Mentorship: Mental Health Policy Management

Mentor: Robert Hackey
Dept: Health Policy and Management
Phone: (401) 865-2453
Email: rhackey@providence.edu

Mentee: Paul E. Pezza
Dept: Health Policy and Management
Phone: (401) 865-2453
Email: ppezza@providence.edu

Experience with Instructional Technology

Dr. Hackey was a member of the Collaborative Classroom Tools work team that selected the Angel course management system in 2001. Since then, he has used Angel extensively in all of his courses. He also taught the program's course on computing applications in HPM (HPM 220) that introduces students to basic web design, spreadsheets, SPSS, and PowerPoint. He uses PowerPoint extensively class, and also serve as the program's electronic publishing coordinator. He is the faculty technology associate for the department of economics and the HPM program.

Dr. Pezza is just beginning to weave technology into his coursework. This term is his first real foray into using Angel; he has scanned multiple required articles for HPM 204 (Epidemiology) and HPM 322 (Public Health Administration and Practice) into .pdf format for electronic distribution to students. He is hoping to learn more about PowerPoint and how to effectively integrate Angel tools such as discussion boards into his classroom.

Project Resources

How might you use any purchased materials after you finish this Project? 
We will retain the books we purchase as reference materials for future courses.

Project Info

Start Date: January 2004
End Date: August, 2004

Milestones: Working together, Drs. Hackey and Pezza will develop PowerPoint presentations that incorporate epidemiological data and concepts during the Spring 2004 term for use in the Fall 2004 edition of the course. It is our intention to pilot test some slide shows during the spring edition of HPM 204. In the fall, students in HPM 204 will use Angel's online message boards to discuss issues related to the class, and will also be asked to use SPSS or EpiInfo to perform basic epidemiological analyses for the first time using computer software.

Project Objective

Our goal is to enhance how one of our program's core courses, HPM 204, is currently taught. The widespread availability of online epidemiological data offers an opportunity to give students "hands on" experiences in how diseases are defined, measured, and tracked using software commonly used by professionals in the field. Angel will be used to share resources with students enrolled in HPM 204. Course materials will also be made more accessible to students via the use of PowerPoint slide shows that integrate text, graphics, and data. Our principal objective is therefore twofold--to enliven course lectures using the capabilities of PowerPoint and to create new opportunities for students to apply the concepts they learn in class to real world data using SPSS and EpiInfo.

Project Outcomes

Angel- or Course-Related: We will create an Angel web site for the Fall 2004 term that incorporates both online resources (i.e., links and files) and opportunities for online interaction between students and faculty. We will transform many of the current lecture topics into PowerPoint presentations that incorporate recent data and emerging trends.

Assessment Plan

We plan to survey students during the Spring 2004 term to identify opportunities for improving the presentation of current course material. Using this data, we will pilot test several class sessions that use Angel and/or PowerPoint to present information and cases to students in a different way. We will then survey students' responses to the use of PowerPoint and Angel as a prelude to developing our materials for the Fall 2004 term. We will compare student performance on similar assignments in the Fall 2004 term where students are exposed to enhanced technology with previous terms to assess the impact of new technologies on student learning. We will also examine student online postings and feedback throughout the Fall 2004 term to gauge the success of these initiatives.

In subsequent semesters, we expect that additional courses within the program will also benefit from Dr. Pezza's exposure to using new technologies in the classroom. This is particularly true for our team taught senior seminar, where students are expected to prepare and present their work using PowerPoint.

Since Dr. Pezza is a relative newcomer to the use of instructional technology, this grant will provide him with the basic skills needed to integrate these tools into other courses in the future. One additional benefit of this project is that all HPM faculty will now be equipped with similar computing resources and skills, and will be able to coordinate assignments and classroom activities more closely in the future.