Ideas to Action (i2a)

Certified Peer Educator Training

  • Karen S. Newton, MPH, RD
  • Director
  • Health Promotion & Education
  • Sharon LaRue, M.A., LPAT
  • Director
  • PEACC Program

Karen joined the CLC in September 2008 and Sharon joined in September 2009. They embedded critical thinking skills into many areas of their work, but their CLC focus was co-teaching a course in the Health & Sports Sciences called HSS 597 - Certified Peer Educator Training: Guiding Students to be Critical Thinkers about Their Health Decisions.

In their own words:

The course prepares students for campus advocacy, activism and leadership in health promotion, risk reduction, resiliency and safety decision-making. Emphasis is placed on practical skill development to target diverse populations on campus. The Paul-Elder critical thinking framework provided structure for assignments and assessment. Critical thinking requires students' 'wrestling with a novel situation,' so part of doing well in this course requires students to figure it out by making thoughtful and standardized decisions. This course is recommended preparation for UofL peer advocacy positions with the PEACC Program, Campus Health Services or other units that recruit student health advocates. Students from all majors are welcome. Students are eligible to receive 2 national certifications with the course: Question/Persuade/Refer (QPR) and the BACCHUS Network Peer Educator Certification.

Students acquire the language and actively apply critical thinking skills to learning concepts in this course and also apply the critical thinking framework to the health promotion work they do as health and PEACC advocates. Students who successfully complete this course are able to clearly state the implications & consequences of this class in 4 sections: (1) personal intention to apply the concepts of advocacy, activism and leadership to future activities; (2) self-assessed gaps in current knowledge and skills; (3) learning goals to fill gaps and questions necessary to meet learning goals; (4) specific steps that will be taken to meet personal learning goals.

View documents from the Certified Peer Educator Training course:

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