The End of Module 4 Methods & Channels

This was a busy week of presentations on a variety of topics. I agree with everything Lynn commented in her post about expanding lecture content as well as providing more constructive feedback about the presentations so that we can work on improving specific things. I try to read and understand the article readings, but without any class lecture or discussion on them, it is hard to completely absorb and comprehend the key concepts.

Similar to Chelsea, I also found the group presentations to be insightful and interesting. I am personally impressed by the the bone marrow (cancer) group. They all seem very unified in their zeal and enthusiasm for their group topic. Sometimes I struggle to find the same excitement about energy drinks... Also, their powerpoint presentations are very "zen" in that they are concise, clear, and visually pleasing. I also was impressed by their technical savvy with the video production. I really liked the concept and felt emotionally inspired by the ad.

In terms of my "three key insights" for this module, I would say that: ppt presentations are capable of going beyond bullet points to tell a story, international public health policy is complex, and short, concise messages tend to be the best. I will use what I've learned from the student presentations to make my own powerpoints cleaner and clearer in my health promotion career. I've already starting employing these concepts in this class by using more graphs and charts to clearly summarize information and be more visually appealing. Next, I think to understand more about how public health works at the global level, I should probably start by checking out the websites of organizations such as the IMF, WTO, etc. I've already done a significant amount of perusing on the UN and WHO websites. Ultimately, I hope to work in the areas of border health or global health. Finally, the messages throughout this class that have stuck the most are those that are clear and concise. I feel like a broken record, but that really is the key. Instad of creating complex ads with a variety of different messages, I think it is important to pull out one or two of the most pertinent ones and focus on those. I will definately apply this concept to my furture work in health promotion communication.