Welcome to ‘The Island'

作者：M. Russell, H. Morgan, Andrew Lau, Beauty Tebaa · 发表于：Pacific Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.24135/pjtel.v7i2.231 · 被引用次数：2

Imagine stepping into a tropical paradise where public health crises unfold in real-time and you must gain the skills and knowledge to address them. Welcome to 'The Island' - not your typical vacation spot, but a novel educational simulation transforming how we teach public health and epidemiology.   Throughout a full-semester subject, students assume the role of 'Interns' at the fictional Island Department of Health. In this immersive environment, they tackle real-world public health challenges through a series of weekly evolving scenarios. This approach was adapted from a similar simulated island concept originally developed to teach statistics (Bulmer M & Haladyn K, 2011).   To develop the subject, a constructive alignment approach was utilised, incorporating a flipped classroom model. Each week follows the same structure: Epidemiological scenario: The Secretary of the Department of Health (Subject Coordinator) introduces the weekly problem via a video recording. Online stepped modules: Students engage with weekly online modules presented by 'Experts in the Field'. The modules include written material, quizzes, and short videos, with the design approach based on the four-component instructional design (4C/ID) model (Frerejean et al., 2019). Collaborative problem solving in-class: Students work in collaborative peer groups during the weekly in-class session to tackle the epidemiological scenario posed at the start of the week. Within these groups, students take tur...