Getting out from Behind the Podium: Building an Interactive Classroom

There is an ongoing challenge in education to engage the student in an interactive manner and make the most of a limited period of time. Flipped classrooms are all the rage, but innovative approaches have to be more than just reading at home. In the College of Public Health’s new interdisciplinary course, students are engaged as teams of seven, representing academic majors including Nursing, Social and Behavioral Science, Social Work, Kinesiology, Speech Language Hearing, Health Information Management and Therapeutic Recreation. Students read background materials and then come to class to work in small “learning pods” to tackle various public health problems, such as mental health issues, healthy aging, sports concussions, infectious disease and much more. For example, students reflect on theories of behavior change and how such approaches can contribute to their understanding of health professions. Case studies and deductive exercises are key activities to translating knowledge into practice. Beyond the flipped classroom which typically emphasizes practical learning, the learning pods force the students into thinking as teams which is the future of health and healthcare. In this poster, we will share our early experience implementing this new teaching approach, including teaching materials, course instructor feedback and student evaluations.