Lois Meyer, Lisa Jackson Pulver and Sally Fitzpatrick

Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit is in SPHCM and Faculty of Medicine

Scenario based approach to medical curriculum since 2003

Masters of Public Health since 1970s

Indigenous Health in Australia introduced as elective in 2005

Recent shift to graduate capabilities and practitioner focused curriculum

MPH Student Profile @ SPHCM

InternationalFull timeInternal

LocalPart timeInternal

LocalPart timeExternal

example of MPH graduate capabilities

Strengthen relationships and communicate effectively to enhance public health outcomes

Engage with and contribute to local, national and international communities

Apply analytical and critical thinking for evidence based problem solving

Commit to social responsibility informed by principles of social justice and equity

interactional abilities to: personal attributes to:

In 2008 the School of Public Health and Community Medicine won a UNSW Learning and Teaching grant to provide innovative online scenario based learning using rich media to support the embedding of graduate capabilities in the Master of Public Health (MPH)

Inquiry based learning

Our goal is to provide inquiry based learning online that motivates and propels learning using authentic problems and scenarios to engender a ‘state of perplexity’ (Dewey 1933), ‘a disjunction’ (Savin Baden 2000).

Principles Provide rich learning that integrates and promotes graduate

capabilities Ground learning and assessment activities in authentic real world

problems relevant to professional practice Draw on real world scenarios/situations using rich media to support

student assessment activities online Trigger perplexity that fosters problem involvement, collaborative

learning, teamwork and reflective thinking Provide opportunities for students to share and draw on their own

experiences through collaborative discussion face to face and online

Core competencies Analyse key comparative health indicators for

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Analyse key comparative indicators regarding the social determinants of health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Describe Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health in historical context and analyse the impact of colonial processes on health outcomes.

Critically evaluate Indigenous public health policy or programs.

Apply the principles of economic evaluation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs with a particular focus on the allocation of resources relative to need.

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Demonstrate a reflexive public health practice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health contexts.

Successful course with consistently positive feedback

Two day workshop followed by individual learning and three assessment tasks

Student feedback identified the need for ongoing engagement and dialogue

Scenario building…an integral part of the innovation and policy-making

process (Duin, 2006).

a method to stimulate different perspectives or images of the future of a certain area to gain more insight into possible future developments. Based on the insights from such visionary views concerted and focused actions can be derived to positively impact future developments (Heijden, 1996).

Our approach

Use of methods drawn from the field of ‘scenario planning’

(Wilmore 2001; Kok et al 2007) associated with strategic thinking and policy development where stakeholders are confronted by complex, multifaceted and uncertain environments.

Rather than providing a resource with a set scenario, students drew on the perspectives presented and their own understandings to ‘build’ their own scenario of what the future might look like for Indigenous health and wellbeing by 2025.

Key features

Development and production of a DVD documentary that could be used in workshops and online to support collaborative inquiry and creative problem solving.

The DVD “Ending Indigenous health inequality within our lifetimes” features Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices providing commentary on:How did we get to this point?Where to from here?

Initial workshop where students worked in both large and small

groups to: View core DVD segments and participate in large and small

guided group conversations. Identify a possible shared vision and potential obstacles

towards achieving it.

During semester there was online access to the DVD multimedia clips and students engaged in small group online discussions facilitated by one of the Aboriginal voices from the DVD, Caroline Vale

Drawing on readings, DVD clips, their own research and structured facilitated discussions, students worked collaboratively to answer the four key questions in structured group work paced across the semester:

What is ‘Closing the Gap’?

What does the health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians look like in 2025?

What strategies do you propose for achieving this vision?

How will you participate and contribute to supporting this envisaged set of outcomes?

“These two days have changed me forever…”

“I found the DVD useful because it gave an Indigenous opinion on addressing health inequalities ..I learnt more about the history of Indigenous Australia, and have to say this task was challenging – and really made me think”