too long, it could be short and precise

Final assessment is very hard and long

The course is easily compared with corporate retail computer based trainings that I have done throughout the years. What that means is that it suffers from a variety of flaws that are a mix of educators/managers having limited subject knowledge, unclear instructions, and a very low expectation of the abilities of the student. It presents the idea that, if a case or contact is obviously unhappy, the contact tracer must have done something wrong. If a case is not immediately receptive to the contact tracer, the contact tracer is too inept to handle the situation and should immediately hand it over to the supervisor. I counted 3 completely wrong answers in quizzes and the final test. Some vignettes did not match the course material in the videos they were part of. Finally, the technology section needs to be scrapped. The instructor has no subject knowledge and went off on a political tangent on how China and Korea were doing everything right by tracking their citizen's every move. The instructor even went as far as suggesting a non-existent, near impossible to regulate app that would have a similar effect in the US.

Absolutely no medical evidence to support this view. Secondly it truly disturbs me that two different x-rays of the chest were used instead of before or after Covid illness.

Thirdly, it really disturbs me that on going phone calls are being made to ill people. People claiming to have COVID. Those people would be unable to carry on such rudimentary conversations. When they are coughing their heads off, are short of breath and have a fever. Waste of time.

I started the class late because I heard about it via social media, thought it would be a great course to take. I took it & the internet went out so I waited until after the holiday and finished it. I passed and I’m not getting a certificate after all that work, nothing to show like my friend. It never said anything about not receiving one. I’m so upset.

Course takes a heavy-handed and condescending approach to interacting with people and seems to have been written by someone with a very low emotional intelligence. Additionally, it posits that contact tracing 'serves as a public good and is based on the principles of justice' which is an abhorrent statement in relation to individual liberty.

There needs to be a version that allows you to skip most of the stuff already common to health care workers where the presenter doesn't talk as though she's talking to a 2-year-old.

Very manipulative and deceptive. Way too much time spent trying to assert the ethic of this process. If it is ethical, then why waste so much time?

The COVID 19 contact tracing course is very useful for our knowledge.its very good course.i would like to say that this course is very useful to me.

Course is useless, COVID is not real. Just here for a paycheck

Speaker could have been more energetic.

complete waste of time

Time wasted

Good

I was able to complete the course over two days. I found it to be professionally developed and I learned a number of things that I did not know or previously internalize about COVID-19, including the difference between the incubation period vs. the infectious period, how to calculate those periods for a specific individual based on the onset of symptoms, motivations and support systems for quarantine and isolation, and how contact tracing is skillfully conducted.

I would highly recommend the first 2 modules (Basics of COVID-19, Basics of Contact Tracing for COVID-19) for just about everyone to get solid foundation knowledge of COVID-19 and infection mechanisms and timeframes. I thought I already knew a bit from reading news articles, etc, but there were a number of things I learned, probably as the result of some focused study and guidance to tie it all together.

The remaining 3 modules (Steps to Investigate Cases and Trace Their Contacts, Ethics of Contact Tracing and Technological Tools, Skills for Effective Communication) are obviously primarily beneficial for those who are looking to work as or even train a contact tracer. However, the Skills for Effective Communication also includes good teaching on active listening and examples of an essential set of interpersonal skill that is relevant well beyond contact tracing.

Finally, this course does not attempt to get very technical in its discussion about COVID-19, nor does it discuss the latest in treatment research. It also does not try to tackle the difficult task of identifying asymptomatic carriers. But what this course does intend to cover, it does well, serving as a solid introduction to the virus and core contact tracing practices and motivations.

The video "Observing Basic Case and Contact Calls" was very bad. I could not watch it, even though I tried four times.

The "case" actor, "Larry Marie" was disgusting. He seemed to think he was acting in a soap opera.

The "contact" actress, "Annette Peterson" was bad, too, in her own way. She did not even look like she was 61 years old, and she made numerous unnecessary facial expressions.

It would have been better for the actors just to have read the scripts "straight", without trying to ham it up. Their lack of authenticity was nauseating.

The rest of the course was quite good, except for one unfortunate point: the unnecessary use of the term "public good".

"Public good" has a specific meaning in economics. Public goods have certain characteristics, such as non-excludability and non-rivalrous nature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good_(economics)

Public health services are services, not goods, and they are they are definitely not non-rival, because health services can be stretched thin when the case load is too heavy.

I think that no good purpose was served in bringing up the topic of public goods. The course should have steered clear of this jargon term from economics.

Overall, the course was quite good, especially the part about the natural history of Covid-19.

However, I was unclear about whether it would be better for contacts to quarantine separately from other members of their household, if possible. It would seem so, but this was not stated explicitly, to my recollection.

Finally, if a test question has multiple answers, the phrase "check all appropriate answers" should always be included.

I am an elementary school nurse who @ the last minute has started off their school year in a virtual learning model. We hope to go to hybrid p 1st quarter.

My nursing supervisor asked all of the district nurses to complete this course in the probable event we will be contract tracers for each of our buildings and to help our Human Resources dep't and the local health dep't to monitor COVID -19 concerns in the district.

I found this course to be challenging as well as insightful into the world of public health. It was extremely helpful to have non judgmental quizzes along the way to reinforce the learning. The role playing videos were great learning tools. Communication doesn't come easy for me, so being given examples of the appropriate words to say was paramount for me. I know I will be able to try and build great rapport w/ any staff that I need to help. Thank you!

I am a perfectionist by nature, so I know I sometimes get too caught up in what I am doing. That being said, the hours I put into this course were far more than what the course elicited/ stated would need to be committed to. I am a health professional so the anatomy/pathophysiology, nuts & bolts of SARS-CoV-2 came relatively easy. This course did however take just about double the 6 -7 hours of commitment that was advertised. That fact left me scrambling to add more study/ viewing time than I originally thought was needed. Total time to complete, I feel, needs to be adjusted for future participants. I know I will keep this in mind before signing up for another class.

Thank you for this format.

Cheri

Very helpful, clear explanations of complex topics, great review of interviewing skills. The course reinforced what I have learned and practiced in my decades as a physician specializing in Family and Community Medicine as well as my training and experience in Global and Public Health. I think that the contact tracers need to know the current limitations of testing for SARS-CoV antibodies, which may lack specificity and not reflect lasting immunity. This is evolving information.

Please also differentiate and explain more clearly: exposure, infection, incubation period.

The R0 is of course a useful parameter but begs the question of how it could range, depending on the number of contacts actually exposed to the index case. Should it be thought of as a ratio? This was confusing in the course. I think that showing graphs with geometric and exponential increases could be a helpful graphic. It would be a nice review of high-school math.

"Medical Grade mask" is a colloquial term. Better to describe different face coverings as artisanal/homemade, procedure or surgical, N95 respirator (looks like and could be used as a dust mask but is more than that). Also the N95 is designed to protect the wearer, so we often wear a surgical mask on top of it to protect our patients. Our other PPE elements such as gowns, face shields, and gloves are part of the protection package for health care professionals. I would like people to understand that any face covering used properly and consistently can benefit the wearer and the people nearby

I would like to personally thank Emily Gurley, PhD, MPH, Associate Scientist, John Hopkins University and the University for the powerful message this course presents to understanding the global impact of a virus that requires the unmasking and identification of an infected individual. Linking their vital contact tracking of people they may have been in close proximity to will help reduce and circumvent community spread.

The importance of contact tracing for COVID 19 and other relevant viruses infecting humanity is not a whimsical fantasy created for global political politics but presents a key to protecting the planet from endangering humanity and preserving life.

I am seventy-years-of age and was assessed for coronavirus. Was I COVID+? Still awaiting a decision. I am fortunate that I live in a safe city and a safe neighborhood. I am a widow and my children live in other cities. However, testing here was rationed in the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak and still plays a factor in the tracking and tracing of this deadly virus. And the CDC did not expand and update all the symptoms that accompany the virus until late in this pandemic.

Following the updated information regarding COVID 19 symptoms on Israeli TV and as released on WHO is a telltale sign that requires us to be vigilant about global health.

This COVID 19 course helped me to further assess what is needed as it is a global outreach that transcends one country’s flag. Thank you. תודה רבה

NC Abrams (motownblackwhite.com)

I was very impressed with this course, although it ,along with my other online & household responsibilities, took me A LOT longer than ~ the 6 hours suggested. I am a bit compulsive, & I kept going back & back. Still there were spots that I didn't get completely. I am a nursing educator with 45 years' experience as an RN. I still found some parts difficult. I made the classic mistake of changing some answers on the final & therefore achieved a lower score than I should have. (Ah.... me!) But I passed. I am considering assigning this to one of my grad nursing courses this fall as an excercise in learning more, refreshing nursing skills (particularly communication skills) and communication/active listening. They sometimes never get that in their undergrad programs. My university offers its own Contact Tracing certificate. I'm possibly going to try to get their certificate (also free) to compare, but I'm pretty sure that your course will win! Thank you, Dr. Gurley & associates & thanks to JHU for making this free. A true public health service. I am impressed, particularly since this is a U.S. based university. If the world were collaborating better on this pandemic, it would not have wreaked the havoc that it has done to many countries, particularly the U.S. & the Western Hemisphere in general.

This class not only subtly showcases the medical expertise of the instructors, it is designed extremely well allowing for easy absorption of the facts. It is readily apparent that the expertise of contact tracers was also incorporated into class, giving us very valuable tips on how to actually do the job of a contact tracer including what NOT to do. The updates included for CDC guidelines were extremely appreciated as these seem to change daily these days. Loved the videos of contact tracer conversations! Extremely helpful!

I originally started a contact tracer course at my local junior college. It was immediately apparent to me that while the instructors were very knowledgeable, they were also practitioners and did not have the instructional expertise to develop a course that easily understandable for students. Having been a teacher for over 12 years, perhaps I was more biased, but in talking to my classmates online, everyone seemed to be struggling with the same issue. I have compared the class materials of each and realized that the John Hopkins coursera class actually gave me much more information regarding the actual experience of contact tracing, which is essentially why I took this course in the first place.

Thank you for creating such an informative and easily understandable course!

I loved this course! Thank you for offering it for free to the public, as it was very informative & thorough. With respect, my only critiques are as follows: populations most vulnerable to infection and how the disease is spread among the public was slightly confusing.

Maybe in the future the development of separate course levels for health care professionals and basic contact tracers would be ideal, kind of like how CPR courses are currently designed to accommodate the various needs of the industry sectors. Another possible solution for this presentation could be to add a slide or two about wives tales identified throughout this pandemic thus far, (i.e. emphasizing that although the media at first promoted the idea that children are at risk for severe infection, it appears that children are not at high risk of severe infection & that these other groups are). Restructuring of the existing slide could also work as maybe that is what confused me. One last point, the identification of curbside pick-up scenarios as low-risk for the spread of infection was confusing to me - would these objects be considered fomites? It would be great if this could be expanded on further in the future. Thanks again to the creators and theatrical team for this awesome & FREE course , I learned a lot!!!

This COVID-19 Contact Tracing Course was enlightening, encouraging, filled with sorrow, and deepened my determination to be of assistance at this time of this Pandemic.

The Course instructor/lecturer Dr. Emily Gurley, PhD, MPH was a top-notch communicator of facts and details surrounding and pertaining to COVID-19. Her explanations of the virus, the awareness of its effect, her presentation of the facts, was absolutely superb. My learning curve was not flattened; I highly recommend this course.

Since the beginning of my awareness (my awareness of this Pandemic was end of December 2019) there has been a desire of mine to help in some way. When I heard the term contact tracing, a term I cannot recall hearing before, I knew immediately this is what I want to do to contribute to the efforts to overcome this Pandemic.

I was still employed as Church Clerk with the Sunny Side Missionary Baptist Church then; however, now I am retired from that employ and can add my efforts to those of the many others on this battlefield.

Thank you. Thank all of you who are involved in this battle. Godspeed. God bless you all. Thank you, again, for making this course (which provided more than ample information on this virus) available to the masses.

Thank you for the opportunity to take the COVID-19 Contract Tracing Course online (for free!). I am not in the Public Health or medical fields, but I did and do want to learn more about COVID-19 and the Contact Tracing Process.

The COVID-19 Contract Tracing Course was very good! The organization was easy to follow and the information provided was very helpful. The charts were VERY informative and the contact call examples with review follow up was value add.

I had 2 minor issues though, and I am sure both are due to user error! First, I attempted to download a module, but no file appeared. This is my first non-internal company course and my goal was to get a copy of the whole module "old school style" so that I can take notes for later referral. I also attempted to download several charts with no luck. (I did search for recent downloads and files just to be sure, but to no avail.) Second, I thought this would be a 5-week course as Week One had one module and there were 4 others. Week 1 appeared to be indented and the first module appeared to be indented also. Again, both of these are more than likely user errors.

Thank you again for the opportunity to take the COVID-19 Contact Tracing online course.

I am a substitute school nurse. I am not sure if I will be able to use this course in the school, but wanted to have certification to assist where needed. I have a daughter-in-law who is a High School Athletic trainer, and has been reading information from the CDC. I have told her about this course, and gave her information to take course. I took another Contact Tracing course, but only got certificate. I decided to take this course to get the CE hours. I am glad I took this course. I learned additional information. I like the questions at the end of each section, if I got something wrong, I went back and review the section right away. Even though, I got a 93.33% on the final examine, The ones I got wrong were the ones I over read the question, was debating if I needed to mark additional answers and talked myself out of mark the answers. I feel comfortable with my score. I feel, I had the information I needed to do the job.

I had selected some class to keep the information handy if and when I use the course. I did not know how to get the information printed. There was some very good information that I would have like to have.

I found the course very helpful.

Thank you

Nancy Jane Jenkins, BSN, RN