Why Public Health?
Context
This year, we launched ‘Introduction to Public Health’, a new optional course unit on the Master of Public Health (MPH) programme. Recent student feedback identified the need for an introductory level course for those who wanted to gain a broad understanding of the pillars of public health. However, from a staff perspective, we wanted to understand the motivations of why students decided to study on the programme. What was the turning point? What were their experiences? What preconceptions did they hold in the context of health and wellbeing?
Approach
The MPH adopts a reflective learning approach throughout the programme, so introducing reflection at an early stage made sense. Reflective practice is also a common expectation in many healthcare systems and professions, encouraging practitioners to develop self-appraisal and empathy, with the potential for service improvement, quality of care and of course, personal learning and development.
Therefore, we designed a short introductory assessment where students were asked to reflect on an experience (or experiences) which influenced their decision to study public health, including –
- how the experience challenged their biases and preconceptions
- how the experience has changed their thinking
- how their learning from the experience might result in personal change and/or that of their community
The blog post had to be short and succinct (maximum 600 words/3 minute read) and was worth 10% of the overall marks for the unit. The posts were assessed using equally weighted criteria for clarity, relevance, analysis, interconnections and self-criticism.
However,
We didn’t want this to just be another Word document, gathering dust somewhere online…
We wanted this to be an open resource where —
- the students can easily read and comment on each others’ posts — gain a greater in-depth understanding of their peers — find commonalities — help get to know each other — continue learning!
- the public could access the personal stories written by our students on important public health issues, and perhaps even be inspired to learn
- the assessment was exciting (for students and staff) and not something to be dreaded
Therefore, we opted for Medium as the platform to host the series of reflective student (and staff) blogs through the publication — Why Public Health?
Results
The assessment presented a student-centred opportunity to reflect on a key event or experience which led them to study Public Health. The reflective process they engaged with represents real-world, professional (and personal) experiences aimed at improvement or change and their insightful narratives demonstrate authenticity throughout.
The students’ blog posts were quite simply amazing and resulted in the co-creation of a valuable set of learning resources for current and future students.
Some stories were clearly COVID19 themed, while others reflected on experiences from as far back as early childhood. Many stories were extremely personal and stirred deep emotions within the authors. Some students discussed experiences very close to home for me, which helped develop empathy and made me feel like I knew them a little more — a common challenge on distance learning courses.
Learning
The reflective process can challenge people’s comfort zones and I recognise that for some, reflective learning will be new and takes time to develop.
One student reflected —
I found the concept of putting my personal thoughts out there a little daunting but once I got going it was OK, in fact better than OK I had too much to say which led to the problem of cutting it down to fit the word count.
And another commented —
Really interesting and thought-provoking start to the module. Challenges your assumptions about what you think you already know. The introduction of reflection as an approach/tool to support you throughout your studies and indeed life is very good.
Overall student feedback towards the assessment has been very positive.
From a teaching (and marking) perspective, I found the blog posts very easy to read (600 words) and the variety of topics and personal narrative kept me fully engaged. It makes a refreshing alternative to marking essay questions! The structured marking criteria also helped with marking and provided students with clear descriptors and expectations for the assessment.
The criteria were clearly useful to me, as they completely changed how I structured my work and the messages that I tried to weave into it.
Finally, this student-centred assessment appears to have contributed to a sense of community with continued discussion, reflection, and learning, as summarised in this student comment —
I have enjoyed reading some of the other posts. I think it helps to reinforce in my mind the breadth of the spectrum of fields of work/experience that individuals on the course bring to discussions, as well as the different motivations and goals of others on the course, all of which will shape their (indeed our) respective contributions to the various discussions in which we engage.
