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Teaching about HIV/AIDS through online education.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

HIV/AIDS prevention/education has been taught in classrooms for several years, yet exposure to infection remains to be a worldwide concern as behaviors have been slow to change in many cultures. It's important to be able to reach K-12 teachers and their students on a global scale. This article addresses how one model attempts to achieve such access through implementation of a worldwide online teacher-education platform.

Introduction

Although many Americans could believe that the Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Acquired Immune-Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) crisis may be over because recent data demonstrate that with proper intervention, a decrease in high-risk behavior among adolescents occurs (CDC, 2000a), (Bryan, Rocheleau, Robbins and Hutchison, 2005), it is still an ever present danger to our society and the world at large (CDC,2000b). Dr. Peter Plot, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, has stated, "On current trends, AIDS will kill tens of millions of people over the next 20 years. But this need not happen. We know prevention works." (Clifton, 2006). Likewise, Piot, Bartos, Ghys, Walker and Schwartlander (2001) determined that

... the scale of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS epidemic has exceeded all expectations ... an estimated 36 million people are currently living with HIV, and some 20 million people have already died, with the worst of the epidemic centered on sub-Saharan Africa ... as the spread of HIV has been greater than predicted, so too has been its impact on social capital, population structure and economic growth. Responding to AIDS on a scale commensurate with the epidemic is a global imperative, and the tools for an effective response are known.

American teenagers continue to practice unsafe behaviors related to HIV/AIDS, specifically as related to alcohol and tobacco use, while teenagers in other Western cultures feel that it's a "crisis of the 1980's". Likewise, educators in sub-Saharan Africa are perplexed to witness an explosion of the infection among students from all socioeconomic levels. Hence, a worldwide educational plan is needed to promote awareness and safer behaviors among students from all walks of life. Online teaching and learning represents an opportunity to achieve such worldwide social change.

In Western cultures the real crisis is a crisis of arrogance that is reflected in the idea that the spread of the disease is a "past crisis" and that we can "move on". In fact, although there has been a decrease in the practice of high-risk behaviors, many adolescents are still not getting the message. According to the Center for Disease Control (2006):

... many students still...

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