JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

There has been a significant increase in the use of e-learning for global and public health education recently, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. E-learning holds the potential to offer equal opportunities, overcoming barriers like physical limitations and training costs. However, its effectiveness remains debated, with institutions unprepared for the sudden shift during the pandemic. To effectively evaluate e-learning's outcome, a standardized and rigorous approach is necessary. However, the existing literature on this subject often lacks standardized assessment tools and theoretical foundations, leading to ambiguity in the evaluation process. Consequently, it becomes imperative to identify a clear theoretical foundation and practical approach for evaluating global and public health e-learning outcomes.

Objective:

This review aims to map the state of e-learning evaluation in global and public health education to determine the existing evaluation theoretical frameworks, methods, tools, and domains and the gaps in research and practice.

Methods:

The scoping review will be conducted following the guidelines established in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The initial search was performed in PubMed, Education Resource Information Center, Web of Science, and Scopus to identify peer-reviewed articles that report on the use of evaluation/assessment for e-learning training. The search strings combined the concepts of e-learning, public health, and health science education, along with evaluation and frameworks. After the initial search, a screening process will be carried out to determine the relevance of the identified studies to the research question. Data related to the characteristics of the included studies, the characteristics of e-learning technology used in the studies, as well as the study outcomes, will be extracted from the eligible articles. The extracted data will then undergo structured descriptive quantitative and qualitative content analysis to synthesize the information from the selected studies.

Results:

Initial database searches yielded a total of 760 results. After removing the duplicates, the title and abstract screening of 614 extracted articles are underway. Quantitative and qualitative findings from the reviewed articles will be presented to answer the study objective.

Conclusions:

Conclusion: This review will provide global and public health educators with a comprehensive overview of the current state of e-learning evaluation. By identifying existing e-learning frameworks and tools, the findings will offer valuable guidance for further advancements in global and public health e-learning evaluation. The study will also enable the creation of a comprehensive, evidence-based e-learning evaluation framework and tools, which will improve the quality and accountability of global health and public health education. Ultimately, this will contribute to better health outcomes.