Date:08/xx/11

To:Robert Goldstein, Associate Provost

From:Peter L. Walton, Associate Dean

Subject:Proposal to change PHPH-101 Introduction to Public Health–SB to v2011.07.19

The above-named course is proposed to be modified as follows:

Approval required:

  • Descriptions revised
  • Student evaluation components and assessments revised

Approval not required:

  • Textbook changed
  • Other required reading expanded
  • Class topics and readings revised
  • Intellectual Standards section added

The proposed syllabus has been approved by the MPH Program, SPHIS Curriculum Committee, Faculty Forum, and the dean’s office.

I would greatly appreciate an expedited review and decision of this proposed change as the course is being first taught this fall.

The proposed CIF, proposed syllabus, and the currently approved syllabus are attached.

Introduction to Public Health–SBPHPH-101

Course Data

Number:PHPH-101

Title:Introduction to Public Health–SB

Credit-hours:3

Department:School-based

School/College:School of Public Health and Information Sciences

Type:Lecture

Catalog Description

“What are past and present public healthconcepts, methods, activities, and practices? What outcomes have they had on the health of the public? How should we prepare for the future?”

Course Description

The central course questions addressed are “What are past and present public healthconcepts, methods, activities, and practices? What outcomes have they had on the health of the public? How should we prepare for the future?” In learning the answers, the course explores the principles and tools of population health; prevention of disease, disability, and death; health professionals, institutions, financing, systems, and reform; and public health systems and the future, including sustainability and climate change. Critical thinking is an essential part of the exploration and is discussed and applied inlectures, class activities, electronic journals, and student evaluation.

Course Objectives

At the conclusion of the course, the successful student is able to:

  • Understand and describe the key features of the historical development of public health as a domain of specialized knowledge and public policy.
  • Analyze and differentiate the concept of population health from medical, nursing, dental, and other health careactivities.
  • Understand and discuss the concepts of prevention, detection, control of infectious and chronic conditions, health disparities, and global health.
  • Apply the basic principles of epidemiology.
  • Analyze the impact of behavior, socioeconomic status,and cultureon health.
  • Evaluate the importance of cultural diversity in assessing health status and outcomes.
  • Understand and describe the impact and control of environmental factors on health.
  • Evaluate the role of governmental and non-governmental institutions in shaping population health outcomes.
  • Formulate what it means to foster a healthy society both locally and globally.

Prerequisites

None.

Course Instructors

Name / Office / Phone / Email
Peter L. Walton, M.D.
Course Director / SPHIS 233C / 502-852-4493 /
Various SPHIS Faculty / Listed by name in student syllabus for each course instance offered and posted on Blackboard

The course instructors welcome conversations with students outside of class. Students may correspond with instructors by email or set up appointments by contacting Ms. Tammi Thomas at 502-852-3289 or .

Students should also contact Ms. Thomas with questions they might have regarding the mechanics or operation of the course.

Course Topics and Schedule

IMPORTANT NOTE: The schedule and topics may change as the course unfolds. Changes are posted on Blackboard.

Class / Topic / 5-Min / Reading
Principles of Population Health and Course Introduction
1 / Course Introduction, Part 1 / √ / Blackboard:
Start Here
Syllabus
Faculty Info
2 / Population Health / √ / Preface
Ch. 1
3 / Course Introduction, Part 2
Essay topics announced and posted / √ / Blackboard:
Journal intro
4 / Evidence-based Public Health, Part 1 / √ / Ch. 2
5 / Evidence-based Public Health, Part 2 / √
6 / Health Equity / √
Tools of Population Health
7 / Health Informatics and Health Communication, Part 1 / √ / Ch. 3
8 / Health Informatics and Health Communication, Part 2 / √
9 / Social and Behavioral Sciences and Public Health, Part 1 / √ / Ch. 4
10 / Social and Behavioral Sciences and Public Health, Part 2 / √
11 / Health Law, Policy and Ethics / √ / Ch. 5
12 / Exam 1covering classes 1 to 11 / -- / --
Preventing Disease, Disability, and Death
13 / Non-Communicable Diseases, Part 1 / √ / Ch. 6
14 / Non-Communicable Diseases, Part 2
Journal-in-progress due / √
15 / Communicable Diseases, Part 1 / √ / Ch. 7
16 / Communicable Diseases, Part 2 / √
17 / Environmental Health and Safety, Part 1 / √ / Ch. 8
18 / Environmental Health and Safety, Part 2 / √
19 / Exam 2 covering classes 13 to 18 / -- / --
Health Professionals, Healthcare Institutions, and Healthcare Systems
20 / Health Professionals and the Health Workforce / √ / Ch. 9
21 / Healthcare Institutions / √ / Ch. 10
22 / Health Financing / √ / Ch. 11
23 / Public Health Information Systems for Monitoring and Research / √
24 / Healthcare Reform / √ / Health Reform 101 (online chapter of text)
Public Health Systems and the Future
25 / Public Health Services / √
26 / Public Health Organizations
Journal due (by 11:59 p.m.) / √
27 / Sustainability / √
28 / Climate Change and Public Health
Essay due (submitted electronically by 11:59 p.m.) / √
Finals / Exam 3 covering classes 20 to 28 / -- / --

Note: Class date column is added to right of Class column in student syllabus for each course instance offered.

Course Materials

Blackboard

The primary mechanism for communication in this course, other than class meetings, is UofL’s Blackboard system at or Instructors use Blackboard to make assignments, provide materials, communicate changes or additions to the course materials or course schedule, and to communicate with students other aspects of the course. It is imperative that students familiarize themselves with Blackboard, check Blackboard frequently for possible announcements, and make sure that their e-mail account in Blackboard is correct, active, and checked frequently.

Blackboard is utilized for the following course activities:

  • Announcements and email communication
  • i>clicker registration
  • Student journal
  • Essay submission

and for accessing the following information:

  • Course calendar
  • Syllabus
  • Faculty information
  • Course and class documents (see Prepared Materials Used by Instructors, below)
  • Grade book

Required Text

Richard Riegelman. Public Health 101: Healthy People–Healthy Populations. Jones and Bartlett, 2010.

Other Required Reading

Posted on Blackboard at least one week prior to applicable class.

Richard Paul and Linda Elder.The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts and Tools, 6th Edition.The Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2009. [“The Mini-Guide” is provided free by the Delphi Center, with hardcopies distributed in class and an electronic version available in Blackboard.]

Required Equipment

i>clicker, registered for the course in Blackboard.

Additional Suggested Reading

None.

Prepared Materials Used by Instructors

Materials used by instructors in class are available to students via Blackboard no later than 24 hours following the class. These may include outlines, citations, slide presentations, and other materials. There is no assurance that the materials include everything discussed in the class.

Course Policies

Student Responsibilities

  • Students read the required materials prior to each class to prepare for class work and discussions.
  • Students participate by attending every class and by taking responsibility for course material when attendance is impossible. Participation means active engagement in class discussions, assignments, and activities.
  • Students act with integrity and treat each other with respect and courtesy.
  • In all course activities, students apply the intellectual standards, especially clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, and logic(at a minimum).
  • Students apply the information and guidance in The Mini-Guide in class discussions and components of student evaluation (see next section).

Student Evaluation

Students are responsible for and may be evaluated on everything in the assigned reading, everything in class presentations and discussions, and everything that can be extracted or extended from these sources using critical thinking and fundamental and powerful concepts. Evaluation is based on the assessment of five intellectual standards: clarity, relevance, significance, completeness, and logic (see Intellectual Standards, below).

The components of student evaluation are:

  1. Five-minute class summaries (5% of final grade). At the end of each class,each student has five minutes to write a summary of the class that addresses each of the following questions using its respective number:

1)“What is the main point of today's class?”

2)“What are twoother significant pointsyou learned in today's class?”

There are 26 classes with five-minute summaries, each with a maximum score of 16. The final score for this component is the average of the 23 highest scores for the student; the lowest three scores are discarded. If a student does not hand in a five-minute summary after a class, he or she receives a 0 for the class’s five-minute summary.

The outstanding summary with a score of14 or higher is posted without the student's name after each class that includes a summary.

Each five-minute summary is evaluated using the following rubric (see also Intellectual Standards, below):

Rubric for Evaluating Five-Minute Summary

Item / 4
Exceeds Standard / 3
Meets Standard / 2
Partially Meets Standard / 1
Does Not Meet Standard / 0
Fails to Try / Item Score for Std / x Wt = / Points
1)What is the main point of today's class?
(60%) / CLARITY
Polished crystal / Clear / Slightly hazy / Completely cloudy / Nothing stated / 1.2
RELEVANCE
Bull’s-eye / On-target / Edge of target / Off-target / Nothing stated / 1.2
2)What are two other significant points you learned in today's class?
(40%) / CLARITY
Polished crystal / Clear / A bit hazy / Too cloudy to see through / Nothing stated / 0.8
RELEVANCE
Bull’s-eye / On-target / Edge of target / Off-target / Nothing stated / 0.8
Summary score = ∑ (item scores for standards x weight) (maximum of 16.0 for a summary)Summary score =
  1. Examinations (60% of final grade).Each of the three exams focuses on the content covered since the previous exam (or for Exam 1 from the start of the course).
  2. Exam 1: covers reading and discussions in classes 1-11. (20% of final grade)
  3. Exam 2:covers reading and discussions in classes 13-18. (20% of final grade)
  4. Exam 3: covers reading and discussions in classes 20-28. (20% of final grade)

Each exam is multiple-choice and is scored on a 100-point scale.

  1. Journal (25% of final grade). Each student compiles an electronic journal in Blackboard comprising analyses of ten newspaper and/or magazine articles.

Each of the ten articles has the following attributes:

  • From a current magazine or newspaper and not from a scientific journal or other periodical (Note: Scientific American, Science News, Popular Science, and similar magazines are not considered to be scientific journals.)
  • At least 1,500 words in length (estimated)

Note 1: If the article is in electronic form that can be copied and pasted, this free word count tool( is very useful.

Note 2: If the article is in a print newspaper, the procedure in “How to Do Word Count for Newspaper Articles” ( is useful.

  • Available as and hyperlinked to electronic version of the article

Note: If the article is not available on the internet, it should be scanned to a file that is located in the student’s documents in Blackboard, which can then be hyperlinked to.

The set of ten articles has the following attributes:

  • Articles from diverse sources
  • At least one article partly on health disparities or health equity
  • At least one article partly on global health
  • At least one article partly on cultural diversity and health

Note: In the context of public health, cultural diversity includes the effects of ethnic, gender, racial, socioeconomic, and cultural belief and practice varieties on a population’s health and wellness and their assessment, protection, and improvement through detection/monitoring, prevention/promotion, intervention/containment, policy/management, and research.

Midway through the course, each student’s journal-in-progress is evaluated. A journal-in-progress consists of articles collected at that point and one article analysis (see below) that the student has identified as the one to be evaluated. (5% of final grade)

Each article in the journal must address one or more public health topics, although not necessarily exclusively. The journal is organized into ten Blackboard journal entries, each of which contains the student’s analysis of one of the articles. Instructions for how to set up a journal are in Blackboard.

An analysis consists of completing the following template[1] (with the underlines and bracketed cues removed):

  1. Title:

Author:

Source and publication date:

Estimated word count:

Hyperlink to article[in the web or in the student’s Blackboard documents if scanned]

[If not complete, including the hyperlink, the analysis gets a 0.]

  1. The main point of the article is.

[State as accurately as possible what the article is about, which may be or include the author’spurpose,goal, question,or other motivationfor writing the article. (20 % of score)]

  1. The most important information in the article is.

[Figure out the facts, experiences, and data the author is using to support his or her conclusions. (20 % of score)]

  1. The main inferences/conclusions in the article are.

[Identify the key conclusions the author comes to and presents in the article. (20 % of score)]

  1. (a) If we take this line of reasoning seriously, the implications are.

[What consequences are likely to follow if people take the author’s reasoning seriously? (10 % of score)]

(b)If we fail to take this line of reasoning seriously, the implications are .

[What consequences are likely to follow if people ignore the author’s reasoning? (10 % of score)]

  1. The question(s) I have after reading the article is (are) .

[What question(s) is (are) raised or implied by the author or inferred by you but not answered or addressed? (20 % of score)]

While no specific length is required for an analysis or any of its components, evaluation includes the intellectual standards of clarity and precision, both of which greatly benefit from conciseness. Students should not expect length per se to be rewarded.

The journal is expected to be done with a professional style and appearance and to be an original work of the student.

The journal-in-progressis closed to additions or revisions at 11:59 p.m. on the day of Class 14 and is opened once evaluations are completed.(5% of final grade)

The rubric for evaluating the journal-in-progress is (see also Intellectual Standards section, below):

Rubric for Evaluating Journal-in-Progress

Topic
(weight) / Exceptional
(4 points) / Above Average
(3 points) / Acceptable
(2 points) / Unacceptable
(0 points) /

Points

/

xAdjWt* =

/

Score

# of different sources
(10%) / 3 or more / 2 / 1 / no articles / 2.50
# of articles of at least 1,500 words
(10%) / 4 or more / 3 / 2 / 1 or fewer
-- or –
No link to identified article / 2.50
Article analysis identified by student as the one to be evaluated
(80%) / Identified article analysis score [maximum of 100] = / 0.8
Raw journal-in-progressscore = ∑ (individual topic points x adjusted weight*) [maximum of 100.0]
Journal-in-progressscore =

* Adjusted weight for a topic is the topic’s weight adjusted to a 100-point scale.

The final journal is closed to additions or revisions at 11:59 p.m. on the day of Class 26 unless the student requests a penalized extension. For each day or part thereof for the extension, five points are deducted from the final journal score up to a maximum of 20 points (out of 100). (20% of final grade)

The rubric for evaluating the finaljournal is (see also Intellectual Standards, below):

Rubric for Evaluating Final Journal

Topic
(weight) / Exceptional
(4 points) / Above Average
(3 points) / Acceptable
(2 points) / Unacceptable
(0 points) /

Points

/

xAdjWt* =

/

Score

# of different sources
(10%) / 7 or more / 5-6 / 3-4 / 1-2 / 2.5
# of articles of at least 1,500 words
(10%) / 10 / 8-9 / 6-7 / 0-5
- or –
No link to 1 or more articles / 2.5
Article analyses
(80%) / Average of the 10 article analyses’ scores [maximum of 100] = / 0.8
Raw journalscore = ∑ (individual topic points x adjusted weight*) [maximum of 100.0]Raw journalscore =
Tardiness penalty = number of days late [up to maximum of 4] x -5Days late [max of 4] / x -5 = / -
Journal score = raw journal score – tardiness penaltyJournal score =

* Adjusted weight for a topic is the topic’s weight adjusted to a 100-point scale.

The rubric for evaluating a journalarticle analysis is (see also Intellectual Standards, below):

Rubric for Evaluating Journal Article Analysis

Item / 4
Exceeds Standard / 3
Meets Standard / 2
Partially Meets Standard / 1
Does Not Meet Standard / 0
Fails to Try / Item Score for Std / x Adj Wt* = / Points
1. Main point of the article
(20%) / CLARITY
Polished crystal / Clear / A bit hazy / Too cloudy to see through / Nothing stated / 1.67
RELEVANCE
Bull’s-eye / On-target / Edge of target / Off-target / Nothing stated / 1.67
SIGNIFICANCE
Jackpot / Significant / Some but limited value / Inconsequential / Nothing stated / 1.67
2. Most important information in the article
(20%) / CLARITY
Polished crystal / Clear / Slightly hazy / Too cloudy to see through / Nothing stated / 1.67
RELEVANCE
Bull’s-eye / On-target / Edge of target / Off-target / Nothing stated / 1.67
SIGNIFICANCE
Jackpot / Significant / Some but limited value / Inconsequential / Nothing stated / 1.67
3. Main inferences / conclusions in the article
(20%) / CLARITY
Polished crystal / Clear / Slightly hazy / Too cloudy to see through / Nothing stated / 1.67
RELEVANCE
Bull’s-eye / On-target / Edge of target / Off-target / Nothing stated / 1.67
SIGNIFICANCE
Jackpot / Significant / Some but limited value / Inconsequential / Nothing stated / 1.67
4a. Implications if the article is taken seriously
(10%) / CLARITY
Polished crystal / Clear / Slightly hazy / Too cloudy to see through / Nothing stated / 0.83
RELEVANCE
Bull’s-eye / On-target / Edge of target / Off-target / Nothing stated / 0.83
SIGNIFICANCE
Jackpot / Significant / Some but limited value / Inconsequential / Nothing stated / 0.83
4b. Implications if the article is not taken seriously
(10%) / CLARITY
Polished crystal / Clear / Slightly hazy / Too cloudy to see through / Nothing stated / 0.83
RELEVANCE
Bull’s-eye / On-target / Edge of target / Off-target / Nothing stated / 0.83
SIGNIFICANCE
Jackpot / Significant / Some but limited value / Inconsequential / Nothing stated / 0.83
5. Student’s questions from reading the article
(20%) / CLARITY
Polished crystal / Clear / Slightly hazy / Too cloudy to see through / Nothing stated / 1.67
RELEVANCE
Bull’s-eye / On-target / Edge of target / Off-target / Nothing stated / 1.67
SIGNIFICANCE
Jackpot / Significant / Some but limited value / Inconsequential / Nothing stated / 1.67
Analysis score = ∑ (item scores for standards x adjusted weight*) (maximum of 100.0)Analysis score = =
  1. Essay (10% of final grade). Each student writes a two-page essay on apublic health scenario that is announced in Class 3and posted on Blackboard. The essay contains the following information,at a minimum:
  • Key public health issues in the scenario with justification*
  • Key stakeholders and their roles in the scenario with justification*
  • Appropriate course of actions to be taken in the scenario with justification*

*Justification is an explanation or rationale of why something is stated and may include evidence from recognized sources (each of which must be referenced) and/or concrete and abstract reasoning by the student. Justification is not personal opinions, experiences, or hunches. (Note: The Wikipedia may be a good place to find and review usable references; however, it is not one itself.)