Duncan, Sebelius Unveil Recommendations for Schools on How Learning Continues in Case of Flu Outbreak

[Pathfinder]

PRESS RELEASES
Duncan, Sebelius Unveil Recommendations for Schools on How Learning Continues in Case of Flu Outbreak


FOR RELEASE:
August 24, 2009 Contact: HHS (202) 690-6343
ED (202) 401-1576


Today, Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty and District of Columbia Chancellor of Public Schools Michelle Rhee joined with officials from Google, Apple, Microsoft, Scholastic Inc., Pearson, Curriki, and the International Association for Online Learning to announce new recommendations on the continuity of learning in the event of students absences or school closures due to seasonal or novel H1N1 flu.

The recommendations crafted by the Department of Education are designed to help education stakeholders start planning and acting now for the impact that seasonal and 2009 H1N1 influenza could have this fall and winter on schools and the learning process.

Government officials are especially concerned about the impact of H1N1 in schools because the virus appears to spread quickly among younger Americans. The Centers for Disease Control?s DC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recently found that younger Americans, specifically children ages 6 months to 24 years, are one of the top priority groups when it comes to the new H1N1 vaccine.

?We can all work to keep ourselves healthy now by practicing prevention, close monitoring and using common sense,? Secretary Duncan said. ?We know that some students may be affected by H1N1. And our top priority is making sure that they have a way to get well, stay well and to keep learning. With these recommendations, we?re providing a menu of strategies for educators to help ensure that the learning process will continue.?

?One important reason we are all here today is the Department of Education?s Continuation of Learning guidance,? said Secretary Sebelius. ?Everyone?s goal should be to keep children healthy and in school. But if they get sick -- and some will -- we have to make sure that they don?t fall behind.?

The recommendations suggest that educators prepare take-home assignments in advance for distribution to affected students and use the Internet and telephones to post homework materials, conduct classes, share information and keep teachers, parents and students in close touch.

The department is working Google, Apple, Microsoft, Scholastic Inc., Pearson, Curriki, the International Association for Online Learning and other private sector partners, and service providers to make continuity of learning resources like pre-printed lesson plans, conference call services, webinar support, podcasting, and virtual classrooms more affordable and accessible for educators.

For the complete H1N1 Continuity of Learning Guidance, please visit www.ed.gov/h1n1flu


http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2009/08/08242009.html

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Duncan, Sebelius Unveil Recommendations for Schools on How Learning Continues in Case of Flu Outbreak

Schools urged to prepare for swine flu absences
by Nafeesa Syeed, The Associated Press


Monday August 24, 2009, 12:05 PM


Rice school nurse Cindy Womack puts up signs encouraging students to be healthy and prevent the spread of germs on Aug. 7 in Houston.
Schools should be ready with hard-copy packets and online lessons to keep learning going even if swine flu sickens large numbers of students, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Monday.

Speaking at an elementary school on the first day of classes in Washington, Duncan released recommendations on how educators can ensure instruction continues should the virus cause high absenteeism or school closings.

"As the school year begins, I'm concerned that the H1N1 virus might disrupt learning in some schools across the country," he said.

Duncan said schools should evaluate what materials they have available for at-home learning. The latest guidance provides more details on methods schools could use, such as distributing recorded classes on podcasts and DVDs; creating take-home packets with up to 12 weeks of printed class material; or holding live classes via conference calls or "webinars."

Federal officials said earlier this month schools should close only as a last resort. They also advised that students and teachers can return to school or work 24 hours after their fever is gone; the old advice was to stay home for a week. The virus prompted more than 700 schools to temporarily close last spring.

Duncan was joined by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and representatives from several technology companies and publishers, such as Apple, Microsoft and Pearson, which are working with the Education Department to offer print and online resources, some of which could be free, to schools severely affected by swine flu. The details are still being worked out, but the companies might offer technology to allow students and teachers to communicate virtually, provide published instructional material, and provide computer servers that can handle transferring large amounts of teaching material.

Sebelius said clinical trials of the swine flu vaccine "look good" and it could possibly be administered by mid-October.

"We anticipate using schools as partners to make sure that we reach out to kids who are a priority population to get the vaccination," she said.


http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2009/08/schools_urged_to_prepare_for_s.html

 

[Treyfish]

Re: Duncan, Sebelius Unveil Recommendations for Schools on How Learning Continues in Case of Flu Outbreak

CDC Readies Internet Barrage To Combat Swine Flu


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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control uses a range of Internet services, including Twitter, YouTube, and even games, to help spread flu-protection messages.
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<NOBR>August 24, 2009 12:39 PM </NOBR>
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The Centers for Disease Control is preparing several electronic remedies to head off the spread of the H1N1 flu virus. The agency is planning to make use of Twitter, YouTube videos, and text messaging, as well as more traditional tools like e-mail blasts and Web pages. The goal is to saturate the Internet with information about how people can protect themselves against the flu.
The CDC is gearing up its efforts with the approach of autumn, and the flu season, and the possibility of a resurgence of the swine flu virus. <LINK rel=Stylesheet type=text/css href="http://i.cmpnet.com/informationweek/article/mspoke_widgets.css" rev=Stylesheet><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>function showDesc(img){var element = document.getElementById("videoBoxDisplayAreaText");if(element)element.innerHTML = img.alt;};</SCRIPT><!-- mSpokeSection: [recommendations?channels=whitepaper:2,webcast:2,report:2,video:3&itemid=219401216] -->
http://api.mspoke.com/techweb/click...ortwp1248765327636&impressionId=1251134356018 http://api.mspoke.com/techweb/click...siswp1247728525721&impressionId=1251134356018 Central to the campaign is putting information on other Web sites, rather than requiring people to come to CDC.gov for information, said Janice Nall, director of the CDC's e-health marketing division. "We're trying to reach people where they are, not necessarily expecting them to come to us," she said. "All of our distribution is on channels that people are already using."





The agency has had some good experience with this approach, Nall said. H1N1 videos on CDC.gov have gotten about 100,000 page views, but the same videos on YouTube got 2.01 million views.
People look for videos on YouTube but not necessarily on the CDC.gov site. The videos are "nothing fancy," Nall said, some are just talking heads. "It's not like they're exciting, sexy videos," she said. "We're just trying to get the content out in video format."
This philosophy of bringing information to places on the Internet where people are, rather than requiring people to come to CDC.gov, pervades the CDC's electronic strategy. Other efforts include:
Widgets and content syndication: The CDC has built widgets that people can embed on their own Web pages, providing tips on H1N1 prevention. Schools are finding it useful to embed the widgets on their own sites, to inform their constituents. Likewise, automated syndication lets a Web site publisher include the latest H1N1 information on their Web site, in a style that conforms to the look of the site, without any further update once the syndication tools are installed.
Graphical buttons: The CDC is distributing graphical buttons reminding people to take basic health precautions, such as covering their mouths when they cough. People can embed the buttons on social networking sites, including MySpace and Facebook.
Twitter: The CDC has several Twitter feeds, with a total of 700,000 followers, for releasing health information. Popularity of the feeds increases exponentially during flu season.
E-mail: E-mail updates are available from the CDC via GovDelivery, a federal e-mail alert service. The agency has a federal employee mailing list for H1N1 alerts with more than 200,000 subscribers. It's also building tools to send alerts out to all government e-mail list subscribers, a whopping 13 million addresses.
Texting: The CDC is piloting texting health alerts. Blogger outreach: The agency is planning to hold Webinars targeted at independent bloggers, in the hopes that they'll help get the information out when necessary. It's targeting bloggers who focus on parenting issues--aka "Mommybloggers"--as well as those who focus on health issues. Information on and links to all the CDC's social media campaigns are available on an overview page at CDC.gov. Of the CDC's e-health marketing group's about 35 full-time staffers, three or four are working on social media.
Social media is especially important in cases of the H1N1 virus because it strikes young adults particularly hard compared with other flus, which are generally most dangerous to the very old and very young. Health officials say they need to get information to young adults in the channels that they use, such as social media. The CDC is also dabbling with using games and virtual worlds to get information out. It has released a flu game into Whyville, a virtual world for tweens. Players can catch the "Why-Flu" by sneezing and talking in close proximity to avatars who haven't been vaccinated. Whyville avatars who catch the electronic flu can't talk. The game teaches good hygiene and health practices.
Grandparents often go on Whyville to spend time with their grandchildren so the game also exposes older people--another high-risk group--to the health information as well.:tiphat:http://www.informationweek.com/news...?articleID=219401216&pgno=1&queryText=&isPrev=