How Could E-learning Help People to Understand More About Malaria - Essay Example

RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON THE CREATION OF A MALARIA EDUCATION E-LEARNING SYSTEM FOR AN AFRICAN COUNTRY Contents Background of Study 3 Aims and Objectives 3 Literature Review 4 Malaria Control and Education 4 E-Learning and Health Education 6 E-Learning system design and application 6 Methodology 7 Phase 1: Core Information Gathering 7 Phase 2: Website Infrastructure Design 8 Phase 3: Implementation and Testing 8 Software Development Tools 8 Reason for Choice of Method 8 Scheduling 10 Bibliography 12 Background of Study Malaria is one of the world’s leading killer diseases in our current generation. In the year 2012, there was an estimated 627,000 deaths that are attributable to malaria in around the world (World Health Organization, 2014). Out of this figure, 90% of the deaths occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa. Malaria is spread by the female anopheles mosquito which bites and deposits malarial parasites into the blood cells of human beings (Dawood, 2013). These mosquitoes breed in warm climates, mainly in the tropics. The current geographical distribution of warm climatic zones indicates that 1.95 billion people are at risk of contracting malaria (Béguin, et al., 2011). The vast majority of countries in the malaria-prone areas have GDP rates of under $20,000 per annum (Béguin, et al., 2011). Malnutrition and poor blood formation boosts the efficacy of malarial cells in weakening people with malaria and this cause much pain and suffering amongst such persons (Mohandas & Hillyer, 2014). Babies and children under the age of 5 years are strongly affected by malaria in these tropical countries (Becker, et al., 2010). Malaria intervention projects in most African countries have failed due to major lapses in the implementation of the governments, lack of funds and poor education (Becker, et al., 2010). This leaves one main option of individual intervention as a means of getting some kind of solution to this. And this intervention could include the education of individuals, organisation of community groups and the provision of support to malaria prevention entities and groups. Aims and Objectives As identified above, malaria is a major disease that leads to a lot of deaths. The spread is through a vector, mosquitoes and it affects people in a specific geographical location in the world. This can be controlled through various means and activities. Most of these activities have in the past been executed through governments of the nations affected by malaria, mainly in Africa. However, due to some inherent lapses, these activities have failed and there is the need for individuals and groups in these countries to take action. The purpose of the research is to formulate an E-learning system through which people can understand malaria and formulate better measures for preventing, detecting and controlling malaria. In order to attain this end, the following objectives will be explored: 1. A critical evaluation of the measures and methods for malaria prevention; 2. A deduction of practical measures that can be used to educate and teach members of communities about malaria, its impacts, prevention and cure in Africa and the adaptation of these measures to the online e-learning environment; 3. Creation of an E-learning programme based on malaria that is appropriate for rural and urban African communities; 4. Creation of a prototype social media system and online marketing process through which the programme can be promoted in Africa and around the world. Literature Review This section will examine previous works and research into two main things. The first aspect of interest will be the systems and processes of malarial control and education of individuals. This will present the traditional approaches and methods that have worked in bringing down the level of suffering amongst people in malaria-prone areas. The second section of this literature review will include the examination of works done into e-learning. It will focus on how e-learning systems and portals are designed and implemented. Malaria Control and Education Malaria has three main pointers of spread and this includes: breeding, contact and injection by the primary vector, mosquitoes (Bradley, et al., 2012). The main difficulty in malaria control lies in the fact that the mosquitoes and parasites’ ability to evolve and circumvent tools and systems used to control them (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 2013) The main intervention systems include the control of breeding by maintaining more hygienic environments and proper systems and processes of preventing malaria bearing mosquitoes from breeding their young (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). There are other contact-oriented solutions that include treated mosquito nets and systems that prevent insects from making contact with individuals when they sleep at night (Williams & Bloland, 2014). The insecticide treated nets (ITN) is such that it provides some kind of buffer that makes it difficult for infested mosquitoes to get closer to a person in order to bite him or her (Fraser & Druce, 2011). Controls are also classified in the form of government activities and processes which include the various strategies put in place by a country’s government to deal with malaria (The World Bank, 2012). These processes almost always include local partners who ensure that they work hand-in-hand with the government and disseminate plans and activities to the grassroots of society. This allows malarial treatment plans and agendas to be perpetrated in very remote parts of the world and ensure that the people at the highest levels of risk are protected and provided the right kind of attention and assistance (Abegunrin, 2012). Once malarial parasites get into the body, there are numerous ways and approaches of dealing with it. One of the most popular systems and processes for dealing with malaria is through antimalarial drugs, mainly ACT which must be applied at the right time to avoid creating ACT resistant viruses (Brent, et al., 2014). Also, there is the general issue of funding. This is mainly due to the fact that every project of this nature ought to be given enough money to be completed. There have been the massive involvements of private sector donors and foreign entities and organisations in developed countries who help in dealing with the issue of malaria in the developing world. E-Learning and Health Education “E-learning is the use of Internet technologies to enhance knowledge and performance.” (Ruiz, et al., 2012, p. 207). This implies that there is the application of an online platform or other electronic means through which people can learn and improve their knowledge of events and activities relating to a given phenomenon through these technical and technological systems. “E-learning technologies offer learners control over content, learning sequence, pace of learning, time, and often media, allowing them to tailor their experiences to meet their personal learning objectives.” (Ruiz, et al., 2012, p. 207). This essence of e-learning is to create a system and process through which learning can be personalised through many means and systems. This includes amongst other things, diverse media options. This will be presented in a way and manner in which an individual can adapt the learning process and system in order to meet his own personal needs. E-learning also gives the instructor a lot of options in the way through which information is compiled and presented. This allows the entity providing the service to reach out to a more diverse customer base. This could also include various local processes and participants who might benefit from enhanced options and processes of updating their knowledge about a given phenomenon. E-Learning system design and application In order to design and achieve an optimal performance in an e-learning system, there are some essential ingredients that ought to be met and this includes: 1. Instructional Design 2. Web Development 3. Editing 4. Usability and Accessibility 5. Maintainability 6. Copyright 7. Infrastructure Impact 8. Content and Rigor (Gary, et al., 2007) These eight pointers guide the design and actual creation of applications and a teaching system through e-learning. They guide the web developer in making the right choices and also promotes proper testing. Additionally, content awareness and content adaptability are important in creating and maintaining optimal results in online web systems and processes. The website structure and scope of interactivity is important and vital and this ought to be done in a way that promotes the optimal goals of the site (Duckett, 2011) Methodology The research to be conducted will mainly be a qualitative research. This is because it will seek to understand the phenomenon of a given situation in order to formulate an informative online platform through which there will be education on the matter. Therefore, the research will be about taking data from stakeholders and also applying it to design and implement an online e-learning portal through which there could be education and development of ideas on malaria. Phase 1: Core Information Gathering The research will utilise a deductive method to take submissions on the actual needs from stakeholders. This will include the gathering of information from stakeholders about the measures and methods for malaria prevention in a local area. From there, a narrative code will help to create an applicable and an important framework for the teaching and education of people in a given African country to deal with the issues and matters under the three broad headings: Breeding Prevention Contact Prevention and Treatment Phase 2: Website Infrastructure Design These will be drawn into a diagram that will guide for the development of a website that will be able to provide the right framework and tool for the education of people in the country under review. Phase 3: Implementation and Testing When the diagram is completed, the website will be built and coded in order to provide direct education The website will also have links for three important things: 1. Donation from foreign countries; 2. Interaction and log-in functionality for volunteering groups and 3. Interactions by members of the public. Finally, the website will be tested through a dynamic approach whereby the website will be made available and a group of sample users will try to use it and from there, bugs can be detected and handled. Software Development Tools The website will be developed through an agile method that will be configured. This method will enable the team to test and retest the deliverables at the different milestones that will be defined in Phase 2. This will ensure that all the desires and expectations of all classes of stakeholders are taken into account and nothing is left out. The retesting will also ensure that the process is robust and appropriate enough. Reason for Choice of Method The website has to be functional and it has to meet the needs of all stakeholders, including the users and other third party stakeholders. It will also need to meet all the desires of donors and get their submissions brought into the fore. Therefore, there is the need for all primary stakeholders to be involved. This means that a detailed interview with all stakeholders including the government authorities, NGOs, volunteering organisations, community members and community leaders are also important. E-Commerce will be a crucial aspect and process. There is also the need for constant evaluation and analysis of information and ensuring that all needs and concerns are progressively taken and reviewed in order to improve the site before it is finally delivered and made available online. In a community where information is meant to be expensive and activities are difficult to carry out, there is the need for a thorough and critical review of every detail in order to ensure that everything is well coordinated. A feedback system is important to ensure that there is a systematic collection and review of information into the future of the project. Scheduling The project will be completed over a period of 12 weeks. This will be divided into three equal parts. The first phase will involve a thorough understanding of the important variables of the research and the documentation of important ideas and pointers. This will be used in the second phase to develop the website and commence testing and other related processes. The third phase will be the final implementation and compilation of the final deliverable of the completed and tested project. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Compilation of Research Tools Literature Review Stakeholder Interviews Brainstorming Design of Research Commencement of Web Building First Stakeholder Meeting Second Stakeholder Meeting Approval from Supervisor Final Website Completion Presentation of Draft Report Submission of Final Report Bibliography Abegunrin, O., 2012. Africa in Global Politics in the Twenty-First Century. 3rd ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Becker, N. et al., 2010. Mosquitoes and their Control. London: Springer. Béguin, A. et al., 2011. The opposing effects of climate change and socio-economic development on the global distribution of malaria. Global Environmental Change, 21(4), pp. 1209-1214. Bradley, P., Statler, M. & Hagen, R., 2012. Encyclopedia of Crisis Management. 3rd ed. London: SAGE. Brent, A., Davidson, R. & Seale, A., 2014. Oxford Handbook of Tropical Medicine. 7th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014. How can Malaria Cases and Deaths be Reduced?. [Online] Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/malaria_worldwide/reduction/ [Accessed 28 April 2015]. Dawood, R., 2013. Travellers Health: How to stay healthy abroad. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Duckett, J., 2011. HTML & CSS: Design and Build website. WROW: WEB DEVELOPER. 20.. London: Wiley. Fraser, N. & Druce, N., 2011. Partnerships for Malaria Control: Engaging the Formal and Informal Private Sector. Rome: World Health Organization. Gary, K., Cummings, L. & Boehm, A., 2007. Toward a Quality Assurance Approach to E-Learning Courses. [Online] Available at: http://er.dut.ac.za/handle/123456789/60 [Accessed 28 April 2015]. Mohandas, N. & Hillyer, C. D., 2014. The iron fist: malaria and hepcidin. Blood, 123(21). National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 2013. Malaria. [Online] Available at: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/malaria/research/pages/control.aspx [Accessed 28 April 2015]. Ruiz, J. G., Mintzer, M. J. & Leipzig, R. M., 2012. The Impact of E-Learning in Medical Education. Academic Medicine, 81(3), pp. 207-212. The World Bank, 2012. Intensifying the Fight Against Malaria: The World Banks Booster Program. New York: Workl Bank. Williams, H. A. & Bloland, P. B., 2014. Malaria Control During Mass Population Movements and Natural Disasters. 2nd ed. Washington DC: National Academic Press. World Health Organization, 2014. Number of Malaria Deaths. [Online] Available at: http://www.who.int/gho/malaria/epidemic/deaths/en/ [Accessed 28 April 2015]. 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