Graduate Certificate in Health Professional Education

Course code: 3413 + Course abbreviation: GradCetHlthProfEd + Total credit points required: 24 + 1 semester full-time, 2 semesters part-time

Course coordinator: Debra Kiegaldie

This course is offered to Melbourne enrolees over one year between February and November and over two years in Bendigo and the Northern Territory. Enrolments are open to teaching staff within the Faculty and to external applicants. Applicants are welcome from all health professions, including doctors, nurses, radiographers, social workers, pharmacists and ambulance officers. The objectives of the course are to enable staff to:

• Demonstrate effective teaching practices and the ability to reflect critically on teaching performance of self and others.
• Apply knowledge with respect to the theoretical underpinning of learning, teaching and assessment and evaluation of educational programs.
• Design and apply assessment strategies for students in a range of health professional contexts.
• Identify the ethical and legal responsibilities of teaching in diverse health settings.
• Demonstrate positive attitudes and skills in relation to learning, teaching and assessment.
• Describe ways in which best evidence can be used in the design and delivery of educational interventions.
• Use a range of teaching resources and communication technologies.
• Compare and contrast different educational approaches of various health professions and consider their relevance to individual professional practice.

Course structure

Successful completion of the course involves the study of four core units plus one elective unit selected from a range of six options. The course is normally undertaken by Melbourne course participants on a part-time basis over one year and by Bendigo and Northern Territory participants over two years. The course is offered as an off-campus program with compulsory study days for each of the four core units. The elective units are only available in off-campus mode.

Completion of the course provides the opportunity to articulate to the Master of Health Professional Education (MHPE) programme. In this case the completed Graduate Certificate course will contribute one third of the 72 credit points required for completion of the MHPE.

Summer semester offerings not available until 2010