Population and Health Materials Working Group Workshops

The Population and Health Materials Working Group sponsored the following series of workshops this summer:

Care and Feeding of An Internet Discussion List: July 6-August 30, 1999
Intranets: July 29, 1999
Producing Multi-Media CD-ROMS: September 8, 1999
Distance Education: September 9, 1999

The Care and Feeding of An Internet Discussion List:
A Virtual Workshop for PHMWG members

Have you ever moderated an Internet discussion list and wished you could learn more from other moderators’ experiences? Have you thought about moderating a list and wondered what’s involved? From July 6-August 30, 1999, you can share your knowledge with people from other CAs and learn from their experiences, all without leaving town.

Management Sciences for Health (in Boston) and Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (in Seattle) sponsored a virtual workshop for members of the Population and Health Materials Working Group (in lots of places). “The Care and Feeding of An Internet Discussion List” ran over eight weeks and covered topics such as starting a list, facilitating discussion, and the pitfalls and triumphs of moderating an Internet list.

The workshop was conducted by e-mail discussion list. Contact: Maggie Kilbourne-Brook, PATH

Intranets (click for summaries of the presentations)

The workshop was held on July 29, 1999 and faciliated by Pam Harper, Bill Lester, Joanne Tzanis of AVSC and Karen Filipowicz and others of JHPIEGO. There were a total of 17 participants, including 5 presenters. Agencies represented were AID, AVSC, CARE, INTRAH, Ipas, JHPIEGO, JHU School of Public Health, Pop Council, and University Research Corporation. Of the 12 people who completed evaluation forms, all said the workshop was “very useful.” One even said it was “extremely useful.”

Contact Person:
Pam Harper

Producing Multi-Media CD-ROMS

The workshop was held on Wednesday, September 8, 1999 at the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, Baltimore, MD. About 23 people attended the workshop. 15 filled out a brief evaluation. All 15 people thought the workshop was very useful. When asked which parts of the workshop they found most useful, they gave the following responses:

  • Literally all the sessions were very useful
  • I found the distance education most informative since I know the least about it.
  • Lessons learned from different perspectives
  • The fact that all speakers basically ad the same message reinforced each other
  • How challenging these projects are
  • How honest presenters were about the challenges
  • How great the work was they did
  • Distance education, QAP, procurement procedures
  • Good mix of topics and good contacts made
  • Distance education and QAP’s products
  • Descriptions of project development processes–in terms of lessons learned, time required for development
  • The first session was most useful as far as giving me an idea of what the whole process of producing a CD-ROM entails
  • Learning the process of actually producing CD-ROMS, either in house or farming it out
  • Longer demos of the CD-ROMS
  • Highlighting the steps in production
  • Nice pairing of presenters
  • All of the sessions were excellent
  • The session on “Condoms” had the most practical information
  • Case studies, lessons learned
  • Discussion of online class was very informative and interesting

Participants were also asked what part of the session they found the least useful. They answered:

  • I thought it was all useful. Since I can’t be here tomorrow, I’m disappointed to miss it, especially the session that was switched
  • It was all useful to a certain degree
  • Parts of it got a little jargony, but the printouts of the presentations were helpful
  • Not sure how to interpret the evaluation segment, but it was interesting

They were asked how the session could have been improved. Responses included:

  • I liked the aspect of letting participants fiddle with the CD-ROMS. It would have been great to be able to try out the actual CD-ROMS presented.
  • Perhaps a panel discussion of all presenters at the end
  • Logistics: no windows, hard to keep alert. Chairs poorly placed. Had to keep moving around to be able to see the screen and speaker, too cold in the room
  • More time for discussion
  • More handouts based on the presentations and samples of CDs, etc.
  • More hands-on opportunities to use the CD-ROMS and websites
  • All presenters should have handouts of the presentations
  • It would have been useful to have a distance learner present–to give a user’s perspective

Finally, they were asked what parts of the session they would apply immediately when returning to work. They said:

  • I want to improve our CD-ROM, by learning and ‘borrowing’ some of the approaches used by CCP and POPLINE
  • I want to examine the possibility of using our CD-ROM content in conjunction with web-based facilitation to enhance our product’s impact
  • Since we are in a project close-out mode, this is not immediately applicable, but I think it will be useful in the future.
  • Checking out the web sites related to the subjects
  • I will be talking with our unit director on Friday
  • Apply some of the CD-ROM ideas to our final products
  • Personallly I will look into distance education
  • Telling my supervisors how long it really takes to produce these things
  • Sharing information with co-workers; ordering the CD-ROMs
  • I have requested copies of some of the CDs for training I will be doing
  • All will be useful in the long run
  • I will work on CD-ROM development process issues
  • I learned about handling sound and video for best quality and will be contacting techie contacts for advice
  • Product testing information
  • Present the possibilities to my colleagues; explore the use of CD-ROMS for documents

Sessions:

Working with Vendors: Lessons Learned from the Multimedia Trenches
Rick Glasby (CD-ROM Manager), POPLINE Digital Services

  • This presentation covered the vendor selection process, from the writing of a Requent for Proposal (RFP) to evaluation of responses and contract negotiations. Also how to make the vendor a part of your team, and what to do if the relationship turns antagonistic.

Teaming to Design Interactive Multimedia
Rick Sullivan, JHPIEGO and Lauren Hudspeth, Electronic Learning Facilitators

  • How do subject matter experts work with the instructional designer and development team (internal or as a vendor) to develop a multimedia product? This session also reviewed an instructional design model to help guide the development of multimedia projects.

Evaluating and Improving CAL
Elisa Knebel (Quality Assurance Specialist and Project Manager, Multimedia Development) and Ed Kelley (Quality Assurance Advisor and Project Manager, Multimedia Development) from the Center for Human Services.

  • Click here for slides #1-10. We hope to have the rest of the presentation converted to HTML soon.

JHU/CCP & Distance Learning
Ketan Joshi, JHU/CCP

  • Ketan Joshi of JHU/CCP shared some lessons learned from conducting a graduate level course via the Internet. The course in health communication has traditionally been taught by JHU/CCP director, Phyllis Piotrow, through the School of Public Health and has so far been conducted twice via the web. Ketan shared experineces with planning and conducting a class via the Internet, described how the class is set up, demonstrated some of the features, and discussed lessons learned, support required from the School, issues that make this a challenging model for education.

Vendors:

  • Carney Interactive in Alexandria, VA. Recommended by QRC as a first-rate multimedia development and instuctional design firm.
  • Electronic Learning Facilitators, where Lauren Hudspeth works.
  • Learnware, spin-off from JHPIEGO and a provider of services for creation and electronic dissemination of custom-designed interactive multimedia courseware and presentations.
  • Hudson Software, recommended by Rick Glasby for impartial testing of software.

Distance Education

This workshop was held on Thursday, September 9, 1999 at JHU/CCP in Baltimore, MD. About 18-20 people attended this workshop. 7 filled out a brief evaluation.

This workshop focused on the development process, rather than the content of products. How were products developed? Were in-house staff or outside consultants used? What skills were needed to develop these materials? How were they tested? What were the evaluation results? What would people do differently if they were to start over again?

When asked about the general usefulness of the workshop, seven felt it was very useful.

When asked what part of the session they found the most useful, participants said:

  • All of it–got a lot out of the multimedia “how to” presentation
  • The last session
  • All were good. Best for me were AVSC and INTRAH..very “to the point”
  • Case studies, processes. All presenters were excellent
  • Demonstrations of products; honesty about the pitfalls and lessons learned in development
  • Humor in presentations, evaluation feedback
  • AVSC presentation–useful to hear about process of developing Internet and CD-ROM simultaneously and all the pitfalls

When asked what part of the session they found the least useful, they replied:

  • It is more helpful to have in-depth and first-hand information
  • Very technical but the presenters were excellent in responding to questions from their peers
  • Sorry–nothing wasn’t useful

When asked how could the session have been improved, they said:

  • Get the presenters to stand up, talk directly to the audience
  • A sampler cd-rom with clips of each of the CD-ROMs demonstrated
  • I would like to spend more time with the details of CD development. That could be a whole 1-day session.

Finally, they were asked what parts of the session they would apply immediately when they returned to work. They said:

  • Information about the SGML language.
  • Develop an action plan for web and cd-rom products
  • Develop a teaching package for use in Malawi
  • Very useful to talk to people and get other ideas for how to do projects.

Distance Learning: Lessons from the Field
INTRAH/PRIME:
Lisa Croucher, Lucy Harber, Sharon Riley

  • In thiss session INTRAH/PRIME shared what it has learned about conducting needs assessments for distance learning projects, using both high tech and low tech methods, and packaging multiple methods for distance learning.

High-Tech Solutions in Low-Tech Settings
Pam Harper, Joanne Tzanis of AVSC

  • In this session, AVSC discussed the process they went through to develop and begin using a CD-ROM for field locations with limited computer resources. They have also developed a web-based course with much of the same content for health professionals in developing countries.
  • Access the online course HERE.

Establishing Technology-Assisted Learning Centers
Rick Sullivan, Theresa Norton, Natalie Maier of JHPIEGO

  • Online learning products can be useful, but what if healthcare professionals in developing countries do not have access to the Internet? This section discussed establishing technology-assisted learning centers (with computers and Internet access) in key health-related institutions, including goals and the process.
  • Developing and Using Learning Packages for Service Providers and Trainers. This section covered producing CD-ROM-based and Internet-based learning packages that can be used at learning centers or elsewhere.

High-End Multimedia on a Low-End Budget
Mike Bailey (Senior Systems Development Manager) and Mark Beisser (Senior Multimedia Specialist), JHU/CCP

  • This presentation covered the multimedia production process using available internal resources (personnel, materials, equipment). Topics included: language translation and modification for international clients, integration of multimedia (sound, video and graphics), multimedia authoring, graphics design and development.