Assignment Spotlight: Debates for Good Policy

Debates for Good Policy is an activity I designed to promote awareness of health policies and how they affect our lives. Learn all about it in today's blog post.

Students complete a high-stakes debate activity in my health policy course. However, I often want to give them a "practice debate" activity to get them more acclimated to the idea of what a debate should look like. So I came up with this low-stakes VoiceThread activity where students select a slide from a deck identifying different policies or situations, and the object of the activity is to create a winning policy in response to the prompted situation. Students develop a 3-5 minute policy that they verbally describe using the Voicethread platform.

The winning policy must be supported by facts, data, and research. Other students then vote on which student made the most compelling argument by leaving an audio comment on the respective slide stating who delivered the best policy.

The activity encourages students to think critically about health policies and create positive solutions. As the activity progresses, students become more engaged in discussing and debating ideas related to health policy. This helps foster dialogue, leading to a better understanding of health policies and their impacts on our lives. Ultimately, this activity seeks to develop a more informed and engaged nursing workforce.

Some of the slide deck prompts include the following:

1. Policy to increase access to healthcare services

2. Policy to reduce income inequality

3. Policy for public health emergencies

4. Legislation that encourages active lifestyles

5. Government programs for mental health services

An overview of this activity as well as the full slide deck can be found in The Innovative Online Teaching Toolkit Course, or you can access it as a member of the The Innovative Online Nurse Educator Academy for FREE!

I'd LOVE to hear your ideas of how you can use this assignment in your online courses. Share your thoughts, experiences and ideas in The Online Educator Facebook Group by clicking the link HERE. 

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