Abstract
The increase in cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) worldwide has been paralleled by increasing information, and misinformation. Accurate public health messaging is essential to counter this, but education may also have a role. Early in the outbreak, The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine partnered with FutureLearn to develop a massive open online course (MOOC) on COVID-19. Our approach was grounded in social constructivism, supporting participation, sharing uncertainties, and encouraging discussion. The first run of the course included over 200,000 participants from 184 countries, with over 88,000 comments at the end of the three-week run. Many participants supported each other's learning in their responses and further questions. Our experience suggests that open education can complement traditional messaging, potentially providing a sustainable approach to countering the spread of misinformation in public health.
Highlights
The increase in cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) worldwide has been paralleled by increasing information, and misinformation
We have provided more supporting information from the massive open online course (MOOC) literature, to give context, including quality criteria for MOOCs and key challenges
We have provided information on those completing our MOOC, and how feedback from participants was obtained
Summary
We began with consideration of who the intended learners might be, and what they would know, and we structured the course in terms of what was known at that time about COVID-19, what a public health response may look like in various settings, and what research was needed to understand more. In a time of heightened public anxiety, by taking a participatory approach to the course, which included sharing uncertainties in terms of what was known, and encouraging discussion and questioning, we, and our institution, took a substantial risk. It could, for example, have resulted in the mass sharing of extreme views by participants.
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