The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), more commonly known as the WIC Program, "serves to safeguard the health of low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, including breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to health care."1 To promote online education and training for WIC program staff, the USDA's WIC Works Resource System established WIC Learning Online.
“[WIC Learning Online] is the only series of online courses available that are designed to train all levels of staff working in the WIC program,” according to Janice Schneider, MS, RD, WIC Works Team Leader. By creating these core training modules, WIC program staff can receive equal training opportunities across local and state jurisdictions.
The Public Health Foundation (PHF) has partnered with WIC to host seven educational modules on TRAIN, the premier learning management system for professionals and volunteers who protect the public’s health. These courses are now available to the entire TRAIN community of learners made up of over 650,000 public health professionals and the 28 TRAIN affiliates, who can now track their learners through one single learning management system to ensure they meet necessary training requirements. TRAIN affiliates can include these courses as part of required training plans for programmatic staff, combining the courses developed by USDA with those from other organizations posting to TRAIN and their own training, both classroom- and web-based. This feature allows TRAIN affiliates to measure learner progress through a selection of trainings to determine experience and identify gaps. Currently, TRAIN is the only learning management system, outside of the WIC Works Resource System, where these learning modules are available. TRAIN learners now have direct and easy access to these informative courses and can include their completion on a unified transcript, along with other training topics, such as training on emergency preparedness, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Winnable Battles, and minority health.
Below are the seven WIC training modules available on TRAIN:
“These courses also offer a great overview of WIC to staff involved in maternal and child health programs and others interested in public health nutrition. Select courses are approved for continuing education credits for dietitians, nurses and lactation consultants.” - Janice Schneider, MS, RD, WIC Works Team Leader
Create a free TRAIN account today to register for these courses and many others!
1. Food and Nutrition Service. About WIC. http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/aboutwic/. Accessed on January 10, 2013.