I had a great time teaching a four-session, case-based class this fall as part of a larger course on systems change for public health. I developed the case specifically for this class: it has: Power imbalances! Drama! Malaria! Ken Arrow!
In addition to my fun, students were engaged and provided positive feedback (and I have made some tweaks to the case material itself based on their notes). I’m excited to share it with you and welcome you using it and providing feedback on it. It could apply to a wide range of public health and policy courses.
I was keen to teach this particular case material—drawing on my thesis—as it is essential for public health students (and beyond) to learn that people may support, or resist, initiatives designed to influence health outcomes for reasons that have nothing to do with public health.
Given the news (gestures wildly) this may seem obvious. But given the way students learn about policy and programming—and judging by early reactions by students when I taught this—it isn’t.
In addition, drawing on my years as a manager (and asking around to foundation friends about what they wish new-hires learned), I built in practical, transferable skills. Even if every detail about Ghana, malaria medication, or the AMFm fell out of students’ minds the second they walked out of the last class, I wanted them to leave with some skills: making effective presentations, giving and receiving feedback, and doing applied political analysis.
In this post, I will provide a rundown of the cases (in full, here), pedagogical purpose, and then the play-by-play of how I taught the class, with some notes on how I might tweak it in the future.
The case
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Pedagogical purpose and objectives
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Slides and run of show
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Heather E. Lanthorn 