Educational Approach of the Virtual Campus for Public Health. General considerations and pedagogical criteria for preparing virtual education initiatives

Abstract

The Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH) is a strategic tool for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) technical cooperation. As such, it is a space for distributing, managing, and updating knowledge in public health and for strengthening the capacities and competencies of the Region’s health teams. The guiding principles of its activities are consistent with PAHO’s values. The purpose of this publication is to introduce the pedagogical approach that supports PAHO's VCPH to the PAHO staff with project management responsibilities in the VCPH, as well as to the governments, ministries, institutions, and organizations that are part of the national hubs. An educational approach is the conceptual and methodological framework that explains, guides, and specifies educational processes and outcomes. In our case, this general framework supports training interventions in the field of public health. This document presents the vision, mission and principles of VCPH, the concept of permanent education and lifelong learning in the field of health, the principles of virtual education and education based on competences. It also highlights the way the VCPH conceives teaching and learning in the virtual environment and describes the lines of educational innovation that the VCPH is currently studying within the framework of technical cooperation. The publication is not intended as an exhaustive review of the conceptual discussions surrounding virtual education or the use of technology in education. Instead, it seeks to establish the frameworks that guide the VCPH educational approaches which are dynamic and require periodic updating.