The Use of Open-Source Online Course Content for Training in Public Health Emergencies: Mixed Methods Case Study of a COVID-19 Course Series for Health Professionals

BACKGROUND: The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic generated an urgent need for credible and actionable information to guide public health responses. The massive open-source online course (MOOC) format may be a valuable path for disseminating timely and widely accessible training for health professionals during public health crises; however, the reach and effectiveness of health worker–directed online courses during the pandemic remain largely unexplored. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the use of an open-source online course series designed to provide critical COVID-19 knowledge to frontline health workers and public health professionals globally. The study investigated how open-source online educational content can be optimized to support knowledge sharing among health professionals in public health emergencies, particularly in resource-limited contexts. METHODS: The study examined global course enrollment patterns (N=2185) and performed in-depth interviews with a purposive subsample of health professionals enrolled in the course series (N=12) to investigate the sharing of online content in pandemic responses. Interviewed learners were from Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Rwanda, Thailand, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. Inductive analysis and constant comparative methods were used to systematically code data and identify key themes emerging from interview data. RESULTS: The analysis revealed that the online course content helped fill a critical gap in trustworthy COVID-19 information for pandemic responses and was shared through health worker professional and personal networks. Enrollment patterns and qualitative data illustrate how health professionals shared information within their professional networks. While learners shared the knowledge they gained from the course, they expressed a need for contextualized information to more effectively educate others in their networks and in their communities. Due to technological and logistical barriers, participants did not attempt to adapt the content to share with others. CONCLUSIONS: This study illustrates that health professional networks can facilitate the sharing of online open-source health education content; however, to fully leverage potential benefits, additional support is required to facilitate the adaptation of course content to more effectively reach communities globally.