COVID-19 has altered public health higher education and its impact on pedagogy will be felt long into the future. In response to social distancing measures, teaching academics implemented a number of changes to curricula. It is important to better understand and begin to evaluate these changes, as well as set a course for future changes to public health curricula both during and after the pandemic to best enable transformative learning. Teaching academics have an understanding of academic hierarchies and student perceptions and are well placed to provide insights into current and future changes to pedagogy in response to the pandemic. A survey was developed to examine changes that academics had made to their teaching in response to COVID-19. Responses were received from 63 public health teaching academics from five universities in Australia, the United States, and Canada. Public health teaching academics rapidly implemented a number of changes to their teaching, including alterations that enabled online teaching. The great majority of changes to teaching were related to tools or techniques, such as synchronous tutorials delivered in a video meeting room. There remains further work for the public health pedagogy community in reevaluating teaching aims and teaching philosophies in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This could include examination of the weighting of different topics, including communicable diseases, in curricula. A series of questions to assist academics reformulating their curricula is provided. Public health teaching evolved rapidly to meet the challenges of COVID-19; however, ongoing adaptation is necessary to further enhance pedagogy.

The COVID-19 pandemic and related disruptions have not only affected university students’ learning and academic outcomes, but also other issues, such as food security status, mental health and employment. In Australia, international students faced additional pressures due to sudden border closures and lack of eligibility for government-provided financial support. This study explored the experiences of domestic and international university students residing in Australia during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic across a range of outcomes. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between July and September 2020 at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. The online survey included food insecurity status, mental health (psychological distress), disruptions to study, employment and sleep. A total of 105 students (n = 66 domestic and n = 39 international) completed the survey. Respondents reported having food insecurity (41.9%) and psychological distress (52.2%, with high and very high levels), with international students reporting significantly higher food insecurity (OR = 9.86 (95% CI 3.9–24.8), p < 0.001) and psychological distress scores (t(90) = 2.68, 95% CI: 1.30 to 8.81, p = 0.009) than domestic students. About one quarter of all respondents reported disruptions to study and employment status around the time of the survey. When asked what government support should be provided for international students, ‘financial aid’ was the most frequently suggested form of support. This research may help governments and educational institutions design appropriate support, particularly financial and psychological, for both international and domestic university students.

Objectives and importance of study: News media portrayal of public health issues influences public opinion, policy action and decision making. This study aimed to analyse the use of 'nanny state' frames in Australian news media coverage; identify the stakeholders invoking this frame; determine which public health-related policies attract such framing; and investigate whether 'nanny state' framing is directly challenged in news coverage. Study type: A qualitative framing analysis.Methods: Articles featuring the term 'nanny state' that were published in Australian print newspapers during matched periods between March and September in 2017 and 2018 were sourced through Factiva, coded and analysed for content and 'nanny state' framing. Content analysis was used to identify any public health-related issues that the terminology nanny state was applied to, and who was portrayed as imposing the nanny state. Frame analysis was used to analyse what meanings are co-presented with the phrase nanny state. Results:Out of 81 print newspaper articles that included the term 'nanny state', 19% linked the term to restricting personal choice or creating dissatisfaction with too many health-related rules and regulations broadly, across a range of issues, including: bike helmets, e-cigarettes, firearm restrictions, seatbelts, pool fences and smoking bans. The next most frequent links were to regulations on alcohol (17%), road safety (14%), obesity-related issues (7%) and tobacco control (6%).

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of being adaptable and flexible in our teaching practices in higher education. Traditionally, a siloed approach to curriculum development has dominated in higher education institutions. These silos are known to create inefficiencies and, in the context of developing teaching resources, often result in the duplication of curricula, resulting in wasted effort and time, and inconsistent teaching practices. In this short communication, we put forward a sustainable and innovative approach to cross-disciplinary curriculum development, known as the Connected Curriculum for Professionals in Health initiative. This ongoing initiative was launched in 2018 and brought together teaching academics and students to co-design a centralized online repository of high-quality, evidence-based online educational modules that support student learning across disciplines. A mixed-methods evaluation of this initiative found that this is a well-utilized repository of engaging modules (n = 46) that have enhanced learning outcomes for both undergraduate and postgraduate health professional students. The Connected Curriculum for Professionals in Health initiative has wide-ranging applicability, beyond disciplines, and is a sustainable, efficient, and strategic approach to enhance pedagogy and the student experience.

To ensure student engagement and optimal preparation of the future workforce, academic educators frequently and repeatedly update curricula and pedagogic approaches. Evaluation of these updates often focuses on how well the chosen educational technique achieves its goal. For updates that add a new learning goal, it is important that evaluation considers the value of the goal in a crowded curriculum. Peer-to-peer feedback and coaching provides a low-investment and timely method of evaluation and can be facilitated by conferences focused on pedagogy. This coaching article uses a case study of an assignment for postgraduate students incorporating student-produced videos developed independently at three Australian universities. The authors learned of one another’s work in preparation for delivering presentations at a conference focused on teaching public health and decided to collaborate on a single workshop. In the process, they reinforced and expanded their understanding of the benefits and important considerations for a video assignment and engaged in two-way coaching with conference delegates from across Australasia. Benefits include teaching students skills that will become increasingly important in their future careers, the potential for enhanced student engagement due to novelty, and resistance to plagiarism. Important considerations include explaining the aim and parameters of the assessment as well as minimizing student anxiety. Preparation for the workshop led to refinements in some of the assessments. This article is simultaneously an affirmation of the value of peer-to-peer coaching opportunities that can arise at pedagogy conferences and an argument for the value of video assignments in public health education.