Healthcare needs to do a much better job of marketing truth, argues Dr. Keith Smith. Drawn to working with adult learners in the online world, Smith now oversees about 7,000 students across twenty programs, including medical assisting, health and wellness, public health, a military-only associate’s degree, and a master's in health informatics -- a field that Smith sees as key to helping citizens understand and respond to statistics they hear about during public health threats. In face of the COVID pandemic, Purdue was fortunate to already be an online institution, yet it still had to pivot in some ways to enable students to continue their studies. In August, they launched a telehealth micro-credential in recognition of that technology’s growing importance. Purdue allows credentials like that one to “stack-up” with other courses all the way up to earning master's degrees. In this episode with host Shiv Gaglani, learn why Smith calls COVID a “phenomenal wake-up call” to traditional higher education, why teaching online requires new -- not just transferred – instructional methods, and why folks entering the healthcare field should commit to lifelong learning.

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