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A Canadian first at uOttawa: health communication course goes online
OTTAWA, May 26, 2009 - A new master's-level course in health communication has been launched for spring and summer 2009 on the Blackboard Vista site by Dr. Rukhsana Ahmed, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa's Department of Communication. This is Canada's first online graduate course in health communication.
As part of a project funded by an $11,475 Teaching and Learning Grant from the Senate Sub-Committee on the Practice of Teaching and from the Centre for University Teaching at uOttawa, the highly interactive course is designed to examine both theory and research in the fast-growing field of health communication. It thus offers the potential for lively exchanges about issues covering a variety of contexts, including interaction between health care providers and patients, communication in health care organizations, health campaigns, and the cultural meanings of health and illness.
“With today's technology, we are moving away from the classroom toward distance or distributed learning. This course offers students the flexibility to attend class on their own schedules, gives them more choices, allows easy access, and of course provides the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and skills,” says Dr. Ahmed.
Also emphasizing the innovative nature of the course, department chair Denis Bachand says that “By establishing an online component to our health communication specialization, Dr. Ahmed has positioned our department to take the lead in the health communication field in Canada, as well as to position itself as an international player. The multinational backgrounds of professors like Dr. Ahmed and others will be attractive to students in other countries, and we look forward to expanding these efforts in the future.”
Dr. Ahmed acknowledges the assistance of the Teaching and Learning Support Service and the Centre for e-Learning, especially that of instructional designer Wendy Lowe.