Certificate in Health Professions Education

Teach in College Level Health Professions Programs

Threaded throughout the certificate is the requirement to build an individualized Teaching Portfolio.

To facilitate construction of an individualized Portfolio, certificate students will be enrolled in a Community Group where they can upload each section of their portfolio. This will allow students to review, refine, and build upon previously designed sections and will serve as a repository as they progress throughout the Certificate.
Program HighlightsAdmission CriteriaTuition & FeesCurriculumFAQsDepartment Home

Program Highlights

The Certificate consists of 13 credits of health professions education courses.

Upon completion of the Certificate program, the student will have:

  • Developed an individualized teaching portfolio
  • Designed and taught a learner-oriented lesson
  • Learned how to develop a reliable and valid tool to assess student learning
  • Learned preceptor, mentoring and feedback strategies to assess health professions students skills in a clinical setting
  • Prepared a curriculum map
  • Within the chosen curriculum, developed a course

Our graduate Certificate in Health Professions Education is unique in offering:

  • Development of an e-portfolio
  • Convenience of online courses
  • Experienced faculty
  • Designed to further individual learner’s goals
  • Enrollment in a university ranked # by College Factual in best colleges for health professions

Learning Outcomes are aligned with the School of Health Professions outcomes and include outcomes related to major competency areas for health professions educators.

Teaching and Learning

Students will be able to: 

  • assess one’s teaching style based on the results of one or more available teaching assessment tools such as the TPI (Teacher Perspective Index);
  • write a personal teaching philosophy that includes teaching beliefs and specific teaching strategies that facilitate teaching/learning based on the philosophy;
  • apply major learning theories to instructional design and lesson planning;
  • select and apply appropriate teaching strategies and unit content according to the goals of instruction and identified learner characteristics;
  • and design and implement multiple student-centered learning activities based upon differences in learning styles.

Assessing Learning
Students will be able to: 

  • differentiate between the concepts of assessment, evaluation, testing, and grading;
  • relate the concepts of true score theory, reliability, and validity as applied to the development of standardized tests and measures
  • apply the basic principles of constructing good, written test questions to assess cognitive performance
  • and assess the quality and utility of published evidence based upon their assessment and evaluation strategies.

Clinical and Community Based Education

Students will be able to:

  1. observe and critique preceptor assessment of students in simulated clinical settings
  2. evaluate a community education program
  3. design and modify a clinical rotation
  4. and analyze various methods to teach clinical education.

Curriculum Development

Students will be able to design a model curriculum to include the following:

  • a benchmarking study to include educational and professional standards
  • identification of curriculum goals and objectives
  • mapping of proposed courses/components to the overall program goals and objectives
  • strategies to assess curriculum outcomes
  • an evaluation tool to assess curriculum courses
  • various educational design methodologies in the development of a model course/curriculum to accommodate highly diverse students in a variety of settings
  • identification of legal responsibility and ethical obligations in the design of a course and curriculum and articulate how credentialing and accreditation contribute to the development of health professions curricula<

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates a need for almost 15 million health professionals by 2025. Extensive education is required to become a health professional, and continuing education is needed to remain current with evolving health-related skills and knowledge.

There is a need to deliver quality education to health care professionals efficiently and effectively. Our program prepares graduates for careers such as university/college faculty, health care institutions staff development officers, and continuing education educators.

Rutgers is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE), a voluntary, nongovernmental, peer-based membership association dedicated to promoting standards of excellence and improvement in higher education.

Questions?

For more information, contact the Office of Admissions: 973-972-5454 or the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies: 973-972-8576.

Admissions Criteria

We are no longer accepting applications for this graduate certificate program.

Tuition & Fees

SHP Tuition and Fees

For Tuition and Fees, please see the Graduate Tuition and Fees.
(Scroll down to 2024-2025 Rutgers Health Tuition and Fee Rates and click on School of Health Professions)

Curriculum

Courses are highly structured, graduate-level courses where students and faculty participate in weekly discussions and students are required to complete assignments or take exams, depending upon the course.

The online courses are fully populated with all course materials and resources, except for textbooks that students may be required to purchase. Often, faculty provide weekly or semi-regular face-to-face sessions through video conferencing to give students the opportunity to see and interact with the instructor in real time.

Students receive one-on-one advising from a faculty in the Health Professions Education program. This includes developing a program plan so you are aware of when courses are offered and the recommended sequence for taking the courses.

Courses descriptions for the certificate program can be found here.

Center for Advanced and Continuing Education for certificate (curriculum below):

Course Number Course Name Credits
IDST5140 Teaching in the Health Professions 3 credits
IDST5340 Clinical and Community Based Teaching 3 credits
IDST5350 Evaluation and Assessment in Health Professions Education 3 credits
IDST5210 Curriculum Development in Health Professions Education 3 credits
IDST6981 Capstone: The Health Professions Education Teaching Portfolio 1 credit
Total   13 credits

 

FAQs

The online Graduate Program in Health Professions Education (HPE) is specifically designed to prepare health professionals for careers as faculty in health professions education programs.

The program is exclusively for those with established health care careers, who desire to become teachers in health professions education programs, educators in clinical settings including clinical education of health professions student, or educators in alternative settings such as in the community.

It prepares graduates for careers such as university/college faculty, health care institutions staff development officers, and continuing education educators.  The Certificate Program is appropriate for individuals who hold a graduate degree and do not wish to pursue an additional graduate degree.

Applicants must have earned at least a bachelor’s degree, generally with an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher, and be a health professional with current licensure/registration, if applicable to the field. Applicants do not need to take standardized tests such as the GRE and an interview is not required.

Subject to approval, up to 12 credits may be taken on a non-matriculated basis.  However, non-matriculants must follow the course sequence as delineated in the curriculum sequence. The non-matriculated application can be found  here.

Yes. Please contact the Rutgers Student Financial Aid Office at 973-972-4376 or by clicking  here.

There are limited scholarships available for Rutgers School of Health Professions students. Learn more about our general scholarships.

The best source for financial aid information is at the Rutgers Student Financial Aid Office.  They can be contacted 973-972-4376 or by clicking here.

The University is fully accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. There is no professional accreditation for the Graduate Certificate in Clinical Laboratory Science.