• General

    Disaster Management and Emergency Planning
                                                     Course Code: PHUDMEP21B                                                                     

    Welcome!

    All communities are vulnerable to emergency situations. The question is not "if" a disaster will occur, but "when". The ability to assess the hazards and to address them can help reduce the risks of a disaster occurring. This is more effective and as important as responding to disasters and dealing with the consequences.

    Aims

    This module has been developed to introduce you to the concepts and processes of emergency planning and management of disasters within a developing world context.

    Module Structure and Expectations

    The structure of the module is as follows: A number of competencies have been identified, that a Public Health practitioner would require to meet which are based on a review of the literature and the opinion of course designers.  

    The course is structured into five 2-week-long “Topics” (Topics 1-5), each being facilitated by different tutors from our team.  For each Topic, we have prepared a set of online reading resources to help you meet the course competencies. The basis of learning is to read these Resources, reflect on them, and discuss them in the Discussion Fora with fellow students and tutors during each 2-week Topic.  In many cases, there are Quizzes after the Topic to allow you to self-assess your learning.  It is expected that you read all core resources and contribute to all discussions as frequently as possible to make the most of these learning opportunities and give you the best chance to pass the module.

    Participation requirements

    Participation in Discussion Fora is an essential part of learning and not optional.  You should respond to the original discussion question by the tutor, as well as to your fellow classmates' contributions.   In your responses, you should support your arguments with examples from your own experience and/or with information from other resources, such as academic or other literature.  Discussion Fora are therefore also an opportunity to practice academic reasoning and writing (including referencing your sources).

    To help you with your contributions to the Fora, please read the part of the Student Handbook labelled Discussion contributions.

    Students need to make at least one substantial discussion contribution in each of three separate Topics, before being permitted to submit an assignment – see Student Handbook [http://www.peoples-uni.org/content/criteria-pass].  To really benefit from the course, you are expected to contribute much more frequently than that.

    Help and support

    Do ask for clarifications about the course reading the Discussion Forum – in this way, all students can share the learning. 

    Each student at Peoples-uni is also enrolled in a Student Support Group, led by one of our Student Support Officers.  If you have any queries or concerns about your academic skills such as academic writing, referencing, searching for literature, or critical analysis, we would strongly encourage you to make use of the SSOs.

    If you need to contact the module Student Support Officer (SSO), Tutors, or Module Leader directly outside the Discussion Forum, you can do so by sending them a message via the Moodle system (from the Participants list on this module website, or by clicking on their name in the module – Instructions are here).

    You are strongly advised to look carefully through all sections of the Student Handbook and refer to it regularly. 

    To build your generic study skills, particularly if you are new to online learning or academic writing, you will find the Study Skills Resources on Students Corner helpful.

    For technical inquiries about problems with the Internet or any of the resources, please contact our friendly Helpdesk at techsupport@peoples-uni.org.

    Assessment

    There are one or two formal assignments for each module if you wish to gain credit or work towards an academic award.  The final assignment is found under Topic 5. The assignment is assessed for credit, and students will be judged as to whether their work satisfies the standards required at the UK Masters level (50% pass mark).  The assignment will test the course learning outcomes.  You are advised to read the section Assignments, assessment writing, and plagiarism in the Student Handbook to help you understand the expectations.   Also please study the Study Resources on Student Corner, particularly the Academic Writing Forum self-study course, to help you prepare your assignments.

    The deadline for the assignment is shown on the module calendar.

    Assignments may be randomly processed by plagiarism software.  Students found to have plagiarized material from elsewhere for their assignment risk automatically being failed for the module.

    Feedback

    We want you to help by telling us what needs to be changed in the module and the resources we have identified, and also to suggest new resources or approaches, in particular, to give examples of relevance to your work or country setting. We will also be asking you to assess the module and give us feedback on it after the semester.

    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

     

    Timetable and the tutors
    Module Leader:  
    Student Support Officer:  

    DMEP Module Dates Facilitator
    Topic 1 September 14th - September 27th   
    Topic 2 September 28th – October 11th  
    Topic 3 October 19th - November 1st  
    Topic 4 November 2nd – November 15th  
    Topic 5

    November 16th – November 29th Assignment due December 30th2020