Launching the OpenHIE Academy
The OpenHIE Academy enables learners everywhere to build their skills in data exchange.
The OpenHIE Academy was formally launched in January 2021. An exploratory discussion at the 2019 OpenHIE Community Meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, led to the concept of an online academy. The OpenHIE Academy was created to orient learners to the essential concepts, and competencies needed to understand the role of OpenHIE as a health information exchange supporting data for decision making at all levels of the health system.
“These courses were well-received at our community meeting, so our community management, leadership, and Academy teams went to work to find a way to offer this style of continuing education beyond just one week a year.”
- Jennifer Shivers
Associate Architect for OpenHIE
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted opportunities for in-person learning, elevating the value of online learning opportunities. Even in absence of the pandemic, in-person workshops and events can leave out a large number of potential learners who may not have funding for travel or event registration. The online and self-paced model is not limited by place and time.
The cost for a participant is free, with the hopes that eliminating barriers to participation will enable more country leaders and technologists to better understand and use architected approaches such as OpenHIE. The online self-paced learning platform is a means to reach out to a mass audience and a groundwork for capacity development initiatives. This is in line with the growing digital health in-country investments. Currently the site hosts introductory-level courses to health information exchange and the OpenHIE community.
“The online self-paced learning platform is a means to reach out to a mass audience.”
- Haftamu Kebede, Mekelle University
Lecturer and OpenHIE Academy Community member
The OpenHIE community is excited to offer salient content online, and excited to grow the online Academy as a dynamic, virtual place for learning and engagement. The community behind the online academy are already working to add new courses and expect to add more advanced content in the future. Community members are planning on using the content they have as a preliminary study for students preparing to engage in a hackathon of "data exchange and interoperability use cases".
The Academy team encourages all who are interested to begin taking courses, earning downloadable certificates, designing courses and providing feedback for the team to improve and expand the offerings.
Follow this link to begin your journey with the academy by logging in and starting your first course!