HI 5382 Synthesis Project of Public Health Informatics

The Public Health Informatics Synthesis Course provides an opportunity for students to practical, hands-on cumulating knowledge and experiences in Public Health Informatics.  This project should reflect a substantial effort and competency of synthesis in informatics developed through the course training that address core competencies (described below) of public health informatics system by working through the problem of students’ choice. The selected problem should be discussed and approved by a faculty mentor.  This should be tied to research/practice of your interest that includes one or more didactic modules covered in the prior courses.  The synthesis project should be based upon the combined efforts of (online) library database search, field work, and mentored research approved by mentor(s). Expectations of the class should include the presentation of the conclusions from the project in a written manner for academic dissemination (as a conference abstract, poster, etc).

Course Objectives

Every student or group that consists of 2-3 students should form a committee that assist the formation of their synthesis project. This Committee should include at least one faculty mentor from the core faculty listed on this page, and one from either SPH, SHIS/SPH or from the workplace where the synthesis project takes place.  In addition to working with mentors, student should work with one of their classmates to peer-review and improve the work. 
Every student’s final report should be reviewed by at least one of your classmates (i.e., peer-reviewer) before turning it in. The peer-reviewer should write comments, corrections, and suggestions on a draft of your paper, and then sign the bottom at the front cover of the paper.  The student should then incorporate their suggestions (at a minimum level with those that are valid) into your final paper.  The student should turn in the reviewed draft with classmates reviews and the final draft. One of the best ways to learn is to edit fellow classmate’s writing.
In order to help you make progress towards successful completion of this project, the following are some milestones to follow:
Due every week: one paragraph short description of progress report/method (on Moodle).
Week 4 of the semester: General outline and sample text (2~3 pages) and illustration for final project due.
Week 8 of the semester: mid-semester progress report (10 pages max):
Last week of the semester: final presentations and final project due.  The final written work should be approved by your mentors, and the abstract be submitted to an informatics or public health conference of the student’s choice.  Receipt of abstract submission should be included as a record of program completion.

Prerequisites

Consent of the instructor.