Syllabus

Schedule

Course Dates:

Each week opens on Wednesday at 12:01 AM Eastern Time (ET). Each week closes on Wednesday at 11:59 PM ET, with the exception of Week 16, which ends on Sunday. 

Week 1: Sep 4 – Sep 11
Week 2: Sep 11 – Sep 18
Week 3: Sep 18 – Sep 25
Week 4: Sep 25 – Oct 2
Week 5: Oct 2 – Oct 9
Week 6: Oct 9 – Oct 16
Week 7: Oct 16 – Oct 23
Week 8: Oct 23 – Oct 27
Week 9: Oct 30 – Nov 6
Week 10: Nov 6 – Nov 13
Week 11: Nov 13 – Nov 20
Week 12: Nov 20 – Nov 27
Week 13: Nov 27 – Dec 4
Week 14: Dec 4 – Dec 11
Week 15: Dec 11 – Dec 18
Week 16: Dec 18 – Dec 22

Week 1 : Introduction

Discussion: Introduction

Introduce yourself. Tell us about your professional background, why you chose to get an MPH degree, and any fun facts about you.

Week 2: Public Health in Practice – APE Site

Discussion Week 2: Practice experience site description (Due by the end of the week, on Wednesday)

Describe your practicum site. What do they do, and what tasks will you be undertaking at their site? What products will you be creating? List the essential public health services that your practice experience site provides.

Week 3: Continue Product Development

Week 4: Understanding Personality Types

Discussion Week 4: Personality types (Due by the end of the week, on Wednesday)

Are you familiar with Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® (MBTI^®)? Knowing your own personality type and being aware of what other personality types exist can help you enhance your professional skills. Therefore, this month, we’re going to discuss personality types as a class.

Week 5: Skills for a Social Change Agent

Effective agents of social change often reveal similar skills, including the ability to advocate for others, work with policymakers and stakeholders, identify the interplay of complex relationships and systems, and apply research to effect positive social change. Listening, communication, and observational skills are necessary to provide information to reflect on the participants’ current perspectives and life narratives. Those skills are essential to engage and collaborate with other changemakers effectively. In this Discussion, you will explore the skills and knowledge areas of effective social change agents and consider them in light of your project and applied practice site.

Discussion Week 5:

Select three key skills and/or knowledge areas from the list below that most directly inform the project you have selected at your site.

• Scholarship – Learning to apply and communicate about research, or to do research to help effect social change
• Systems Thinking – Learning to explore the complex, systemic interrelationships underlying social change issues 
• Reflection – Learning to deeply consider the perspectives of self and others and the role of such perspectives in the social change process
• Collaboration – Learning to communicate, collaborate, and work with other stakeholders, experts, and community members
• Advocacy – Learning to become a compelling, positive voice to raise awareness for actions to address the needs for social change
• Practice – Learning the nuts and bolts of planning, executing, and evaluating social change projects and activities
• Civic and Political Engagement – Learning to work with policymakers at all levels of government and with public and private organizations to affect rules, laws, and policies
• Ethics – Learning to effect social change within a compassionate, caring, and respectful perspective

Initial Post: After reading the required resources below, please incorporate and correctly cite relevant information as you respond to the following:

• Describe your applied practice facility, including the mission, vision, and values.
• Identify the skill or knowledge area that you selected from the list and explain why you chose that area.
• Explain your chosen skill or knowledge area’s applicability to the project you are working on during your applied practice experience.
• Describe how your project could positively impact social change.

Response Post: Respond to at least two classmates’ posts and suggest another skill or knowledge area related to the described applied practice project. Expand upon the ideas in the post for positively impacting social change.

Week 6: Continue Product Development

Week 7: Systems Thinking in Public Health Practice

Assignment 1 –  Systems Thinking (Due by the end of the week, on Wednesday)

Systems Thinking is another essential skill for public health professionals. Complete the online Introduction to Systems Thinking training at the New England Public Health Training Center and write a one-page reflection paper on how systems thinking is applied at your site. What do you understand by the term ‘systems thinking’? What role does systems thinking have in public health? How could systems thinking be incorporated into your applied practice experience?

Week 8: APE Midpoint

Assignment 2 – Progress Report (Due by the end of the week, on Wednesday)

Midway through the practice experience, students share their progress towards completing the final products through the submission of a Progress Report. The report should provide enough information to determine that adequate progress is being made towards meeting the tasks, products, and competencies. If there is incomplete information in the form or if it is not signed by the preceptor, zero points will be awarded for the assignment.

Assignment Submission Requirements:

• Submit your approved APE Learning Contract.
• Create a table in Microsoft Word in a format similar to the one attached to this assignment, and submit.
• Original signatures are required on the report.

Week 9: Workplace Safety and Sexual Harassment

Everyone has the right to feel safe and respected at work. Businesses and organizations must provide a safe work environment, which means that employees should not feel as though they are in danger from coworkers, customers, or the people they are working and interacting with. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, workplace conflict is inevitable. You will likely be part of a diverse staff with different backgrounds, work styles, political views, and other factors. You are also working with an equally diverse population.¹

While conflict is not always a bad thing, often promoting creativity, increased productivity and problem-solving, it also means that people have to know how to deal with it properly. When employees and clients do not adequately communicate or utilize conflict-resolution strategies, conflict can be expressed through bullying, anger, or other issues that challenge the safe work environment. In addition, public health professionals may interact with community members during a period of strife and stress, which can make it challenging to remember that you may be working with someone who is having a difficult time and struggling to manage their frustration or feelings. This does not mean, however, that your safety should be at risk, and your organization should have procedures and protocols in place to ensure your well-being.

In addition to feeling safe from harm and working within a safe environment, your applied practice site/agency should have a documented process for dealing with harassment which does not have to be sexual (i.e., unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or other harassment of a sexual nature); it can also include offensive remarks about a person’s sex. Illegal harassment is not limited to colleagues or supervisors and includes actions or comments made by someone who is not an employee.¹

Reference:

1. Gurchiek K. How to identify and address conflict in the workplace. SHRM. Published April 14, 2022. Accessed June 30,2023. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/talent-2022-address-workplace-conflict.aspe

Discussion Week 9:

Initial Post: After reading the required resources below, please incorporate and correctly cite relevant information as you respond to each of the following:

• Determine whether your applied practice site has a formal process to address workplace safety and sexual harassment. Explain where this information was located and describe the process of reporting.
• If you did not find a formal process, describe whom you contacted for this information and how you determined that the site does not have this type of process in place.  
• Assess the workplace safety and sexual harassment reporting process or the potential for a reporting process if you did not find one.
• If you found that the site/agency does have a process, select one of this module’s resources, identify the resource you selected, and compare this resource with procedures and protocols from your site.
• If you did not find a process at your site, select one of this module’s resources and suggest at least three options that your site could implement to begin this process.
• Explain and clearly justify why the selected components of the identified resource are important for your site.

Response Post: Respond to at least three classmates’ posts in a substantive way. In addition, respond to all Instructor queries. In your response, you could:

• Provide additional resources or ideas.
• Support or constructively challenge the explanation and justification your peer provided.

Week 10: Continue Product Development

Week 11:  Leadership in the Workplace

Throughout your professional and personal lives, you have interacted with and encountered leaders or those in charge of a situation, program, or position. If that person could inspire, support you, and make you feel valued, you probably remember well. That person may have also been committed to their goals and yours and exhibited traits and skills of an exceptional leader. In addition, they most likely had or have the ability to communicate well and effectively handle challenging situations. What other skills must one acquire to be an effective leader?

In this Discussion, you will explore leadership as it applies to public health, along with essential styles, skills, and traits great leaders possess. In addition, you will consider the leadership you witness at your applied practice site and its impact on your professional practice, the staff, and your project.

Discussion Week 11:

Initial Post: After reading the required resources below, please incorporate and correctly cite relevant information as you respond to each of the following:

• Define leadership as it applies to the public health field.
• Explain the differences in a leader being self-aware, influential, and strategic. 
• Describe how these leadership attributes manifest when leading large teams and organizations.
• Reflect on those leadership attributes you have witnessed at your applied practice experience facility.
• Describe the positive attributes you wish to emulate in your professional practice.
• Describe the negative attributes you will avoid repeating in your professional practice. 
• Describe the types of leadership opportunities you are looking for in the field of public health.

Response Post: Respond to at least three of your classmates’ posts in a substantive way. In addition, respond to all Instructor queries. In your response, you could:

• Comment on the definition of leadership as it applies to public health.
• Expand upon how leadership attributes manifest themselves in leadership roles.
• Offer suggestions for how to avoid the negative attributes presented in the post.

Week 12: Final Draft Report

Assignment 3 –  Final Report and Evaluation Complete Draft (Due by the end of the week, on Wednesday)

Submit complete Final Report and evaluation draft.

On your APE learning contract, you listed at least 5 competencies that would be met by your practice experience:

• Submit the 2 final products you created for your site. If it an electronic resource like a web page, submit the link to the resource. Create a Microsoft Word document using the template provided.
• Describe how you attained each one of the competencies.
• Submit sections 1 and 2 of the Final Report draft as one document.

Week 13: Prepare Week 15 Presentation

You all have worked very hard throughout your APE journey. This week, you will prepare a 5-8 minute recorded presentation to share your work, findings, challenges, and successes with your peers in Week 15. Please start to think about your presentation, staying within the 5-8 minute timeframe. Contact your instructor if you have any questions regarding this upcoming assignment.

Week 14: Planning Ahead – APE Presentation and the ILE

Presentation Planning

As you plan for the week ahead, be mindful of your time in preparing for your upcoming Week 15 discussion post: a recorded presentation of your work. Review and apply best practices for virtual presentations using the resources provided in Week 15.

Integrative Learning Experience (ILE) Planning

In your final semester in the program, you will write a paper as part of the Integrative Learning Experience (ILE). This paper can be based on the work you completed for your APE, or on any other public health topic of interest to you.

Week 15: Presenting Your Practice Experience

Discussion Week 15: Video Presentation (Due by the end of the week, on Wednesday)

Submit recorded video presentation. 

Response Post: respond to 3 classmates.

Assignment 4 – Synopsis (Due Sunday)

Design a creative one-page synopsis of your practice experience. Each person’s page will feature in an online magazine of applied practice experiences. This document will be shared with faculty, students, and staff of the public health program. You can use the attached template or create your own, but you are restricted to no more than one page. It should be a magazine or newsletter style and should be visually appealing. All the information in the template should be in your synopsis and includes:

1. A topic for the APE
2. A ‘journal article title’ for the project (If you were to publish this as a paper what would the title be?)
3. Final Products created
4. The public health competencies addressed
5. Site name (footer)
6. Semester (footer)
7. Year (footer)
8. Student name

Synopsis assignment and Final Report are due on Sunday to give time to make changes to the synopsis pages or report if needed.

Save the document as a file with the title:  Lastname_Firstname_ ProjectTitle_SemesterYear

For example: Smith_John_InfantNutritioninMaine_Summer2023

Be creative with this assignment. Use photos from your site if possible or download photos from the internet. (Complete release forms if people in your photo (apart from yourself) can be identified). Don’t use the pictures on the template or leave the spaces for the photos blank. Do not use your site’s official logo unless you have written permission to do so. Keep the text concise or use bullet points. See the attached example.

This is one assignment where you can enlist the help of friends and family members 🙂 . Have fun with it!

Assignment 5 –  Final Report and Evaluation (Due Sunday)

Submit final report and evaluation. 

On your APE learning contract, you listed at least 5 competencies that would be met by your practice experience:

• Submit the 2 final products you created for your site. If it an electronic resource like a web page, submit the link to the resource. Create a Microsoft Word document using the template provided.
• Describe how you attained each one of the competencies.
• Submit sections 1 and 2 of the Final Report as one document.

Week 16: APE Preceptor Evaluation

Preceptor Evaluation:

• Use the survey link that will be sent to your email to complete an evaluation of your site and preceptor.

Student Resources

Policies