What Online Courses Does the SDSU Institute for Public Health Offer?

Updated

The Institute for Public Health (IPH) at San Diego State University names three online courses on its site: Program Evaluation, PH 101, and Program Planning. If you want a short, focused introduction to public health practice — or a way to build skills in evaluating and designing health programs — these titles are the place to start. The site lists the course names but does not publish schedules, fees, or enrollment requirements, so treat the descriptions below as subject-matter guidance and confirm current details directly with IPH.

The three courses named on the IPH site

The IPH page groups these under the heading "Program Evaluation, PH 101, and Program Planning Online Courses." That grouping tells you the intended audience: people who need practical public health skills rather than a full degree sequence.

Program Evaluation

This course covers how public health and social programs are assessed — whether a program is reaching the people it intends to reach, whether it is producing the outcomes it claims, and how findings get reported to funders and stakeholders. Typical topics in a course with this title include:

  • Logic models and program theory (linking activities to outcomes)
  • Process versus outcome evaluation
  • Quantitative and qualitative data collection methods
  • Indicators, measurement, and data quality
  • Reporting results and using them for program improvement

This is the course to consider if your work involves accountability — grant reporting, quality improvement, or demonstrating impact.

PH 101

"PH 101" signals an introductory survey of public health as a field. Expect the foundational framing rather than specialized methods:

  • What public health is and how it differs from clinical medicine
  • Core functions and essential services
  • Epidemiology basics — how disease is measured and tracked
  • Social and environmental determinants of health
  • The role of local, state, and federal health agencies

This is the natural entry point if you are new to public health, coming from another field, or need shared vocabulary before taking a methods-focused course.

Program Planning

Where Program Evaluation looks backward at what a program achieved, Program Planning looks forward at how to design one. A course with this title generally walks through:

  • Needs assessment — defining the problem and the population
  • Selecting evidence-based strategies and interventions
  • Setting goals and measurable objectives
  • Building a logic model or theory of change
  • Planning for implementation, resources, and sustainability

Taken together with Program Evaluation, this pair covers the design-and-assess cycle that most public health program work runs on.

How the three fit together

Course Focus Best if you need to…
PH 101 Public health fundamentals Get oriented in the field
Program Planning Designing interventions Build or propose a program
Program Evaluation Assessing programs Measure, report, or improve results

If you are unsure where to begin, PH 101 gives the context that makes the other two easier to apply. If you already work in a health or social program, Program Planning and Program Evaluation are the more directly job-relevant pair.

What the site does not tell you

The IPH page names the courses but does not publish start dates, cost, credit status, prerequisites, or how to register. Do not assume any of these are free or open-enrollment based on the page alone. Before committing, check the IPH site for current course pages, or use the "Contact Us" link on the site to ask directly about:

  • Upcoming session dates and format (live, self-paced, or hybrid)
  • Whether the courses carry academic credit
  • Any prerequisites or recommended background
  • Fees and registration steps

Context on IPH

IPH has operated at San Diego State University since 1992 and describes its work as program evaluation and training. Its applied research includes projects such as the September 2025 San Diego LGBTQIA+ Needs Assessment on cancer prevention and healthcare, conducted with the Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego. That applied focus is consistent with the course lineup: the offerings are oriented toward practitioners who plan and evaluate real programs, not toward a purely theoretical survey of the field.