Abstract
Many accredited schools and programs of public health integrate experiential learning into the capstone experience for undergraduate public health majors; thus, the experiential learning capstone must be both cumulative and integrative. A goal of experiential learning is to foster the application of concepts and skills learned in the classroom to real-world public health situations. Students may benefit from earlier opportunities to engage in high-impact experiential learning activities. Therefore, the University of Iowa College of Public Health developed an experiential learning requirement that is separate from the capstone course. Our students' experiential learning activities do not need to be cumulative across the entire curriculum, but they should be integrative. Public health undergraduate students at the University of Iowa must successfully complete at least one of the following experiences in public health: research, internship, service learning, or global learning. This article will provide a model for the creation of an experiential learning program for undergraduate public health students that is separate from the culminating, capstone experience.
Highlights
AND RATIONALEPublic health education at the undergraduate level continues to grow following national recommendations to increase the proportion of 4 year colleges and universities that offer public health degree programs such that all undergraduates have access to public health education [1,2,3]
High-impact educational practices, including experiential learning activities, have been incorporated into the critical component elements identified by the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health3 and in the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP)4 learning objectives promoted by the Association of American Colleges & Universities
We utilized the principles of the Association for Experiential Education (AEE) and National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE) as we developed the academic framework of our experiential learning program to support guided reflection by public health students
Summary
Public health education at the undergraduate level continues to grow following national recommendations to increase the proportion of 4 year colleges and universities that offer public health degree programs such that all undergraduates have access to public health education [1,2,3]. An emphasis on public health training for the workplace or further education is evident in the current accreditation criteria for undergraduate programs in schools and programs of public health and standalone baccalaureate programs. High-impact educational practices, including experiential learning activities, have been incorporated into the critical component elements identified by the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health and in the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) learning objectives promoted by the Association of American Colleges & Universities. Few published articles provide a model for experiential learning activities in public health education, and many of these focus on graduate education in public health [4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. We provide a model for the creation of an experiential learning program for undergraduate public health students
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