Over the past three months, the DHIS2 Academy team has released a brand new version of the DHIS2 Fundamentals, made up of four modular courses that students can enroll in separately and work through at their own pace.
Since June, more than 5,000 students have enrolled in these new courses. After we announced the latest course in the series, Aggregate Customization Fundamentals in mid-August, we were excited to see that one student, @mbayefdieng of CRS in Senegal, completed the course in less than a week, making him the first learner to complete all four of our new Fundamentals courses! We got in touch to ask him to share his thoughts and experiences:
DHIS2 Academy:
What do you think of the new DHIS2 Fundamentals courses?
Mbaye:
The new fundamentals courses are well put together and provide a progressive walkthrough of the essentials of the DHIS2 platform. The course keeps you engaged and wanting to learn more.
The learner gets different ways to learn the same content: (1) a video presentation of the concept being taught, (2) a demo of how to apply what you have learned, (3) a “do it yourself’ exercise asking to repeat the same steps from the demo, (4) an assessment Q&A to measure what you retained.
DHIS2 Academy:
What was your motivation for completing the courses? Why is learning about DHIS2 relevant for you?
Mbaye:
I personally was motivated to completed all fundamentals courses as they were a requirement for a “personalized” training course provided by HISP WCA that my organization organized for its ICT4D staffs in West Africa and Central Africa.
DHIS2 is the government’s platform for Health information in most countries in my region and we are currently supporting the implementation of data collection and reporting solutions for them. The fundamentals courses gave me an understanding of how DHIS2 programs are created (platform concepts, software components). As a regional ICT Manager doing audit of solutions deployed in countries we operate in, I am looking to learn more about the hosting infrastructure, and platform security areas, but also what are the best practices for implementing a DHIS2 project.
DHIS2 Academy:
Completing a self-paced course is not easy; most learners do not finish their courses. You finished 4 of them. What strategies did you apply to keep focused and avoid dropping out?
Mbaye:
I was motivated by the in-person training I was going for, and these were pre-requisites for that training. But when I started the first one, I found myself looking for more, because the courses keep you engaged and build from what you have learned before. And with the Q&A it was like a challenge for me to get 100% of the questions right. 
DHIS2 Academy:
What else would you like to learn about DHIS2? What would be next for you?
Mbaye:
I would love to get courses on (1) Tracker advanced concepts, (2) Tracker for Android, (3) project management approach to designing and releasing a DHIS2 project.
DHIS2 Academy:
Finally, what recommendations would you give your fellow learners to make the most of the courses and complete the Fundamentals program?
Mbaye:
Just start and set a goal to complete at least a module every day and you will find yourself completing 2-3 of them in a sitting. Keep to your commitment.
Thanks to @mbayefdieng for sharing your thoughts with us! We wish you the best as you continue your work and training with DHIS2, and hope you will join us for more Academy courses soon.
For those of you who have not yet signed up for our free DHIS2 Fundamentals courses, you can find out more about them and register on our DHIS2 Online Academy website: https://academy.dhis2.org/