Improving undergraduate epidemiology education: an example using instructional teams.

Epidemiology is a core component of the undergraduate public health curriculum and a critical component for a healthy community and a comprehensive education. Evidence-based, collaborative instructional practices improve student success, reach diverse student populations, and improve learning outcomes. We describe the pedagogical approach of an instructional team with which we observed an 18% greater learning gain (95% CI: 29.5, 6.5; t= -3.08; P=0.002) based on pre/post testing in a large (~ 120 student) undergraduate course as compared to the prior course offering. There were no differences in DEW rates (D = scoring less than 70%, E = failing the course, or W = withdrawing) between the two offerings, but the ratio of "A" to "B" was higher (approximately 10%) during implementation of the instructional team (Pearson Χ2 (1) = 4.17 P = 0.041). In addition, students reported greater satisfaction with the course deploying an instructional team (80.4% positive sentiment in course evaluation comments; compared with 76% in the prior offering). As students and faculty become more familiar with effective evidence-based instructional practices, improvements in student learning can be achieved and the goal of an educated citizenry ready to build healthy societies will be more attainable.