As part of the DIGIHEALTH project “Innovative Digital skills & teaching methods 4 effective health education in Lebanon & Syria” a training session “Online learning: introduction and design” has been conducted on March 3-5, 2020 in Beirut at the premises of the Beirut Arab University.

The training design was based on the needs analysis conducted within the project, and it was the result of a collaborative work among the team at Linnaeus University and at UNIMED, in consultation with the Arab International University and the hosting institution, Beirut Arab University.

The aim of the training was to provide knowledge and increase the understanding of recent tools and methods for online learning, through an overview of the opportunities and challenges of implementing online and blended learning into the university curriculum. In addition a number of key issues were discussed with opportunities for practical workshops sessions. These issues include collaborative learning tools, course design principles, open educational resources, interactive online meetings and a case study of an open online teacher training course.

As a starting point for the onsite training, participants took part in an online conversation on Padlet at the following URL: https://padlet.com/alacre/digihealth2020. Also, participants completed a pre-course questionnaire to map their profiles and confidence on the main topics of the training.

44 participants participated in the training, their profile is presented below:

Using this as a foundation, the participants moved on to investigate how these issues can be applied in their own teaching and online support will be available after the on-site element of the module. During this phase, participants are developing their mini-project plans and share ideas on how to integrate online learning activities and tools into their university courses.

Participants are sharing their project plans by using the site: http://digihealth.uni-med.net/.