First-Year Practicum
The Practicum is a community-based learning experience required of all first year MPH students that is embedded within the spring quarter’s PBHL 550 course (Community-Based Prevention Practices). Consistent with the course’s focus, during the academic year 2012-2013, the First-Year Practicum will be solely devoted to program planning and evaluation projects. During this experience, students will spend 120 hours over the course of the spring 2013 quarter working at a community site on a program planning and evaluation project with a clearly defined need for:
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Public health research
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Program design/implementation
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Analysis
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Evaluation
A community site preceptor in collaboration with the course’s faculty supervises all projects. Students' grades are jointly assigned by them. The practicum experience runs concurrently with the required course in Community-Based Prevention Practices noted above. Each year, some students continue their practicum work into the second year as a master’s project, which can lead to publication or employment at the host agency. Some of these alumni, in turn, become preceptors for future MPH students.
Requirements
Students work in cooperation with the community site to:
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Identify an issue or problem of significance to the community or agency relative to program planning and evaluation;
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Synthesize the literature; and
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Develop an approach to address the issue, and often design, pilot, implement, and/or evaluate a program.
Students discuss their ongoing work with their peers and faculty in their Community-Based Prevention Practices course, and present a poster session at the end of the spring quarter.
More Information:
For more information about working with our MPH students, please contact jcass@drexel.edu or complete and return the Drexel SPH Project Description Form.