Public Health 101 Course Syllabus

Instructors

Bernard J. Turnock MD, MPH

  • Clinical Professor of Community Health Sciences
  • Office: Suite 671, SPHPI Building
  • UIC School of Public Health, M/C 923
  • 1603 West Taylor Street, Chicago IL 60612
  • Mailbox: Room 605, 6th Floor, SPHPI Building
  • Phone and Voice Mail: (312) 413-0107
  • e-mail: bturnock@uic.edu
  • Instructor's Home Page http://www.uic.edu/~bturnock
  • Instructor's CV and Biographical Sketch

Kevin Hutchison RN, MSN, MPH

Course Description

Public Health 101 (PH 101) provides an introduction to public health concepts and practice by examining the philosophy, purpose, history, organization, functions, tools, activities and results of public health practice. Case studies and a variety of practice-related exercises serve as a basis for student participation in real world public health problem-solving simulations. The various components of the course aim to stimulate interactions among learners and between learners and instructors around important problems and issues facing public health. Since computers and the Internet's World Wide Web are now basic tools for public health practitioners, PH 101 also seeks to foster and enhance skills related to the use of technology for accessing and using information and communicating with colleagues. This course targets front line public health workers who have not previously had any formal education and preparation for public health practice.

The entire course is presented online, accessible at all times through the Illinois Public Health Preparedness Center (IPHPC)'s web address at http://www.uic.edu/sph/prepare/ The 4 parts of the course should be completed in the order presented. There are no time limits for completing the course or any of its parts. Instructors are continuously available throughout the week and weekend to provide support, feedback and guidance to learners. Course participants must individually arrange for Internet access and ensure that they have the appropriate computer hardware and software capabilities. Technical recommendations are available at the IPHPC site on the course home page. The method of instruction emphasizes understanding of the basic concepts through active student participation in a variety of computer-mediated activities and interactions. Material presented in the various parts of the course is linked to the reading assignments.

Course Objectives

Overall goals for the course are for learners to:

  • Achieve familiarity with the various components of the public health system
  • Understand interrelationships among the system's components
  • Acquire the ability to apply this knowledge and understanding to important health issues and problems
  • Acquire an awareness of the importance of independent reading and study
  • Develop basic computer skills for accessing information and communicating with peers
  • Appreciate the unique characteristics of public health practice as a social enterprise

Through this course learners will acquire basic knowledge, attitudes and skills that are important for public health practice. The course is designed to enhance 4 specific competencies. As a result, learners will become proficient in:

  1. Describing public health as a system, including its unique and important features, to general audiences

  2. Effectively contributing to efforts to measure and improve community health status by analyzing health problems for their determinants and contributing factors

  3. Identifying and analyzing public health and prevention strategies within current interventions used in the health sector

  4. Describing the role of law and government in promoting and protecting the health of the public and identifying specific functions and roles of governmental public health agencies at all levels in the community

Upon successful completion of this course, learners will have achieved the specific components of these competencies that are detailed in each module of the course. Since there are neither clear nor easy answers to many of the public health problems and issues examined in the course, an important over-arching objective is to encourage learners to think independently and critically about the issues, rather than to assume the role of passive recipients of factual information.

Key Information for the Course

This section includes a variety of information and tips to help learners understand the organization of the course and to master its technical features.

Course Organization

  • Public Health 101, in its completely online format, uses a variety of interactive modalities. These include:
    • links to a wide variety of public health related web sites for data and information
    • class conferencing for discussions involving multiple learners
    • electronic communications between learners and the instructor
    • self assessment questions, and
    • electronic submission of individual assignments
  • The course is presented in 4 modules. Each module is completed at the learner's pace and generally can be completed within a 2-week period. The pattern for each module of the course generally includes:
    • a reading assignment (generally one chapter) from the text
    • individual exercises based on the content for that session in which each learner completes various practical applications of the concepts (including examination of Internet web sites and other sources for further information on topics for that session) and formulates brief responses to be submitted electronically
    • class discussions (conferences) related to the reading and learner exercises
    • assessment quizzes based on a battery of multiple choice questions with feedback on incorrect answers
  • Successful completion of a module requires a satisfactory rating on the individual exercises and on the multiple choice quiz for that module. Instructors will assess learner performance and indicate when a module, and the entire PH 101 course, has been successfully completed.
  • The format for this course promotes extensive interaction between and among instructors and learners. Individual learners complete the required readings and individual exercises for each part of the course. They post brief responses to the discussion questions and individual exercises. Multi-learner discussions occur throughout the course, as learners are able to view and comment on selected postings and products from their colleagues. The instructors track completion of assignments, and provide targeted feedback to individual learners. Learners can proceed to the next part of the course after completing their assignments for each preceding part.

Start-up Tips

  • The required readings for this course include the first 4 chapters of Public Health: What It Is and How It Works, Second Edition by Bernard Turnock. Learners should arrange to obtain the text on their own. Otherwise, the course text is available for about $50 from the UIC Health Sciences Bookstore (hours are 8-5:30 weekdays and 10-2 on Saturdays OR mail phone orders 312/414-5550 or 1-800-613-3117 OR e-mail orders to medbooks@uic.edu OR secure Internet orders are available through http://www.doody.com/uic.htm). The book is also available through http://www.amazon.com, http://www.efollett.com and http://www.barnesandnoble.com among others or can be ordered directly from Aspen Publishers.
  • Basic information on the hardware and software needed for this course is available at the following Help site, as well as from the Illinois Public Health Preparedness Center web site.
  • Feel free to start working on Part 1 even before the course begins. This is the best means of getting comfortable with the technical aspects of the course and a good way to see how the course content is structured.
  • In order to be able to post your assignments, however, each student must have access to the conferencing site accessible through the "WebBoard" link. All learners who are registered into the course should receive an e-mail note before the course begins; this note will provide information and a password for accessing the conferencing and chat features of the course.
  • Throughout the various parts of the course, you will have access to many different documents, case studies, web sites, and other resources. These are provided in the appropriate sections of each of the various parts of the course. A comprehensive catalog of all the documents, case studies, exercises, web sites, and other resources for all parts of Public Health 101 is available through the Course Resources site.
  • The conferencing software package used in this course is WebBoard. Once inside the conferencing site, check out its Help and Users Guide features. We have established a conference site entitled "Office Hours" which will be available for any questions, concerns, or suggestions regarding the course---including any technical problems you may encounter. Of course, your instructors are also available by phone, e-mail, and personal appointment for all course participants. Try to communicate your technical problems to your instructors and TAs via this conference so that other learners experiencing the same problem or learners who have already found a fix for that problem can share their insights and information. This will help us all interact more effectively and promote collective communications. There is another WebBoard conference site titled "Announcements." This is where your instructors will communicate regularly with all course participants. It is important to check this site frequently to be fully aware of course-related news. 
  • There are several sources for assistance with technical problems---whether you are a novice with computer-mediated communications or an experienced user. These include campus computer support services as well as your instructors. The Help option at the course web site will guide you to various forms of that assistance.

Posting Messages and Assignments

  • Where and how to post messages and assignments can appear a bit daunting at first. But it is really not complicated after you get the hang of it! Each student can communicate privately with instructors when submitting assignments and questions by using the WebBoard conference site that has your name as its title!
  • In addition to this individual conference site, there will be a variety of conference sites accessible by all course participants. Some new ones may be added during the semester for specific purposes, but generally they include the following:
    • "Announcements" where course related news and announcements are provided by your instructors on a regular basis (at least once a week).
    • "Office Hours" where learners can communicate with their instructors on matters relating to the course, including technical problems/solutions and other topics. Both conferencing and chat features are available at this site.
    • "Hot Topics" where tips on interesting information sources or new web sites, or even current public health topics, are provided by learners to assist their fellow learners.
    • "Class Conference Center" where selected assignments are posted to stimulate discussions involving all course participants. For example, several assignments involve the development of debate positions. After these are posted, everyone reviews all positions and discusses which ones are most compelling or convincing.
  • The preferred method for posting your material is to produce it on a separate document, and then copy (or cut) and paste it onto the conference topic box. This requires familiarity with word processing tasks such as copying/cutting and pasting. Remember, responses to all of the individual exercises are to be submitted in the same message!
  • For those learners with the capability of playing video clips, the various modules of the course and the Course Resources site will occasionally include video clips on public health topics related to the course. These are neither required nor essential for the course since not everyone may have the proper hardware and software to view them.

Learner Evaluation

Evaluation of learner performance is based on a combination of individual assignments and class conference participation as summarized below and described in greater detail in the various overview and exercise documents for each module of the course. Each part or module is evaluated separately. Learners must successfully complete each of the 4 modules to successfully complete the course. 

  • Individual Exercises: individual assignments will be rated as Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory based on the extent to which they respond to all questions with germane content that relates to the readings and exercises for that part of the course. Submissions that fail to address all questions/exercises or that do not reflect familiarity with the course content and materials will be rated "Unsatisfactory" and this will be communicated in the feedback from the instructor. The individual exercises generally include a variety of discussion questions, case studies and web explorations. 
  • Class Conference Participation: all learners are expected to participate in the discussion conferences that are included in each module. In these conferences, learners contribute to a discussion with other learners, often involving the development of and analysis of various debate propositions and positions.
  • Assessment Quizzes: each module includes an objective assessment quiz on information and knowledge related to that module. This quiz is submitted to the instructor and the learner also receives immediate feedback on correct and incorrect responses.

Determination of Final Grades: Based on the components described above, the instructors assess each learner's performance for each module of the course. Generally, a passing grade for this course (and for each component within each module) requires a MINIMUM total score of 80 percent. Scores for individual activities within modules, as well as for modules and the entire course can be tracked using the Reporter feature of LearningSpace.

Readings

Reading assignments are derived from Public Health: What It Is and How It Works, 2nd Edition (BJ Turnock, Aspen Publishing, 2001). Other readings and materials are identified in the instructions pertinent for each module of the course. The text is available from the campus bookstore, several online bookstores, as well as directly from Aspen Publishing.

PH 101 Course Syllabus last revised November 20, 2001 (bturnock)