H 513 Integrated Approach to Public Health comprises the common core of the MPH degree, something that used to be accomplished through 5 separate courses. The H 513 learning objectives cover critical and interdisciplinary content in foundational areas of public health, and the course is designed to deliver that core knowledge in a way that demonstrates both the application and the integration of the different public health disciplines. This course is team-taught by 5 instructors, is required for all incoming MPH students (51 last year) and is 12 credits. Hence, the monster.
We are structuring the hybrid version to meet 2x a week. Tuesdays will be devoted primarily to a “data camp” which will cover introductory material in quantitative and qualitative methods. Thursdays will be used for a case study which will allow students to apply the concepts covered that week in the online materials. We will be using online discussions, short assignments and activities, and quizzes (self-study and graded) to assess student progress and knowledge. In addition, students will be organized into Student Learning Community groups the first week of class and those groups will work through a course project together.
The key method we are using to link the online material and the classroom time is the weekly case study. Each case study will be tied to the learning objectives for that week, which in turn are mapped to course-level learning objectives. Our hope is that this case study approach will both illustrate and reinforce the course concepts while also giving the students an opportunity to explore additional concepts. If it all works like envisioned, maybe we can tame this monster.
I think your concept about earlier in the week introduce students to the new material and later in the week apply the material in the from of cases sounds a great idea and will likely open the door for some great discussions. The course sounds like a major commitment from the instructors and students considering its time commitment.
This course sounds like a friendly monster! I like the idea of a weekly case study to link the online and classroom components, and to tie weekly learning objectives to the course learning objectives. I want to borrow this idea for my course. Thanks for sharing!