Syllabus

Instructor

Instructor: Alyson Shumays, MPH

Research Program Manager, Global WACh
Clinical Instructor, Dept. of Global Health
University of Washington

Alyson Shumays (she/her/hers) currently works as a Program Manager at Global WACh, supporting the Gut Health and Child Survival research portfolio. Ms. Shumays has over 20 years of experience in global health project and program management. She worked at Akeso Associates, a small consulting firm, mainly supporting organizational development and monitoring and evaluation. She previously worked at the University of Washington’s I-TECH, where she led headquarters based teams to implement large health systems strengthening programs in Tanzania, Namibia, and China. Her duties included program and budget management, supervision, training, program design, and evaluation. Prior to working at I-TECH, Ms. Shumays worked at the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies on the Board on Global Health. She also has several years experience working as a grant manager at non-profit organizations and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa. Ms. Shumays completed her Master of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

Guest Lecturers

Ann Downer, PhD
Professor Emeritus, Department of Global Health
University of Washington

Ivonne Butler, MPH
Clinical Instructor, International Training & Education Center for Health (I-TECH), Department of Global Health
University of Washington

Caryl Feldacker, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, International Training & Education Center for Health (I-TECH), Department of Global Health
University of Washington

Pat Sadate-Ngatchou, PhD, MPH

Description

This professional development course focuses on the project management skills necessary to work effectively in the global public health environment. Global health work is almost always carried out by teams—whether you’re training healthcare workers to implement new interventions, designing health information systems, strengthening service delivery, or evaluating for quality improvement—and knowing how to effectively manage resources and people is crucial for the success of these endeavors.

You’ll learn the fundamentals of project management in this course, including how to design and conduct needs assessment, create planning and implementation documents, manage project resources (both financial and human), plan for transition of assets to local ownership, and monitor and evaluate project. You’ll also learn how to address the inevitable constraints faced by all project managers related to cost, time, and scope when funding decreases, scope grows, priorities shift, team members leave, or other challenges emerge. This course offers practical ideas, tools, and techniques for addressing these challenges as well as advice from experienced project managers from around the world.

You can also download the course syllabus.

You are required to take a Course Policy Quiz to ensure you understand policies and grading for this course.

Course Learning Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to

• Describe skills and traits of effective project managers;
• Use data to inform project planning and make decisions;
• Create a project plan containing essential elements for planning, implementation and evaluation;
• Engage stakeholders in different stages of the project;
• Explain basic principles and tools for effective budget and human resource management;
• Monitor and evaluate projects; and
• Integrate capacity building into project plans to create a sustainable legacy.

Target Audience

Participants are multiple countries around the world and include health care workers, early to mid-career clinical and public health managers, and program directors.

Format

This is a self-paced, online modular course divided into 10 weeks.

This course will be delivered entirely online through a course management system (Moodle).

Participants are expected to review the pre-recorded weekly lectures, complete assigned readings and activities, and participate in discussion via the discussion forums. Most participants will also meet with a local study group that is led by a site facilitator. This is meant to increase opportunities for discussion about the relevance of the material to the local setting. Completion of a final course evaluation is strongly encouraged for successful completion of the course.

If you have any questions, please look at the course FAQ. If your question isn't answered there, please email edgh@uw.edu

Materials

There are no required textbooks for this course. Required readings will be listed in each module. However, you may find this guide helpful:

PMD Pro: Project Management for Development Professionals Guide. PM4NGOs. 2017.

Grading

To be successful in the course you will need to complete all of the learning activities listed.

Final grades will be calculated as follows:

Activity	Percentage
Written assignments (6 total)	50%
Discussion forums (2 points each, 5 total)	10%
Quizzes (4 points each, 10 total)	40%
Total	100%

Submitting Assignments

All assignments for this course will be submitted electronically through Moodle. Assignments must be submitted by the given deadline.

Viewing Grades in Moodle

Points you receive for graded activities will be posted to the Moodle Grade Book.

Quizzes will be graded upon submission. Discussion and assignment grades are posted by the end of the day Monday after an assignment is due. If you submit your assignment late (after the due date), please note that your grade will be updated approximately 10 days after the due date. All due dates and times are in Pacific Time.

Assignments

Written Assignments

There are several written assignments throughout the course. The assignments will give you an opportunity to practice drafting common project management documents. Answer keys are provided once you submit your assignment.

Discussion Forums

Your participation in the discussion forums is critical for maximizing your learning experiences in this course. Please refer to the information on posting to discussion forums to read expectations for posting.

Quizzes

Quizzes will open when the module opens. You will have 2 attempts on each quiz. The learning management system will record your highest score.

Optional Learning Activities

In some modules, we have included optional learning activities. These contain additional resources, learning activities, and downloadable resources. Completing these optional activities is for your own enrichment and will not count toward your grade.

Note: there is no final exam.

Certificate of Completion

Active participation is required in order to receive a Certificate of Completion for the course. To receive a Certificate of Completion from the University of Washington, USA, you must pass the course, which means getting a final score of 70% or higher on all graded activities.

If you are a site participant, you must earn a qualifying score and attend 3 of the site meetings your site will hold. Attendance at more, if offered, is encouraged but not required to meet the site participation requirement. After the course, site participant certificates will be sent to site coordinators for distribution.

Late Work Policy

Assignments will be due at the end of each module. If you are unable to submit your assignment by the due date, you may still submit it up to one week late without penalty. After the one-week grace period, the assignment will close and it can no longer be accepted for grading.

Commitment to Academic Integrity

Commit to Integrity

As a participant in this course you are expected to maintain high degrees of professionalism, commitment to active learning and participation in this class and also integrity in your behavior in and out of the classroom.

Definitions

“Plagiarism is defined as the use of the words, ideas, diagrams, etc., of publicly available work without appropriately acknowledging the sources of these materials. This definition constitutes plagiarism whether it is intentional or unintentional and whether it is the work of another or your own, previously published work. Plagiarism is a very serious offense that the University of Washington's eDGH Program does not tolerate.”

Enforcement

Corroborated reports of plagiarism, cheating, or other misconduct will result in no credit on that assignment and may result in suspension from the course and ban from participation in future courses.

Religious Accommodations

eDGH uses the UW’s policy on religious accommodations for participants who need to make special arrangements in meeting course deadlines due to reasons of faith or conscience or for religious activities. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course by contacting edgh@uw.edu

Copyright Statement

All content associated with this course is copyrighted. This includes the syllabus, assignments, reading lists, and lectures, as well as any material generated by your fellow students. Within the constraints of "fair use", you may copy these materials for your personal use in support of your education. For example, you may download materials to your computer for study, but you may not copy the materials and distribute or upload to a website. Such “fair use” by you does not include further distribution by any means of copying, performance or presentation beyond the circle of your close acquaintances, student colleagues in this class and your family. If you have any questions regarding any use violates the creator's copyright interests, please feel free to email edgh@uw.edu

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