“Context matters”: The challenges and opportunities of designing tertiary public and environmental health education in South Auckland

Abstract

<jats:p>This article outlines a study protocol, detailing the proposed methodology and findings of our preliminary literature review, for co-design of future NZ public and environmental health education for the South Auckland campus of AUT University. This research project aims to contribute to healthy communities and city, embrace emerging technologies, maximize youth employability, and develop an outstanding 21st Century tertiary environment. The proposed project will contribute to a significant re-conceptualization of curriculum; student learning and voice; and partnerships with communities and a fast-changing industry. Using a design based research approach to curriculum development, the research practitioners in this project will immerse themselves in the context of the project, be guided by emerging theory in developing design principles, construct features of an intervention and evaluate the impact on teaching and learning. Situated in Kaupapa Māori and Pacific epistemologies and utilising collaborative design principles, the study will explore the diverse and complex context in which public and environmental health will be provided at AUT South. Of particular relevance will be an examination of the following drivers of tertiary, and public and environmental health, education in the 21st century: the unique South Auckland context, the need to embrace evolving concepts of public health, rapid technological change, and changing education paradigms. Our ultimate goal is to develop co-designed interventions that accommodate the unique cultural and ethnic makeup of the South Auckland context with the opportunity for transferability across the tertiary sector, situated within a social constructivist philosophy appropriate for our new digital economy and environmental challenges. </jats:p>

Healthy Cities South Auckland: A focus on youth leadership and sustainability in the post-COVID world

“…Using a series of codesign focus groups, the project embraced emerging technologies and opportunities to maximize youth employability in a rapidly changing society. It offered a platform for the re-conceptualization of education, one that is more student-driven and personalised (Kersey et al, 2018). This is manifested in a form of education that fosters collaboration between teachers, learners and industry, alongside digital fluency, where students use diverse forms of expression and work on real-world projects.…”

Enhancing Health Care Education and Practice Post COVID

“…Transferable design principles will be introduced for enhancing healthcare education that will improve practice in a COVID19 world, particularly drawing from eight healthcare projects including: STUDIO602 -enhancing clinical practice with mobile technologies (Cochrane & Sinfield, 2022), developing a virtual reality handover experience for healthcare students (Cochrane et al, 2018), using immersive reality to develop critical thinking in clinical health education (Stretton et al, 2018), enhancing first responder clinical simulation education using immersive reality and biometrics (Cochrane et al, 2020), designing authentic learning for graduate entry nursing students (Macdiarmid et al, 2021), designing public and environmental health education (Kersey et al, 2018),…”