Abstract
Key drivers of change in the 21st century—pandemic, technology advance, social disparity—are shaping the public health industry, including employment and education. In 2020, COVID-19 brought rapid change to the teaching of public health in higher education. In this reflective essay, we move beyond the delivery of existing curricula shifting from classroom to online, and consider the greater agenda of a transformative educational paradigm. This is broadly conceptualized as a shift from a “factory model education” to one of “personalized learning” with an emphasis on fostering creativity and heutagogical (student-driven) models, underpinned by technology, and real world application involving problem and project-based learning in a changing industry. Such change has stemmed both from the impact of COVID-19 on the education system, and in response to a more momentous transformation in public health careers and societal expectations of a public health workforce.
Highlights
The face of public health is changing in response to local and global trends of rapid technological development and worsening inequities (Mays et al, 2012; Dahlgren and Whitehead, 2015), both of which have been highlighted in the face of COVID-19 and prior global pandemics
Prior to COVID-19, public health higher education primarily consisted of classroom based learning, with some online lectures and standardized assessment
These methods fulfilled the criteria of giving students much needed “knowledge;” the narrow approach was reflected in graduates being trained to enter a workforce in which they were required to comply with standardized organizational processes that required them to learn how to “fit in.”
Summary
The face of public health is changing in response to local and global trends of rapid technological development and worsening inequities (Mays et al, 2012; Dahlgren and Whitehead, 2015), both of which have been highlighted in the face of COVID-19 and prior global pandemics. Mâori and Pacific peoples experience inequity in morbidity and mortality in the face of influenza pandemics and other communicable disease (Jefferies et al, 2020) This context provides great opportunity for redesigning curricular that forefronts personalized learning, integrates indigenous and community perspectives driven by local public health solutions; as well as individual student choices and strengths. Such change is of significance, both nationally and internationally, in influencing the delivery of public health education to ensure it is responsive to community needs. While the program philosophy remains vital, the challenges to education are centered on delivery of content and what this will mean in a society where digital literacy is becoming a necessary skill to manage individual wellbeing as well as delivery of public health
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