Requirements for Teaching Experience and Pedagogical Training Among Public Health PhD Programs

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine how public health PhD students from each of the core disciplines of public health are trained in teaching. The websites of CEPH accredited PhD programs in the core disciplines of public health were searched for degree requirements that included teaching experience and/or pedagogical training. Of the 244 PhD programs included in this study, only 87 (35%) required teaching assistant experience. In terms of training, only 43 programs (17%) required doctoral students to be trained to teach, with just over half of those trainings being for-credit. The topics that were covered in the trainings were analyzed, with the three most common being: assessing student learning (e.g., assignments, rubrics, exams), designing a course syllabus, and implementing active learning strategies. In all, this study provided additional evidence for the need of doctoral public health programs to require PhD students to acquire more teaching experience and pedagogical knowledge.