RX for Success: Consumer Health Information on the Web (online learning course) - Rural

Rx for Success: Consumer Health Information on the Web

(An Infopeople Online Learning Course)

February 14 - March 13, 2006

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 80% of adult Internet users in the U.S. have searched for health information online. You have undoubtedly come into contact with many of these health seekers; you may be one yourself. If you need to be able to identify and evaluate reliable health information on the web, then Rx for Success is a course you won't want to miss!

This course will emphasize the depth and breadth of the National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus consumer health web resource. You will also explore other NLM resources, as well as sites designed for multi-cultural health seekers, sites designed for California health seekers, and tools your library might create to support consumer health information requests. You will learn the skills you need to handle the special challenges of providing health information with confidence, and you will improve your own and your users' health literacy.

Workshop Description: This four-week online learning course will provide an in-depth experience using many different online health resources. Through readings, exercises, and discussion you will build skills and knowledge that will enable you to be comfortable helping users to find health information. You will learn how the reference interview can differ for health-related topics, and discuss ways to create tools that will assist in providing trustworthy information to your users. The instructor will provide handouts and a webliography, as well as practical, useful tips that can be applied immediately.

During the course, you will be doing exercises and taking quizzes. You will also participate in online discussion forums as part of the online learning process.

Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and complete the following learning modules:

• Module One: Exploring & Using MedlinePlus
• • Background information
  • What the patron says, what the patron means - conducting a reference interview
  • Using MedlinePlus' many features
• Module Two: Exploring & Using National Library of Medicine and Other Government Consumer Health Resources
• • Health literacy issues
  • What resources are available and when they should be used
• Module Three: Evaluation of Online Health Resources
• • What we know about consumer searching behavior
  • Understanding and using evaluation criteria
• Module Four: Useful Sites for Californians
• • Online health resources specifically for Californians
  • Multilingual online health information
  • Creating tools to help direct users to reliable online health information

(Optional) Pre-workshop assignment: None.

Online Learning Details: This four-week course will be taught online using the web. When you register, you will receive a registration confirmation that will include the URL to get to the course, as well as a username and password.

Every student proceeds through the online learning modules at his or her own pace. Students should expect to commit to spending a minimum of 2 to 2 1/2 hours per week on this course in order to be successful. You can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night. However, you will be expected to log in to the course each week to do that week's assignment. We ask that you log in sometime during the first week of the course to begin the course work.

Your instructor will be available for limited consultation support for two weeks after the official end date of a course, and the course material will stay up for an additional two weeks after that, to give anyone who may have fallen behind time to work independently on the course. However, you will be expected to accomplish the majority of the course in synchronization with your peers during the first four weeks.

Who Should Take This Course: Anyone from the California library community who responds to questions about health information on the Web or has an interest in consumer health information. This course is appropriate for reference librarians and other public service staff, as well as for individuals who seek health information online for themselves or their family members.

Prerequisites: This course is taught over the web. You must:

• Have an Internet connection.
• Be able to save Microsoft Word .docs or Adobe .pdf files to your computer and print them out. (For .doc files, a free Word Viewer is available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en. Search for "Word Viewer." For .pdf files, a free Adobe Acrobat Reader is available at http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html).
• Be comfortable navigating on the web and navigating back and forward on a website that uses frames.

System Requirements: The online learning product that Infopeople uses is called Angel. The following are minimum system requirements for using Angel. You will need access to a computer that has at least these specifications to participate in an online course:

• Windows:
• • Internet Explorer 6.0 and above, Netscape 7.1 and above, or Firefox 1.5 and above.
• Macintosh:
• • Mozilla 1.4 and above which is the same engine as Netscape 7.1, Safari 2.0 and above, or Firefox 1.5 and above.
  • OS X and above (OS 9 will NOT work with our online learning product)

  Course Start: This 4-week-long online learning course starts on February 14, 2006.