Methodological guidelines for the design of learning pathways. Learning Pathway Series, No. 1

Lifelong learning has become a necessity today and in recent times has been complemented with online resources that provide access to continuous professional growth. The health sector is particularly sensitive to change and the need to develop new competencies. While benefiting from the introduction of new technologies, it must offer quality, economically sustainable responses in increasingly complex environments. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has launched a premier platform to support technical cooperation through permanent education in health: the Virtual Campus for Public Health. Over the past 20 years, it has evolved and expanded its educational initiatives, based primarily on self-learning but also tutorials and webinars produced by the Organization and its strategic partners at the regional and country level. The purpose of learning pathways is to facilitate health workers’ choice of educational activities for lifelong learning. To this end, PAHO has designed and validated this guide for the staff of its technical areas and, within the framework of technical cooperation, for partners involved in course design and public health education in the Region of the Americas. The methodology presented is a contribution to the conceptualization and construction of guided educational paths based on the competencies sought in the different health teams. Technical teams responsible for addressing priority health issues, including training as a valuable planning resource, will find these guidelines and orientations extremely useful. This guide will also be useful to the heads of training institutions in the countries, teachers, and university personnel.