building capacity and improving women's access to...
TRANSCRIPT
Building capacity and improving women's access to education through the
Intelligence eHealth MOOCs Commons
CRS ICT4D Conference, St. Charles, IL, May 27, 2015
Dr. Lilia Pérez-Chavolla, Senior Advisor on ICT Applications
Millennia2025 Foundation, WeObservatory
The Women Observatory for eHealth
Millennia2025 Foundation is an initiative of The Destree Institute, under the high patronage of the UNESCO
Millennia2025 Women & Innovation Foundation
• Implements the Millennia2015 foresight exercise action plans for women's empowerment and gender equality through digital solidarity
• In 140 countries, with 10,000 members
Millennia2025 Foundation Global Action Plans 2012-2025
The WeObservatory highlights the crucial role of women in global health, eHealth and telemedicine, as well as their recognized capacity as builders of alternative futures
Value of MOOCs for women’s empowerment
• Capacity building - key factor for socio-economic development and women’s empowerment
• Women’s access to tertiary education remains extremely low
• Increased ICT penetration and more affordable mobile and broadband services worldwide can help overcome some of these barriers
• New ways to access free educational resources using the Internet - MOOCs
Intelligence MOOCs Commons for Women and eHealth
www.millennia2015.org/moocs
Goal: Facilitate women’s access to online education in the areas of global health, women, and ICT
Criteria used to select MOOCs
• Widely recognized platforms and educational institutions
• Free access
• Areas of interest to the WeObservatory: Health, women and ICT
• Language: English, Spanish, and/or French—three of the six UN official languages
Top five platforms represented in WeMOOCs
Platform # Courses Languages % of total selected
Coursera 117 English, Spanish 34
USAID 54 English 16
Alison.com 53 English, Spanish 16
EdX 25 English, Spanish 7 France Université Numérique (FUN)
25 French 7
Of the 340 courses selected for WeMOOCs and 21 represented platforms:
Analysis of MOOC offerings: Language & type of course
81%
11%
8%
Distribution by language
English
Spanish
French
28%
46%
26%
Distribution by type of course
Scheduled
On demand
Unscheduled
Analysis of MOOC offerings: Topics
70%
28%
2%
Distribution by topic
Health
ICT
Women
44%
33%
2%
21%
Distribution by intersection of topic areas
Women's health
ICT & Health
Women & ICT
Mobile focus
Selected MOOCs: Key topics covered
ICT & health Women's health Women & ICT
e/mHealth opportunities & challenges
Sexual & reproductive health Videogames
Nanotech & nanosensors Childbirth, emergency obstetric care, postpartum care, antenatal care
Gender & technology
Innovation: GIS, HIS, health management
Human trafficking
Health Informatics & cloud, Big data, data visualization, bioinformatics, computational neuroscience
Gender: psychology, power, family relations, identities, and caregivers health systems strengthening
Technology & ethics Health & society
Communities of practice Genital mutilation
Disparities Cervical cancer, HIV
Focus on the Mobile Component
8 mHealth related courses found
MOOCs: Identified gaps & bridging efforts
• None of the platforms searched since 2014 offer MOOCs on the use of ICT for health by women or for women’s health
• Lack of multilinguism and courses focusing on gender issues
• The Millennia2025 Foundation is currently working towards two goals: 1. Develop a digital platform in
collaboration with Promis, the European Commission initiative for digital jobs
2. Develop a closed online course to educate professional midwives and healthcare professionals on the use of ICT for maternal health and midwifery
Bridging the gap: CASA’s online course
• CASA – Center for Adolescents of San Miguel de Allende
• Only professional midwifery school in rural Mexico
• Online course covering ICT use for maternal health and
midwifery (Sept. - Dec. 2014)
• Students: Midwives, OB-GYNs, general practitioners
Online course on ICT for Midwives
• Revisions to CASA’s online course are in process
• Revised course to be available later in 2015, using the Millennia2025 Intelligence Platform
Work in progress
• Med-e-Tel 2015 Conference session on “Empowering Women in eHealth and Telemedicine through Education” (May 2015)http://www.medetel.lu/index.php?rub=educational_program&page=pr
ogram
• WHO and the Journal of the International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth (JISfTeH) published a Special issue on Women and eHealth (May 2015): http://journals.ukzn.ac.za/index.php/JISfTeH/
• Millennia2025 is seeking international organizations and universities worldwide to partner with in the development of a MOOC on Women and eHealth. If interested, contact Dr. Veronique Thouvenot at: thouvenot.veronique@millennia2025-
foundation.org
Conclusions
• More work is needed to facilitate access of non-English speakers to higher education courses and promote in depth coverage of gender equity issues
• MOOC courses can help build capacity among
women and health professionals worldwide
• WeMOOCs and the WeObservatory seek to provide an innovative e-platform at the service of women and health professionals in the Post-2015 framework
