Message From the Editor in Chief

With the advent of this new journal, one is drawn to ask, what should be different about "the scholarship of teaching and learning" in health promotion from other fields and from the past of health education? Professors in health education and health promotion carry a burden of teaching responsibility, similar to those teaching medical, nursing, dental, and other health professions, to bring their experience from practice to the classroom, and their students into the settings of practice for learning experiences. Other distinguished professions, such as law and engineering, require clerkships and apprenticeships. With the rapid growth of academic programs for Master of Public Health (MPH) and other graduate degrees in health promotion, and even more rapid for undergraduate courses and new baccalaureate degrees, faculty have had to be recruited directly from their own graduate training with little or no experience in the field before being thrust before classrooms of inexperienced students. Sometimes the classrooms include students with more experience than their faculty. Similarly, their research as faculty members needs to be informed by firsthand and periodic exposure to the problems, practice, and political circumstances that give rise to the research questions and that present the realities in which the results of their research would be applied. The proposed concept here of "turnstile career" captures this need for periodic immersion (back and forth) as we journey through our teaching, research, practice, policy, and service positions and responsibilities.

Section: Reflections On the Push And Pull Of Turnstile Careersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turnstile Careers Between Academia and Practice

Green

2016

“…In higher education settings, experiential approaches are considered “gold standard” in terms of both revitalizing curriculum and addressing the many challenges the changing tertiary landscape is facing today (Kolb, 2015). Despite the experiences we engage in as part of natural growth and development (Kolb, 2015), evaluating what students actually learn from experiential activities remains an ongoing challenge (Gambescia, 2016). Traditional modes of education have received criticism as no longer being optimal (Fullan et al, 2018), and public health education has evolved and the ability to disseminate core public health messages and methods globally to many possible audiences is being realized (Frenk, Hunter, & Lapp, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Increasing the Experiential Component Improve Efficacy of the “This Is Public Health” Photo Essay Task? A Nonrandomized Trial

Dundas

Johnson

Paras

et al. 2019

Opportunities for evaluating experiential learning activities in tertiary public health education are growing. It has previously been shown that utilizing the “This is Public Health” (TIPH) sticker campaign as an experiential photo essay task led to increased understanding of public health. Emerging mobile technologies such as geocaching, which provide an opportunity to increase the experiential component of the TIPH photo essay task, have not been evaluated. This study aimed to determine whether adding geocaching to the TIPH photo essay task increased the efficacy of learning about public health, when compared with the TIPH photo essay task alone. A two-arm nonrandomized trial was conducted with 785 allied health and preprofessional teaching students studying first-year public health courses. Students were allocated to either the TIPH photo essay task ( n = 210) or the TIPH photo task plus geocaching ( n = 92) according to the course they were enrolled into. The primary outcome was the quality of the definition of public health provided by students, which was assessed using the Definition of Public Health Rating Scale. Data were analyzed using a linear mixed model. Of 302 (39%) students who consented to participate, 212 (70%) provided baseline and follow-up data. After adjusting for baseline demographic differences, the geocaching group had improved knowledge of public health at follow-up according to the Definition of Public Health Rating Scale (increasing 0.29 units more than the traditional group; p = .03). As this increase in knowledge score is unlikely to be of practical significance, the additional burden of implementing geocaching may not be justified.

“…Experiential learning has been defined in a variety of literature using words such as evidence-based, active engagement, direct encounters, and hands-on learning (Phipps, Osborne, Dyer, & Ball, 2008; Sweitzer & King, 2014). Experiential learning incorporates a variety of innovative curricular strategies (e.g., internships, field experiences, service-learning and volunteer projects, study abroad experiences, community-based participatory research, and in-class tasks) promoting active learning for students to practice skills and translate classroom knowledge into real-life settings (Breunig, 2017; Gambescia, 2016). Through the integration of experiential learning across multiple academic disciplines, a number of positive outcomes have resulted, such as improvements in student learning, professional development, and collaborative relationships between colleges and community organizations (Beard & Wilson, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When considering health professions, human services professions, and social sciences, 29%, 49%, and 58% of faculty members, respectively, did not devote any of their course time to experiential learning (FSSE, 2017). Perhaps these numbers represent the additional time and energy required to devote to the challenging tasks of planning, implementing, and evaluating experiential learning activities (Gambescia, 2016). These tasks necessitate the need for faculty to embrace and integrate diverse teaching methods, particularly those which incorporate action and translational learning (Glanz, 2017).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Easy as PIE: A Recipe for Approaching the Areas of Responsibility and Competencies for Health Education Specialists

Berlin

Boling

Doss

et al. 2018

Nearly four decades later, the Seven Areas of Responsibility and associated Competencies common to all entry-level health education specialists were outlined, leading to the founding of the NCHEC in 1988 and the first certification exam for health education specialists in 1990 (NCHEC, 1996). The Framework for the health education model of professional practice was updated in 2015, which retained the Seven Areas of Responsibility with 36 competencies further classified into 258 subcompetencies (NCHEC & SOPHE, 2015). These updates to competencies and exams, as well as achieving and maintaining nationally accredited programs for both entry-and advanced-level health education specialist certifications occurred through the efforts of the NCHEC, SOPHE, American Association for Health Education (AAHE), and partners such as the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH;