Health Professions Educator Certificate
The Health Professions Educator Certificate program is specifically intended for professionals currently working or aspiring to work in clinical or academic roles who desire to expand or improve their teaching, management, or research-based roles specific to the education of health professionals
Our Health Professions Educator Certificate prepares students to become active change agents within healthcare, providing the tools to educate and transform the future generations of healthcare professionals. The ultimate goal of health professions specific education is to improve patient outcomes; by creating better health professions educators, we help create better clinicians that can then deliver better patient outcomes.
Why study Health Professions Education?
Demand for effective educators within their fields of practice is growing. Therefore, our faculty focus on relevant theory, contemporary issues and best-practices in health professions education and higher education. Students in our Health Professions Education program come from many healthcare areas, bringing extensive clinical, management, and teaching experience to the conversation and process. If you are, or aspire to be an academic health professions educator in the athletic training, dental, nutrition, nursing, physician assistant, occupational therapy, physical therapy, or speech pathology-audiology fields (and other), and desire to improve your skills and knowledge in specific health professions theory, evidence and practice, this program is for you.
What will you learn?
Specialized knowledge is essential for the advancement of academic and professional educators. Simmons' Health Professions Educator Certificate is a flexible, career focused 12-credit program consisting of four 3-credit courses and offering students the option of enrolling in one of four focused tracks. More than a generic higher education or adult education program, the HPE Certificate is focused on your professional world, helping you become a more focused and intentional educator of future health professionals in your domain of practice. It will also help you contribute to continuous quality improvement in your professional academic program, better address accreditation standards that require evidence-based education, and generate scholarship on best-practices for educating professionals in your field.
Specialization Track
Our program includes a specialized Teacher track — to learn more about specific approaches to adult learning theory, didactic instruction, competency-based education, interprofessional education, programmatic assessment, curriculum design, and more.
The teacher track consists of 12 credits, or four 3-credit courses (for completion).
Learn more about Simmons' Health Professions Educator Certificate!
Our program director would be happy to answer your questions, or request more information today!
Here is a sample course sequence for each of the HPEC tracks:
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Track 1* |
Track 2* |
Track 3* |
Track 4** |
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Select 3 |
Select 3 |
Select 2 |
Select 4 |
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Fall Semester |
HPED 521 |
HPED 520 |
HPED 520 Trends in Health |
HPED 520 and/or HPED 521 |
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Spring Semester |
HPED 530 and/or HPED 531 Methodologies, Course |
HPED 530 and/or HPED 663 |
HPED 530 |
HPED 530 and/or HPED 531 |
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Summer Semester |
HPED 540 |
HPED 540 |
HPED 540 REQUIRED |
HPED 540 and/or HPED 665 |
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REQUIRED |
REQUIRED |
REQUIRED |
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Fall Semester |
HPED 541 |
HPED 541 |
HPED 541 Education Application & |
N/A |
*The program strongly recommends consulting with the program director before deciding which courses to take to better personalize and fit your goals.
**The Generalist Track is designed for individuals who may not have or know of a specific track, or for those who may want or need to expedite their completion of the micro-credential by taking more than one class per semester. This track does NOT require HPED 541 as a capstone class, either. This Track also provides greater flexibility for start dates and allows enrollment of 2 courses in any of the spring, summer or fall semesters to finish a customized 4 course sequence in faster time. For the Generalist Track, candidates can take any FOUR of the following courses: HPED 520, 521, 530, 531, 540 or 665; but not HPED 541.
All HPEC classes also apply towards our 6-course CAGS (Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies) and PhD programs in Health Professions Education (HPED) should you desire to continue your Health Professions Education
Spring Year 1
| HPED530 | Principles of Inquiry and Evidence in Health Professions Education | 3 |
| HPED531 | Teaching Methodologies, Course Design, and Assessment | 3 |
Summer Year 1
| HPED540 | Curriculum Development, Program Design, and Evaluation | 3 |
| HPED661 | Applied Statistics I | 3 |
| OR | ||
| SW651 | Intro to Stat & Data Analysis | 3 |
Fall Year 2
| HPED541 | Education Application and Immersion Experience | 3 |
| HPED662 | Applied Statistics II | 3 |
| OR | ||
| SW652 | Introduction to Multivariable Statistics | 3 |
Spring Year 2
| HPED663 | Qualitative Research Methods | 3 |
| OR | ||
| SW654 | Qualitative Research Methods | 3 |
| HPED666 | Quantitative Research Methods | 3 |
Fall Year 3
| HPED665 | Leadership and Organizational Change in Health Professions Education | 3 |
| HPED660 | Perspectives in Research and Theory in Health Professions Education | 3 |
Spring Year 3
| HPED670 | Proposal Development | 3 |
Summer Year 3
| May begin dissertation if proposal defended successfully in spring |
Year 4
| HPED690 | Dissertation | 6 |
Depending on the Track selected, after completing the HPEC program, students will be capable of:
- Designing and delivering creative and impactful lessons, courses, curricula, and programs in health professions education.
- Applying educational theories and principles of cognitive and learning science to enhance student learning in health professions education.
- Navigating health professions education systems and organizations in order to implement successful innovation.
- Analyzing social, political, economic, and scientific trends in healthcare including policies and structures that require meaningful transformations in health professions education.
- Identifying, evaluating, and applying evidence-based teaching strategies.
- Designing learning environments and organizational structures to intentionally and equitably support and engage all learners, particularly those from historically marginalized groups.
- Developing and implementing processes and tools to assess learning outcomes and evaluate programs to inform and improve practice.
- Critically analyzing and evaluating existing and emerging research in health professions education, marshaling evidence in support of arguments and using data to support educational practice.
- Applying principles of ethical and inclusive educational leadership and management practices that with current research and theories of leadership in organizations.
Our Faculty
Dolores Wolongevicz
Associate Professor of Practice and Director of the Health Professions Education Program
Jennifer Herman
Executive Director, Center for Faculty Excellence
Tanya Cohn
Associate Professor
Carmen Harrison
Professor of Practice
Paul Geisler
Interim Dean, School of Sciences and Health Professions