{"id":153278,"date":"2019-09-27T13:15:51","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T17:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?p=153278"},"modified":"2020-09-17T10:20:31","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:20:31","slug":"mph-core-curriculum-now-offered-online","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2019\/mph-core-curriculum-now-offered-online\/","title":{"rendered":"MPH Core Curriculum Now Offered Online"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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September 27, 2019<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\"\"The School of Public Health has now made it more convenient for Master of Public Health students to complete the four required courses in the program\u2019s integrated core curriculum: As of fall 2019, students have the option to complete all four courses online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The online classes\u2014Quantitative Methods for Public Health; Leadership and Management for Public Health; Health Systems, Law, and Policy; and Individual, Community, and Population Health (ICPH)\u2014provide students with the same foundational public health knowledge and skills that they would receive in person. The courses are also taught by the same experienced SPH faculty members who teach the courses on campus. The Quantitative Methods and ICPH courses have been offered online since fall 2018. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Available to both full-time and part-time students, the online curriculum enables students to study the material at their own pace and then log on through the web conferencing tool Zoom for weekly live classes, where they can see and interact with the professor and other students in the class.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so pleased to add this flexibility for our students,\u201d says Lisa Sullivan<\/a>, associate dean for education and professor of biostatistics, who teaches the Quantitative Methods course. <\/span>\u201cBy offering these core courses online, our students can make progress in their programs from anywhere at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n

For students or working professionals who would like to gain fundamental public health knowledge without enrolling in a full MPH degree program, the four online courses also satisfy the<\/span> Graduate Certificate in Public Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen online courses were first introduced years ago, most were asynchronous and just consisted of putting a lot text on web pages without much in the way of feedback or interaction,\u201d says Wayne LaMorte<\/a>, professor of epidemiology, who has taught the online Quantitative Methods course. \u201cOnline learning modules can now provide a lively orchestration of text, images, audio and video, and interactive activities that enable students to test their understanding and receive immediate feedback.\u201d He says Zoom even allows the instructor to divide an online class into breakout rooms so that students can meet in small groups.<\/p>\n

Carol Dolan<\/a>, professor of community health sciences, taught the online ICPH course last year, and agrees that the interactive components of the modules enhance students\u2019 experience and prepare them for the discussion-oriented class.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents were able to explain their approach to actual public health issues, from analysis to action,\u201d Dolan says.<\/p>\n

MPH student Olivia King, who is enrolled in the JD\/MPH<\/a> dual-degree program and is studying health law and policy at SPH, completed the Quantitative Methods course with LaMorte last fall. She says that class schedules and travel time between the Charles River Campus, where the School of Law is located, and the Medical Campus, were the main factors in her decision to take the course remotely.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great decision to take Quantitative Methods online,\u201d says King, adding that the module-based course allowed her to work at her own pace and still enjoy the experience of live classes two evenings each week. \u201cThe format was easy for me, and Professor LaMorte was really accessible by Zoom <\/span>and email throughout the course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joshua Smith-Sreen, a student in the BA\/MPH program<\/a>, also appreciated the convenience of reduced travel time between the two campuses. He enrolled in the ICPH course while still an undergraduate last year, and is now completing certificates at SPH in epidemiology and biostatistics, as well as global health program design.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seminar-style format worked really well, and I got to know everyone in the class,\u201d says Smith-Sreen. \u201cDuring the week, we peer-reviewed each other\u2019s responses to reading assignments, and then discussed all of the important concepts together during the virtual in-class sessions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to learn more and apply to the MPH program.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/em><\/span><\/strong>Jillian McKoy<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students can create a flexible class schedule by opting to complete the four required MPH courses in a virtual format.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15205,"featured_media":153228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[2728,1743,2304,2045],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3528,3531,3541],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[487],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/153278"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153278"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/153278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173036,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/153278\/revisions\/173036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153278"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=153278"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=153278"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=153278"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=153278"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=153278"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=153278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}