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    This Environmental Health course provides an introduction to environmental health, including risk assessment and management, toxicology, and other foundational principles. All components of this training are free, including registration, learning, testing, and a certificate of completion. This course is intended for graduate-level students of medicine, environmental sciences or public health. 

    This Environmental Health course was developed in partnership with the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This course is co-sponsored by: the International Society of Doctors for the Environment, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Simon Fraser University's Faculty of Health Sciences , and the University of the Incarnate Word. Like all NextGenU courses, it is competency-based, using competencies from the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health and the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region. This course uses learning resources from world-class academic and governmental organizations such as Harvard Medical School, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and the World Health Organization. The course developer is Lindsay Galway, and our Advisory Group is: Ryan Allen, PhD; Kristian Dubrawski, PhD; Sylvia Struck, PhD; and Tim Takaro, MD, MPH, MSc.

    For a publication on this course’s efficacy, see “A Novel Integration of Online and Flipped Classroom Instructional Models in Public Health Higher Education,” (2014), BMC Medical Education, https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6920-14-181see also “Building Public Health Capacity through Online Global Learning,” (2018), Open Praxis, https://openpraxis.org/index.php/OpenPraxis/article/view/746/427; to see more research related to NextGenU.org’s educational model, check out NextGenU.org’s publication page.

    There are 9 modules to complete, which provide: 

    1. A basic introduction to the study of environmental health; 
    2. An overview on exposure assessment, toxicology, and risk management; 
    3. Skills to develop an environmental and occupational risk assessment.

    Approximate time required for the required readings for the course is 35 hours at an average reading rate of 144 words/minute; in addition, there are required activities.

    There are practice quizzes in each module, and at the end of the course you’ll have a final exam and a chance to evaluate this course. We will give you all the results of your assessments, such as your final exam and peer activities. We can report your testing information and share your work with anyone (your school, employer, etc.) that you request. We hope this is a wonderful learning experience for you, and the feedback you provide after completing the course will help us improve the course for future students.

    The course requires completion of all peer activities. At the end of each lesson, there is a practice quiz. At the end of the course, after you’ve completed each lesson, quiz, and activity, you’ll have access to a final exam, and a chance to assess the training. Once you’ve passed that last test, you will be able to download a certificate of completion from NextGenU.org and our course’s co-sponsoring organizations (listed above). We keep all of your personal information confidential, never sell any of your information, and only use anonymized data for research purposes, and we are also happy to report your testing information and share your work with anyone (your school, employer, etc.) at your request. We hope that you will find this a rewarding learning experience, and we count on your feedback to help us improve this training for future students.

    Engaging with this Course:

    You may browse this course for free to learn for your personal enrichment; there are no requirements.

    Show in the registration fields that you have the appropriate prerequisites to be certified. This course requires the learner to have already obtained a college level degree. 

    To obtain a certificate

    • Complete all the reading requirements.
    • Complete all quizzes and pass with a 70% with unlimited attempts.
    • Complete 4 peer activity and associated certification quizzes.
    • Successfully complete the final exam with a minimum of 70% and a maximum of 3 attempts.
    • Complete the self and course evaluation forms.

    To obtain credit 

    • Complete all requirements listed above for the certificate. 
    • Your learning institution or workplace should approve the partner-university-sponsored NextGenU.org course for educational credit, as they would for their learner taking a course anywhere.  
      • NextGenU.org is happy to provide your institution with:
        • a link to and description of the course training, so they can see all its components, including the cosponsoring universities and other professional organization cosponsors; 
        • your grade on the final exam;
        • your work products (e.g. peer and mentored activities), and any other required or optional shared materials that you produce and authorize to share with them;  
        • your evaluations -- course, self, and peer assessments;
        • a copy of your certificate of completion, with the cosponsoring universities and other organizations listed.

    We hope that you will find this a rewarding learning experience, and we count on your assessment and feedback to help us improve this training for future students.

    To obtain a degree, NextGenU.org co-sponsors degree programs with institutional partners. To obtain a degree co-sponsored with NextGenU.org, registrants must be enrolled in a degree program as a student of a NextGenU.org institutional partner. If you think that your institution might be interested in offering a degree with NextGenU.org contact us.

    Next Steps

    • Complete the registration form.
    • Begin the course with Module 1:Introduction to environmental health. In each lesson, read the description, complete all required readings and any required activity, and take the corresponding quizzes.