Best practices for preparing new public health instructors: Results from a multi-method evaluation of an academic pedagogy course

Public health doctoral education typically does not include teaching preparation, and new faculty members often report feeling unprepared to fulfill their instructional responsibilities. Not only is this problematic for public health faculty members’ success in academia, but skilled instruction is crucial to undergraduate and master’s students’ increased interest in the public health field and their proficient future public health practice. Graduate student pedagogical training can fill this knowledge gap. This presentation will provide an overview of a doctoral-level academic pedagogy course that was introduced at a Midwestern School of Public Health in 2013 and its impact on doctoral students’ pedagogical learning and undergraduate teaching. Results are based on an innovative multi-method evaluation including pre-, mid-, and post-course comparative surveys; a content analysis of reflection papers from students’ course portfolios; the evolution of students’ teaching philosophies using an established rubric; and in-depth interviews several months after the pedagogy course’s completion. In tandem, the evaluation revealed that the pedagogy course was effective in preparing doctoral students to teach health-related courses, greatly enhanced their teaching self-efficacy, and aided in their development as scholarly teachers. Having a forum for peer brainstorming and support was considered essential. This multi-method evaluation was crucial in garnering a comprehensive understanding of a discipline-specific pedagogy course’s utility and could be used as a model for other Scholarship of Teaching and Learning studies. The presenters will share best practices from the evaluative data in which presentation attendees will be encouraged to apply to their own institutional contexts.