Student-invited guests to class blogs: A method for connecting on-campus and in-practice learning

Attending to social justice in public health practice in part relies on one's ability to listen to other voices; this report describes a teaching practice that encourages public health students to find and listen to other voices. For two years this teaching practice was used in an undergraduate course about US Health Care and a graduate course about Emerging Public Health Issues; both courses are required in programs accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health. Health care students participate in a simulated reform process where small groups enter a competition of ideas by blogging background, reform proposals, and the perspectives of four guest authors; the four guests include 1-2 patients, 1-2 health workers, and 1-2 health students from another university. In part of the graduate course, each student blogs an introduction to an area of doubt (based on Michael's book about industry's assault on science) and then invites at least three technical experts and three members of the public to author a post on the class blog. This report summarizes the use of student-invited guests to class blogs in two iterations of each course. In addition to telling how this practice is structured by the teacher, describing how students responded, and generally describing guest authors and their contributions—this quick summary also suggests how this search for other voices helps prepare students to pursue social justice as they enter or return to public health practice.