Introduction
The effectiveness of the online COVID-19 health and safety program will be evaluated in line with the set objectives. The outcome evaluation entails an assessment of the results of the program while comparing with the expectations (Owen, 2020). First, students’ achievement from the program will be evaluated by answering the question of how much a difference the program made to the students. The first step, in this case, is hypothesis formulation to shape the direction of evaluation. The hypothesis will be stated as HA: The COVID-19 health and safety program facilitated knowledge on infections prevention and control in a safe environment for the students and instructors. This hypothesis combines the program’s impact on students and instructors because the goal was to foster an understanding of the preventive measures, a process carried out by instructors.
The second step entails data collection, which will be carried out through questionnaires and in-person interviews. For this purpose, a sample of ten randomly selected students, and two instructors will be selected for interviews. The questionnaires will be distributed to every participant, and anonymity is encouraged to ensure correct responses. The primary purpose of the in-person interviews is to gauge the participant’s attitudes towards the program. The data collected will be analyzed through methods such as cluster analysis by grouping responses based on the level of change realized. At this stage, the analysis results can be presented in a graphical format to clearly illustrate how much of a difference was realized through the program.
Marketing Strategy and Brand Promise
The proposed training program will be marketed to students through online and offline platforms. As COVID-19 has disrupted many learning programs, most students have to study online (Zhu & Liu, 2020). For this reason, the first strategy will be capitalized on social media advertising. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are the min social media platforms to be used. This strategy will effectively attract students since many are active on these social media platforms. Celebrities will be used to advertise the program on their social media pages. Celebrity advertising has been found effective in many attempts to reach young people because they identify themselves always want to identify themselves with famous figures (Kim et al., 2017). Recently, there has been an increased use of TikTok advertising as it has gained popularity among college students, as shown by Haenlein et al. (2020). Using short TikTok videos depicting the program’s application also be a viable marketing strategy capable of attracting a large percentage of students.
The goal of a marketing strategy is to reach almost every potential customer. Since some students may not be frequent social media users, email invites will be used to invite them to check out the program and, if possible, leave their feedback. In addition to online advertisement, flyers and posters will be distributed to different colleges through the administrations to reach students who may be within the school premises. A good brand is built on the need to establish emotional connections between the brand and potential customers (Punjaisri & Wilson, 2017). The program’s brand promise is: unearth your potential while saving yourself and others. The brand describes the desire to enable students to learn as much as they can on health and safety without risking their lives. This will be delivered through continuous program evaluation and feedback to ensure that its tenets are in place.
Learning Platform Assessment
As e-learning becomes popular in the education sector globally, many technological breakthroughs have helped the development of learning platforms to equip students with essential tools. The COVID-19 health and safety training program will be delivered through the Blackboard, which is a common and effective tool for online learning. According to Elbasuony et al. (2018), blackboard learning has been appreciated by many students as an effective way of personal knowledge acquisition and connections with classmates and instructors.
In comparison with other platforms such as Moodle, Blackboard is more effective in terms of resource management. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a serious resources strain, and as such, students need to study using the cheapest and most convenient methods. Blackboard allows students to take their lessons offline and share their knowledge online (Elbasuony et al., 2018). Although Blackboard has been found applicable in many learning programs, it has one major challenge in regard to assessments. The use of unfair means of passing examinations has contributed to dishonesty and dissatisfaction among students (Elbasuony et al., 2018). One crucial suggestion in regard to the platform’s usefulness entails the integration of programs that can detect dishonest methods with a higher degree of accuracy than that offered by current solutions such as Turnitin. When taking online assessments on Blackboard, students should be prevented from consulting secondary sources.
Ethical Issues in Program Implementation
E-learning has facilitated access to educational resources and increased students’ participation in learning. However, several ethical concerns arise in response to its widespread use in schools. One of the significant challenges is data privacy and monitoring (Majeed et al., 2016). Keeping students’ data safe is a significant challenge that needs to be addressed. Essentially as all students have access to the Blackboard, there are high chances that a student’s personal data may be hacked and used inappropriately. In addition, students are not given copyrights for their work submitted on the backboard. Therefore, a student may use another student’s post and present it as their own, violating ethical standards. The lack of intellectual property rights is a big challenge that can be solved by developing software that marks each answer submitted on Blackboard with the first student’s name and storing all answers in a database. In case a student tries to send the same work, it will be detected as a duplicate and regarded as plagiarism. This way, each student’s work will be safeguarded against unauthorized access.
The second ethical challenge associated with the proposed program is online bullying. According to statistics, 4.3% of college students have been victims of cyberbullying, with 7.5% being perpetrators of the vice (Webber & Ovedovitz, 2018). These statistics reveal that cyberbullying among college students is high, which may be facilitated by online learning platforms. Cyberbullying may take different forms, including body shaming and the use of abusive language. When interacting on the Blackboard, students may respond rudely to each other, which is unethical. This issue will be addressed by the formulation of strict guidelines concerning students’ interactions. The code of conduct will outline all forms of behavior deemed unethical and serious punishment given to all who violate the set regulations.
Cost of Funding
As an online training program meant to facilitate awareness of health and safety issues, the proposed program was designed to involve minimal costs and maximum benefits. According to Leng et al. (2020), many potential programs have been limited by the high implementation costs, inhibiting their deployment. The cost of funding the proposed program is estimated at $6,000. Forty percent of this cost goes to the cost of hosting and subscription of third-party programs for anti-cheating. Forty-five percent will be used to pay instructors and to maintain the day-to-day operations. The remaining fifteen percent will be used to market the program both online and offline. It is estimated that, in the short run, no additional costs will be significant enough to exceed the $6,000 set aside for the program implementation. However, the budgeted amount may change due to some additional needs in the long run. For this reason, the program will be reviewed regularly and any changes made to ensure that it operates as expected throughout its lifetime.
Discussion
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected learning in institutions of higher learning. There is an increased need for training on the health and safety measures important in this period to ensure the continuity of education during and after the pandemic. The proposed program will fill the gap in knowledge on health and safety while ensuring that students are secure during the training. The program is designed to deliver essential information backed up by current research. It is therefore expected to be effective throughout its lifetime. Regarding the scope, the program is suitable for all students regardless of race, age, gender, or nationality. The concepts contained in the program entail general health issues and safety measures, which are crucial for every individual.
While there are many online learning platforms that could be applicable to this program, blackboard learning demonstrates greater applicability. The main benefit of the Blackboard is the simple and easy-to-use design that enables students to access the learning material, use it offline, and engage in peer discussions. Online training via the Blackboard is also suitable for students of all economic statuses since it is less costly. Essentially, the proposed program will create a community of students united against ignorance and prepared to fight against safety challenges regarding their health.
Conclusion
The education sector plays a vital role in societies and national development. It is one of the sectors most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic started, many schools have had to close, and students are forced to rely on online learning methods. The knowledge of health and safety measures in regard to COVID-19 is essential to all members of society. Since most of the world’s population comprises young people, it is logical to focus on a training program targeting college students. The proposed program is designed to offer online training to college students on basic health issues and safety precautions during and after the pandemic.
A program’s evaluation is a crucial step that entails an assessment of the outcomes in line with the set objectives and needs of the target group. The proposed program will be evaluated through questionnaires and in-person interviews to assess the program’s impact on students and trainers. Information accuracy is essential in results generation, analysis, and change implementation. For this reason, anonymity will be preserved when administering the questionnaires so that individuals can answer the questions genuinely without the fear of discrimination. Since every participant will fill a questionnaire, analyzing the results will require a cluster analysis to group the responses in groups for easy comprehension and presentation.
The goal of the program is to include students from every region irrespective of their age, race, gender, or political affiliation. To facilitate participation, the program will be marketed online and offline. Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn offer the best platforms for advertising since they have a high percentage of internet users. TikTok is also a viable marketing channel following its recent popularity among the youth. The Blackboard will be used to deliver the program due to its simplicity and ease of use. Data privacy and monitoring is one crucial ethical concern facilitated by the lack of property rights for material shared on the Blackboard. High standards for ethical conduct will be set along with software applications for anti-cheating. The program is expected to cost approximately $6,000 with the likelihood of variation when new needs arise.
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