A Two-Year Evaluation of Community-Based Learning (CBL) Among 2008 Drexel University MPH Graduates

Background: A primary function of academic public health education involves engaging students in practice through structured CBL, including documentation of derived outcomes. These experiences often promote integrative learning because public health practica can challenge students to synthesize knowledge across domains while applying it to concrete situations. Methods: The 2008 full-time class was surveyed at pre- and post- intervals regarding their views about a first-year required practicum and second-year capstone community-based master's project designed in collaboration with community partners. Combined CBL experiences total more than 600 hours of service per capita. Results: Duration, intensity and continuity of experience attained through participation in CBL inclusive of service-learning, & problem-based learning enhanced students' ability addressing increasingly more complex problems while working with and in communities. The imperative to respond to concrete problems touching the lives of real people enhanced their self-assessment skills & professional development, while promoting application of cross-cutting academic learning, and ability working in teams. Students' experiences enabled them to grow integrative thinking skills and their ability to simultaneously respond to the health of the public, human rights, & social justice issues. Hands-on community-based learning also challenged students to understand stakeholders' positions as well as to integrate issues contextually including the role of culture, ethnicity, class, & gender. The mastery of the five core disciplines in public health education must be combined with structured hands-on learning experiences defined by community needs that enable students to sharpen the universal competencies required to address pressing public health dilemmas in the 21st century.