virtual format

How do six instructional designers manage more than 80 online courses in the USF College of Public Health?

“It takes a village and an extraordinary attention to detail,” said Sandhya Srinivasan, MPH, MEd, director of the college’s Office of Educational Technology and Assessment (ETA) and an alumna.

Leading the way in distance-based education, the college offers seven master’s degrees in an online or executive weekend format, as well as 11 graduate certificates.

“We were the first school of public health in the nation to offer a distance-based master’s degree in public health,” said Donna Petersen, ScD, dean of the USF College of Public Health and interim CEO of USF Health. “This is before online-teaching technology was even available and definitely before it was a cool thing to do.”

Providing faculty with the tools and knowledge to effectively use technology in their online courses is the academic charge of ETA. Through a collaborative work environment, a team of eight diverse professionals—6 instructional designers, one graphic designer, and a director—support dozens of faculty and more than 5,000 students to enhance their teaching/learning experience.

Jung Lim, PhD, MS, and Mr. Thomas Reilly, MAT, Med, are the latest inhabitants to join the ETA village.

“There’s a saying that ‘practice makes perfect’,” Dr. Lim said. “However, I believe that the practice must be designed in a way that helps learners to master skills more effectively and efficiently.”

A native of Seoul, Korea, her formal education includes a bachelor’s degree in educational technology, master’s degree in mass communication, and a doctorate in instructional systems.

Prior to joining the college, Dr. Lim taught journalism and educational technology courses at Northwestern State University in Louisiana. She also worked as a web developer and project manager in the private sector.

When she’s not contributing to the learning environment in the college, Dr. Lim spend her off hours with family, watching movies, and reminiscing about Louisiana cuisine.

Thomas Reilly joined ETA in December as a design assistant and was quickly promoted to instructional designer. He holds master’s degrees in instructional technology and teaching, as well as a bachelor’s degree in computer science.

Born in New York, but raised in Savannah, Reilly’s southern drawl is hard to miss. Prior to joining, ETA he taught math to high school students and tutored them privately.

Reilly shared, “Blending technology and innovative learning theories to teach students in the 21^st century,” is what excited him most about joining ETA.

With 35 graduate and 51 undergraduate courses in the college this fall—including 12 that are new or revamped—he’ll have ample opportunities to do just that!

“Online enrollment is up,” Srinivasan said.  “When compared to fall 2012, we have a 21% increase in the number of undergraduate courses and 13% increase in graduate courses offered online.”

Currently, more than 5137 students are enrolled in online courses with the USF College of Public Health.

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