I have learned so much from this course that I can share with others and use in my profession as a Security Director who is responsible for the day to day security and safety of our campus students and staff. Dr. Emily Gurley was focused and grounded and it was clear that she knew what she was talking about and John Hopkins is truly bless to have her and I thank John Hopkins for sharing her with me (all of us) the course was truly enlightening and educational.

L. Louis Jordan

The course serves as a great introduction to the contact tracing process. I especially appreciate the attention paid to the subject and importance of building rapport with cases and contacts and hope that those chosen to be employed are given the opportunity to treat each person contacted with empathy and respect, and not simply as a statistic.

Thank you for the course. I'm hoping to be able to use the information through employment and aid with the containment of the virus.

Truly enjoyed doing this course. Being that it was free and got an instantaneous certificate upon completion made it even better. During this pandemic all knowledge I can get makes me feel better in understanding it as a whole. It was easy and clear to understand and you can always review as many times as you like. The ending quiz is 40 questions can only be done twice in 72 hours, but if you paid attention throughout the course you will be able to pass on the first attempt.

I’m so grateful for the free Contact Tracer Course. I found this introductory course very well organized, comprehensive, interesting, and educational. I am excited to now have a certificate from this program.

Before Covid-19 hit, I had two jobs. As a result of the pandemic, I was laid-off of both jobs. As such, I now want to work as a contact tracer. And not only because I need work, but this will be a way for me to help slow down the spread of this terrible disease.

Thank you Dr. Gurley for this wonderful course work with John Hopkins, the information given is relevant and educative. I have worked with Covid patient for the past 2 months but this course work really opened me up especially when communicating with my patients and their families who have been in close contact, relaying information and choice of words has made my communication skills better and I am able to correspond with the people around me better. Thank you once again!

The course was pretty thorough and the material presented in an easy to understand way. The frequent assessments and short videos kept it interesting and they were well done. I went from knowing virtually nothing about Covid-19 and this pandemic to feeling confident and informed about the dynamics of this disease and how it affects our race and our best defenses to slow down it's spread. Free access back and forth through the course syllabus and topics was very helpful too.

A concern I have: asking for personal information, like a birthdate, is a phishing exercise. I live in Baltimore and there are phishing events that happen all the time regarding personal information. The only safety we have is that actual institutions will "never ask for money." Contact tracing asks for personal information on the front end for identity confirmation.

This would be a place that technology could help as well - perhaps a form of two-factor identification.

Even though the contact tracing positions quickly filled in my area, I found this to be a very worthwhile course. I learned a great deal more than I had understood from media reports and national and state health officials in press conferences. The facts helped me understand the importance of masks and social distancing and provided an honest picture of what my family could face if one of us gets sick. This information needs communicated to the general public! Thank you!

This course was extremely thorough, detailed, and easy to engage in. The instructors are very excellent at presenting the course information, plainly and with clarity. I truly enjoyed learning this new skill on a very relevantly important subject. I feel confident in my ability to converse with others on the topic of COVID-19, related to contact tracing and the importance of it to the well-being of humanity. Thank you for making this possible.

Respectfully,

Gloria Y. Goodwin

Excellent Course. I learned a lot about Covid 19. Where it came from and how it is transmitted. I also learned the importance of compassion, knowledge, and rapport one needs to have in being a contact tracer. I didn’t know that Ebola Outbreak in West Africa utilized Contact Tracers to help heal the Outbreak. I would very much like to become a Contact Tracer to help heal Covid 19, in my country, The USA. I would like more information in how to become a Contact Tracer.

Very helpful and informative. I learned valuable basics and essentials about COVID-19 as an infectious disease. I also feel more confident with employing contact tracing, and using the communication skills taught in this module. As a program administrator, it has been helpful in terms of contingency planning. I feel more confident communicating with clients should there (go forbid) be an outbreak of COVID within our program and offering support and guidance on this issue.

Very informative course which presents a somewhat complicated subject in a illustrative and easier to learn format.

My only critique at this point might be to provide a Syllabus of Lessons, Videos and Quizzes in the beginning of the course so that the student would know up front how long the course really is so that they can budget their study time in advance.

Otherwise Great Course and I hope to take more with Coursea.

Harvey Heit, MBA & Seniors Real State Advisor< NYC

This course is much needed and Johns Hopkins was quick to provide a top-notch program to train people in the protocols of Contact Tracing. Emily Gurley, PhD, provides the necessary science and proven approaches used in calling contacts and conveying the necessary information, which will enable you to assist your local Health Department in this integral program to help stop the spread of this virus.

Thank you for offering this course and making it available free of charge!

This helped me understand the contact tracing process. Also I had a good review of how the virus is transmitted and the time periods for incubation, infection, quarantine and isolation. The pace was good...I felt encouraged to not let too much time elapse between working on the course. I’m a college instructor and have taught online for a long time. This is an effective format for the information we covered. And I swear I’ve seen Gordon in more than one Gunsmoke episode.

This was a very informative course which is extremely beneficial to those who want to be contact tracers or for those who want to be familiar with COVID-19 disease and the jobs which tracers have to do. Thanks you for establishing this course. Dr. Gurley is very knowledgeable and an excellent instructor. The course material was easy to understand. Particularly helpful were the scenarios in which individuals played the roles of contact tracers, contacts, and cases.

This is one of the best courses I have taken. It deals clearly and completely with all the aspects of the task: the disease, the protocols. acquiring and use of information to fulfill the purpose of the job.

It identifies the skills and approaches needed to be helpful, supportive and successful and teaches these skills adequately.

I found it relatively easy to understand and remember what was taught and feel competent to undertake the role of contact tracing for Covid-19

This is a very useful course to help us understand the importance of contact tracing to prevent further transmission of these virus. Besides of the fair knowledge on SARS-CoV2 virus taught, this module also included the effective communication, which we can also use in our daily lives and conversation to help us be a better and active listener. I would like to thank you the course coordinator, Ms Emily Gurley for the amazing assistance and teaching! It's very worth it!

I recommend this course for everyone. It is very interesting to learn about something we are currently experiencing Worldwide. It is definitely an eye opener. If you have your doubts about the seriousness of COVID-19, this course is for you. Dr. Emily Gurley PhD, MPH did an excellent job explaining everything so well and at just the right pace. A lot of great information and you can go back as many times as you need to review anything you might have missed. Thank you!

Este curso es una excelente guía para toda aquella persona o grupo relacionado al campo de la salud y ahora más en la critica situación del Coronavirus - Covid-19 para ser utilizado con pacientes que tengan o sufran de esta terrible enfermedad. También es muy útil para ampliar los conocimientos sobre términos o definiciones científicas de este tema para periodistas. Mi agradecimiento para COURSERA y para la Universidad de John Hopkins, muchas gracias y felicitaciones.

This course was superbly and thoughtfully conducted. It covered the history of Corona viruses and the specifics of Covid-19, the symptoms specific to it, incubation and infection periods, social distancing and lengths of time of exposure. In addition, it covered isolation and quarantine, cases and contacts, ethical considerations in addressing each, and good communication practices. Kudos to Professor Gurley and the staff at Johns Hopkins for offering this course!!

I found the instructor, the course, and the materials to be excellent. The instructor was clear, provided good examples, covered all of the promised objectives, and seemed to be speaking right to me with a clear voice and good inflection. The course was well-organized and provided materials (the slides, speaker notes, etc.) that helped me to digest and learn the materials. In addition, the practice quizzes were helpful and gave the reasons for the correct answers.

This was an easy, very clear, course. Appreciated because I haven't been in school for for 35 years and was hesitant to try and learn anything new. It was a breeze which makes me want to dive deeper into learning. It makes me feel a little more capable.

I did find the quarantine, isolation time a little confusing and difficult to figure out.

I wish the mini quizzes where a little longer, so I could asess my understanding of that section a little better. Thank you

I found the course structure to include not just facts and the role of a contact tracer, but the personal skills needed to be effective. The course provided a perspective on the value and role of Public Health campaigns and how they helped eradicate disease and prevent infection by identifying, educating and providing supplemental services so that cases can do quarantine and isolation successfully. This course will save many lives if applied in the Covid-19 pandemic.

This course was incredibly informative yet clearly understandable and helped me not only understand how this disease is transmitted but how to effectively communicate with cases and contacts in a way that will advance the objectives of the public health system to the benefit of everyone. I also learned a lot just for my own knowledge base, which helped me put the information I have heard prior, into appropriate context. I feel much more informed all the way around.

Margaret O.

Excellent course! a very interesting, informative, and effective beginning to Contact Tracing. The course contents are well organized and systematically conveyed, especially the video phone conversations and the slides. I would definitely recommend this course to anyone, not limited to the health practitioners. kudos to Dr.Emily Gurley and her team at Johns Hopkins University who put the detailed resources together. I say thank you to all the instructors!