My Voice: Caring for your voice: Blended learning for University Professors

Introduction: Vocal Health programs have a positive effect on the communicative performance of a university professor. Blended learning modality is presented as an approaching opportunity for university professors.
Objective: To design a blended learning course for university professors, aiming to promote healthy vocal habits and prevent voice disorders.
Methodology: This course was designed by the occupational health practice of the undergraduate program in Speech and Hearing Therapy of the Rosario University- Bogotá, Colombia. Its development was carried out in three phases: 1. Scientific literature review; 2. Production of infographics, informative podcasts, and interactive activities; 3. The setting of the course on the online learning platform, Moodle. The course is currently provided by the Teaching, Learning and Career Path Center of Rosario University, which is available for all professors.
Results: The content of the course “My. Voice: Caring for the voice” is divided into four theoretical online modules: “Getting to know my voice”; “How my voice is produced?”; “Factors affecting my voice”; “Recognizing my voice”; and a practical module, “How to take care of the voice?”. The course has two face-to-face/remote access sessions of vocal warm-up and cool-down exercises. From 2019 to 2022, 122 university professors registered for the course (50% men and 50% women), and 79.5% of them completed the course (56.7% women and 43.29% men). Professors’ average age was 44.2 years (Minimum 22 years-Maximum 86 years). There was a higher involvement by professors from the School of Medicine and Health Sciences (36.8%) and the Faculty of Law (27.83%). Once the course was finished, professors filled out a satisfaction survey of 6 questions, through the Likert scale, where 5 represented the highest score. The question “Do you feel you have increased your knowledge of the subject?” had a mean of 4.86 (±0.37), while for the question “Did participating in this course allow you to reflect on your work as a professor?” the mean was 4.76 (±0.56).
Conclusion: The blended learning courses allow university professors to easily access information that enables them to raise awareness of how to take care of their voice.