The LA County Department of Public Health (Public Health) is committed to advancing the conditions that support optimal health and well-being for all. Public Health, one of the nation’s largest public health departments, responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by enhancing its training program. Faced with an increase in Community Health Workers (CHW), it developed a comprehensive training tailored for internal staff and external stakeholders, focusing on clear communication and accessible, flexible learning options. This effort aimed to improve process efficiency and content accessibility, allowing for realtime updates and self-paced learning in a dynamic environment.
The Challenge
Public Health faced challenges with the complexity and inefficiency of its previous system, which involved leveraging internal systems that were not designed for external access. Accessing the system required navigating multiple authentication steps, and the lack of user-friendly features created barriers to communication and accessibility for both internal and external users attempting to access training materials and resources.
Furthermore, relying on email to distribute training information led to scattered and disorganized communication, particularly for live training sessions. Without a centralized learning management system (LMS), users struggled to access vital information efficiently, impacting their ability to engage with training content effectively. This highlighted the need for a more user-friendly and centralized solution like Canvas LMS.
Key Insights
Before adopting Canvas, Public Health faced challenges with its training platform, hindering efficient access to training materials for both internal and external users.
Canvas LMS provided a customizable and userfriendly platform, streamlining training and resource management for Public Health.
Canvas facilitates seamless course duplication and translation, ensuring equal access to training materials in multiple languages.
Public Health plans to expand its use of Canvas, adding more courses and programs, indicating the platform's scalability and effectiveness in meeting organizational goals.
The Solution
Canvas LMS emerged as the ideal solution to address Public Health’s diverse challenges, offering a customizable platform tailored to the department’s unique needs. With Canvas, Public Health gained access to a user-friendly interface and robust features that streamlined training and resource management. Now, Public Health can customize courses, modules, and assessments to match specific training requirements and objectives and send reminders and announcements to project staff, ensuring that each user receives relevant and engaging content.
[Canvas] has allowed us to continue to provide training and resources for people on one solid platform.It doesn't matter if you're within DPH or a contracted community partner, which is really helpful.
Emily Turner,
Health Program Analyst, LA County Department of Public Health
Versatile Solution For Diverse Needs
Public Health is expanding its use of Canvas, with plans to add more courses and programs, leveraging Canvas’ scalability and effectiveness in meeting organizational goals. One notable addition to this expansion is introducing a Canvas page dedicated to supervisors. This page is designed to provide targeted information and resources to CHW supervisors, who are crucial in ensuring that their teams are adequately trained and informed about departmental policies, procedures, and best practices. By providing a centralized hub for supervisory resources, Canvas enables supervisors to access essential information efficiently and effectively, enhancing their ability to support their teams.
Canvas’ flexibility is instrumental in accommodating the diverse requirements of different grant programs and initiatives within the department. Each grant may have unique training needs, compliance requirements, and reporting obligations. Canvas offers the flexibility to customize courses, modules, and content to align with the specific objectives of each grant. This adaptability ensures that training materials are tailored to meet the needs of different target audiences, whether they are Public Health staff, contractors, or community partners.
Equal Access For Spanish Speakers
LA County has a large Spanish-speaking community, and Canvas facilitates seamless course duplication and translation, ensuring that language barriers do not hinder access to vital information and resources. This approach ensures that Spanish-speaking staff and community outreach workers have access to the same training materials and resources as their English-speaking counterparts, promoting equity in education and outreach efforts.
The availability of the Canvas mobile app provides convenience for users, particularly field workers, who often rely on their phones to access training materials.
The Results
LA County Department of Public Health’s experience with Canvas underscores the transformative impact of modern learning technologies in the public health sector. By leveraging Canvas as a centralized training hub, Public Health can overcome communication barriers, tailor training for diverse audiences, and drive organizational goals more effectively. As DPH continues to expand its Canvas presence and embrace innovative solutions, it remains committed to enhancing community health outreach and empowering its workforce for greater impact.
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