Lessons learned from the development, implementation, and evaluation of a doctoral-level public health pedagogy training course

Training the next generation of public health professionals has its roots in academia. Yet public health doctoral students, many of whom become faculty members at institutions of higher education, typically receive little teaching preparation in their training programs. This is problematic given that studies have shown that most faculty members' time is devoted to teaching responsibilities and that skilled instruction is crucial to increased interest in the public health field and students' proficient future public health practice. Teaching preparation programs have the potential to enhance undergraduate student learning outcomes, improve positive attitudes about teaching, and increase faculty members' capability to engage in other scholarly pursuits. Academic doctoral-level pedagogy courses provide an important opportunity for graduate students who either currently or will subsequently serve as instructors to become familiar with the scholarship of teaching and learning and skilled in pedagogical best practices. Despite the increasing prevalence of pedagogy courses in academia, few within the public health discipline have been identified or evaluated in the literature. This presentation will discuss the process undertaken to propose, develop, implement, and evaluate a doctoral-level pedagogy course at a Midwestern School of Public Health. Pre- and post-test quantitative findings related to the impact of the course and other preliminary data from enrolled doctoral students will be provided, as will lessons learned about the planning and implementation process from the pedagogy course instructors.