Degree Name

Education Specialist (EdS)

Semester of Degree Completion

1981

Thesis Director

Paul D. Overton

Abstract

The problems of this study were to develop a new course proposal for a women's health care course and to gain final approval of the proposal at Eastern Illinois University where the writer was an instructor.

The writer describes the procedure she followed to develop her women's health care course proposal and the steps involved in the process to obtain approval of the course proposal. Included in this narrative are explanations of how the writer prepared the course outline, consulted with other health professionals, taught the course through continuing education for Eastern, and submitted the course proposal to the proper committees at Eastern for their approval.

The writer has drawn the following conclusions from her experience with course proposal development and approval: (1) writing and obtaining approval of a new course proposal was a lengthy procedure but could be done by any faculty member; (2) information obtained from other universities teaching similar courses was useful in writing the course content for the proposal; (3) the Chairperson of the Health Education Department was helpful in obtaining approval of the course by the university; (4) the women's health care course the writer taught through continuing education for Eastern was used to gather information as to the topics of interest to students and to justify there was need for such a course; (5) the Women's Studies Committee from Eastern was very helpful in supporting the approval of the new course proposal; (6) the writer learned of two studies concerning the need for and interest in courses dealing with women's health issues at other universities; the results of these studies would have been useful to the writer in developing her course proposal and justifying the need for and interest in women's health courses had they been completed at the time of this study.

The writer would like to propose the following recommendations as a result of this study: (1) an instrument to determine the need for and interest in a course proposed, as well as the topics of interest, could be used to write the course content and justify approval of the course at Eastern; (2) a follow-up study should be done to evaluate and modify the content of a course as well as establish how frequently the course is offered; (3) an experimental continuing education course or workshop could be used to gather information as to the students' perceived need for such a course and the number of students interested in enrolling in the course; (4) the University and individual departments should be aware of and responsive to the needs of the population they serve; therefore, they should encourage the development of new courses; (5) it is recommended that faculty seeking approval for new course proposals not become frustrated and drop their effort during the long process as many revisions may need to be made; (6) a follow-up study could be done to attempt to determine the effect this course has on the health of the students and their families plus the money they spend for health care in future years.

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