A Curriculum-Based Approach to Teaching Biosafety Through eLearning
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Date
2018
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
Abstract
Anyone working in biosafety capacity enhancement faces the challenge of ensuring
that the impact of a capacity enhancing activity continues and becomes sustainable
beyond the depletion of funding. Many training efforts face the limitation of one-off
events: they only reach those people present at the time. It becomes incumbent
upon the trainees to pass on the training to colleagues as best they can, whilst the
demand for the training never appears to diminish. However, beyond the initial effort
to establish the basic content, repeating capacity enhancement events in different
locations is usually not economically feasible. Also, the lack of infrastructure and other
resources needed to support a robust training programme hinder operationalizing a
“train-the-trainer” approach to biosafety training. One way to address these challenges is
through the use of eLearning modules that can be delivered online, globally, continuously,
at low cost, and on an as-needed basis to multiple audiences. Once the modules
are developed and peer-reviewed, they can be maintained on a remote server and
made available to various audiences through a password-protected portal that delivers
the programme content, administers preliminary and final exams, and provides the
administrative infrastructure to register users and track their progress through the
modules. Crucial to the implementation of such an eLearning programme is an approach
in which the modules are intentionally developed together as a cohesive curriculum.
Once developed, such a curriculum can be released as a stand-alone programme
for the training of governmental risk assessors and regulators or used as accredited
components in post-graduate degree programmes in biosafety, at minimal cost to the
government or university. Examples from the portfolio of eLearning modules developed
by the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) are
provided to demonstrate these key features.
Description
Keywords
Biosafety, eLearning, Risk analysis, Distance education, Curriculum, Biorisk management, Food safety, Environmental safety
Citation
Ndolo, D. O., Wach, M., Rüdelsheim, P., & Craig, W. (2018). A curriculum-based approach to teaching biosafety through elearning. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 6, 42. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2018.00042