Flipping Online Learning in Public Health Graduate Education

Abstract

The flipped classroom approach, used for many years in the humanities and the basic sciences, is becoming increasingly popular in public health education. This article describes the implementation and evaluation of a master’s-level Environmental and Occupational Health course, a required course in a Master of Public Health program at a mid-sized Canadian university. The course was designed using a flipped classroom approach and delivered online using a learning management system and interactive web-conferencing technology. Using a pre- and postsurvey design, we assessed improvements in student’s self-reported knowledge and skills, student learning experiences in the course, and the impact of specific course components on critical thinking and student engagement. Our results suggest that this approach enabled the achievement of course learning outcomes and provided positive learning experiences overall. Additionally, we find that the course promoted critical thinking and enabled student engagement in the context of online education for this small group of graduate-level public health students. We conclude by discussing key lessons learned for providing optimal learning experiences and outcomes in online graduate-level public health education.