This blog has been written by Jenna Murray de Lopez on the Intercalating BSc in Global Health and the videos have been produced by students as part of their course assessment.

Each year at HCRI we welcome 3rd  and 4th year medical students from across the UK (and beyond) to study on our Intercalating BSc in Global Health. The iBSc Global Health is our year long degree programme where exceptional students come to develop their knowledge of key global health challenges, global determinants of health and illness, and innovative solutions to medical humanitarianism. Now this sounds like a lot to pack into a year, and it is! But in my experience of directing and teaching on this course our cohorts meet the challenge to a high standard.

We use academic experts, clinical practitioners and NGO leaders to work through subjects with students and examine the real-world challenges present in Global Health practice and policy. On the course we want students to be able to apply their learning and return to medical school as cross-cultural and critical thinkers.

The year begins with an Introduction to Global Health course unit. These first ten weeks are meant to ground students in the social science and critical global health approach. We spend a lot of time in the class room challenging the objectivity of scientific thinking and really exploring the politics behind the ‘haves and have nots’ of equitable and quality healthcare.

For the 2018/2019 academic year we decided to evolve our group work practices and creative approaches to assessment. As part of this students were asked to work in groups to create a 3-5 minute campaign video on a leading global health issue discussed on the course. The aim was to both educate and entertain an online audience, capture the imagination and spread awareness. In order to support students with this we also brought on board colleagues from Shortform Video Production company who gave students a workshop on storyboarding, smartphone camera filming and editing.

The campaign video was part of a multiple assessment piece. We also had some fun in the classroom with a final showcase and the cohort voting for their top three favourite films. I have to say that as course leader, there were no losers. I was so impressed with the work put into each video I would have made all eight films winners in categories including best animation, performance, script writing and editing. But alas I set the rules of the competition and we had to stick to them. I wavered slightly moving from one winner to three because the standard was so high.

We are working on developing more assessments on this course that bring the worlds of art, media and medicine together and we hope to bring you more examples in the future. In the meantime if you would like further info on the course please consult our website or contact me as course director on jenna.murray@manchester.ac.uk

Here are our three fabulous winners, voted for by the students:

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