The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #47896

Ian Lapp, PhD, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 701 West 168th Street, HHSC LL8, New York, NY 10032, 212-305-1409, IL2011@columbia.edu and Daniel B. Herman, DSW, MS, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 100 Haven Avenue, #31F, New York, NY 10032.

This study analyzes the impact of individual, cultural, and structural changes to the MPH core course in Epidemiology to illustrate the benefits of faculty, graduate students, administrators, education experts, and technology specialists teaming up to transform a course. This course has become one of the highest-rated core courses in the school. The lessons learned from this "experiment in teaching and learning" and ongoing initiatives provide a framework for rethinking faculty development and how MPH core courses are taught. Innovative changes to the course include: (1) re-design of the course structure to more effectively use senior faculty; (2) faculty development workshops and one-on-one consultations for faculty and graduate teaching assistants based on social and behavior science research on how people learn; (3) enhanced teaching practices and changes in the way material was taught; (4) improved course materials for inside and outside classroom use; and (5) an interactive course website providing real-time access to an epidemiology portal, syllabus, learning objectives, lecture slides, audio of lectures, assignments, reading materials, and supplemental course material in both print and audio formats. These changes were documented and further informed by rigorous and extensive evaluation including traditional course evaluation, course-specific evaluation, classroom observations, and focus groups with faculty, graduate teaching assistants, and students.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the challenges to teaching large lecture hall, MPH core courses with multiple faculty.
• Assess the effectiveness of teaching and learning in your school's MPH core courses
• Describe a model for productive collaboration between people from across a school of public to improve MPH core course teaching and learning
• Develop a model that fits the particular challenges and needs of your school of public health

Keywords: Teaching, Public Health Curriculum

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.