 The Certificate in the Foundations of Public Health Experience
Introduction
 Welcome to the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Our online Certificate in the Foundations of Public Health program is designed to provide you with an engaging and dynamic learning experience.
 The Certificate in the Foundations of Public Health program is intended for those who want to expand their formal knowledge of public health while earning graduate credit and an academic credential in the field of public health.
 The CFPH page provides you with an overview of the online program.
 You have several options to explore:
- The Certificate in the Foundations of Public Health curriculum
- The Learning environment
- The online course elements
- And to apply for the CFPH program
Advance your career… Create your success!
CFPH Curriculum
 Surgeon General C. Everett Koop said
“Health care matters to all of us some of the time, public health matters to all of us all of the time.”
 Students complete course work in each of the five major disciplines of public health in a flexible and convenient mode. Each class is a semester long, lasting 16 weeks. This will allow you time to gain mastery of the content and develop proficiency in the core competencies of each course. Students may register for 1-2 courses per semester.
The 16 graduate college credits earned in CFPH may be transferable to a degree program within Michigan’s School of Public Health or to other schools or programs of public health.
 Foundational courses include:
- Principles of Environmental Health Sciences
- Psychosocial Factors in Health-Related Behavior
- Introduction to Biostatistics
- Strategies and Uses of Epidemiology, and
- A Survey of the U.S. Health Care System
Learning Environment
 Online courses may be accessed at any time from any place with an Internet connection, using CTools, the course management system of the University of Michigan.
 Through the course management system, CTools, instructors deliver learning materials, activities, and communications via the web. Students use this secure online system to access course materials and participate in learning activities. Students do not travel to campus at any time.
 This is a course homepage in CTools. Although each course is distinct, the navigation remains the same. Here you will find the syllabus, course content section, and a discussion feature.
The syllabus will detail course dates and assignments, how to get technical help, and other important information. A course checklist will help keep you on track. The course content section provides an introduction to the module, a list of objectives, and course material to guide your learning experience.
Course Elements
 Elements of CFPH online courses include course content that is both well organized and engaging, and a variety of course activities and communications to facilitate and enhance learning in a flexible environment.
 A variety of course content to accommodate learning needs will be included in the online courses. Lectures by esteemed faculty will be presented to students primarily through video and narrated presentations. Real-time virtual class sessions using Centra® may be scheduled and archived for later viewing. Presentations are available to you 24-7, where you can pause, rewind, and replay the lecture to meet your learning needs.
Instructors and students will interact in a variety of ways, including e-mail, the discussion board, and assignments.
Students will enrich and develop their public health network through course discussion boards, team assignments, and faculty-student interactions.
 Learning activities will be unique to each course and will be detailed in your course syllabus. Activities will be varied and may include, among others, assignments, reflection activities, and group discussions – all designed to enhance learning.
Through the online Certificate in the Foundations of Public Health program, you will master the knowledge and skills essential to the practice of public health.
 Some course communications used in certificate courses.
 Centra sessions, or virtual class sessions, are arranged to accommodate students’ schedules. Students log on to a session at a designated time to hear a lecture and participate in real-time, two-way discussions between faculty and students. The sessions are archived for later viewing.
 Threaded discussions are designed for students to give their perspective on a specific topic in written form. Students can login anytime to participate in a discussion, share their ideas related to the thread, and interact with the class.
 The Chat tool facilitates online discussion between course participants. Chat operates in real-time with any course participant who is online and enrolled in the class. Source: UM CTools
 The Drop box allows instructors and students to share documents in a private folder created for each student. Source: UM CTools
 Each student will get a University of Michigan Email account. Via Email, students receive notifications from CTools regarding new resources, announcements, and course updates.
The Certificate advantage – Apply
 Expand your horizons – Protect our future. Apply now.
Sample Course
Theories…Why
Theories can tell you why people are or are not engaging in positive health behaviors, so it's really nice to be able to explain what's going on.
 Ghana Example
If I'm in the Peace Corps, and I'm working in Ghana, and I'm trying to figure out why people aren't drinking well water or digging a well, rather than going to the river and suffering disease as a result of going to the river to get water, then I want to know why, and I might use theories to figure out why.
Theories…What
If you know why, then it helps you with what. What do you need to know before developing an intervention? So it helps to target the areas. You might figure out that the vast majority of these people are not building a new well because of X. Whatever X is, you've figured it out, and now that you know about X, you can do something about X.
Theories…How
And then, how do you shape the program strategy to reach the people and organizations? To some extent, some theories may even tell you how to create the intervention.
Theories…What
Finally, what needs to be evaluated? We try to evaluate our program, and in evaluating our program, we need to know what to evaluate. My theory is showing me that there's a certain risk perception, and maybe people in Ghana don't perceive a risk in drinking water from the river, and therefore they are not building a well.
Risk Perception
Risk becomes a target of your intervention, so you build an intervention trying to adjust that risk perception. Then you measure it later on, to find out whether risk perception changed- not just the behavior itself, but the risk perception. In that way, you're finding out not only whether your program worked, but why the program worked. That gives you a greater validity, or sense of comfort with your program, that it's not just working due to chance, but you actually have explained why this program is working, and you have a better understanding of these people in Ghana who are drinking from the river and not building a well.
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