Abstract:

Introduction
The importance of the traditional core public health areas of epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, health services administration, and social and behavioural sciences is still paramount. However, public health professionals will be better prepared for the future if they achieve competency in other eight areas: informatics, genomics, communication, cultural competence, community-based participatory research, global health, policy and law, and public health ethics. For many Schools of Public Health (SPH) around the globe such new framework is certainly overwhelming.

On “the age of the web 2.0.”, SPH should foster new forms of scientific and educational collaboration, and must actively develop innovative ways of community-based research, learning, and service.

Teaching, Research and Knowledge Exchange Nodes -that connect the work of different SPH by using the Internet and Web 2.0 tools- may be a valuable option.


Description of the experience:
In this context, we would like to present two innovative experiences in which the Andalusian School of Public Health (ASPH) is participating.

1) Virtual Campus of Public Health. A web-based initiative sponsored and coordinated by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) with the collaboration of six SPH (INFOMED-Cuba, FIOCRUZ-Brasil, ASPH-Spain, National SPH-Chile, Cayetano Heredia-Peru, Antioquía-Colombia). A network of Knowledge Exchange Nodes (KEN) that maintains a central node through RSS feeds. It is designed to share courses, learning objects, educational materials, research projects, publications and information resources under Creative Commons (CC) and Open Educational Resources (OER) licences.

2) Best practices bank in Public Health teaching and learning. A pilot content management system (CMS) designed by the ASPH to promote and facilitate the exchange of educational initiatives. It includes a “best-practice bank” for successful practical experiences in teaching public health, and an online searchable database with more than 200 critically-appraised documents about learning methodologies for health sciences. There is also a report on “evidence-based teaching for public health” and a “Teacher' experiences exchange forum”. This website will serve as a common best-practice platform for all the institutions mentioned above, and it will be open to any other organization interested in collaborating.


Conclusions and discussion:
To address the complex challenges of the 21st century and make additional improvements in the health of the public depends, in large part, upon the relevance and quality of public health education and training worldwide. SPH need to create different forms of relationship using an imaginative expansion of a global collaborative culture

Knowledge Exchange Nodes & Networks will help realize an unprecedented vision of public health that support free sharing of applied innovation and dissemination and facilitate the exchange and uptake of “new knowledge using new technologies”.