Qualitative Evaluation of University Students' Experience Delivering an Obesity Prevention Programme in Elementary Schools.

The Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) programme is an accredited obesity prevention programme in the United States, teaching children about nutrition, physical activity, and screen time limits. This study aimed to evaluate the perceptions of undergraduate and graduate student leaders' about their experience delivering the CATCH programme in elementary schools in Northern Illinois school districts during the 2019-2020 school year and its impact on their personal and professional skills and on programme participants. An email questionnaire was sent to eligible students. Grounded theory was used to analyze the students' responses. Two researchers assigned codes to the data and identified themes. Twenty-one students responded (50% response rate). Six identified themes include "purpose of CATCH programme," "school facilities and resources," "university students experience with CATCH lessons and activities," "benefits to university student," "benefits to children and teachers," and "identified weaknesses and suggested improvements to CATCH." University students delivering the CATCH programme appreciated the opportunity to practice in a real-world setting, gained transferable professional skills, increased programme content knowledge, identified CATCH programme benefits/strengths, and planned to apply lessons learned to future practice.

Leveraging Online Learning to Promote Systems Thinking for Sustainable Food Systems Training in Dietetics Education.

Educating and training a multisectoral food systems workforce is a critical part of developing sustainable, resilient, and healthy food and water systems. This paper shares perspectives from a working group of educators, learners, and food systems subject matter experts that collaborated over the course of a year to develop, pilot test, and evaluate two interactive webinar series with a multi-site cohort of dietetics interns and graduate students. The three-part webinar series format included a training webinar, a practice activity, and a synthesis webinar. In reflecting on the effectiveness of this format, we provide direct assessments of student learning from subject matter experts alongside indirect assessments from pre- and post-surveys fielded with learners. Learners who participated in an interactive webinar series demonstrated skills in several dimensions of systems thinking and gained confidence in food systems learning outcomes. Learners also shared valuable feedback on the opportunities and challenges of using online platforms for this experience. As online learning opportunities become more common, it will become increasingly important for educators to prioritize strategies that effectively equip students with the higher-order thinking skills, such as systems thinking, needed to address the complexities of sustainable food systems. The interactive webinar series format described here provides an opportunity to leverage didactic webinars in combination with interactive experiences that enable learners to deepen their knowledge through practice with peers and subject matter experts. Though this format was piloted within dietetics education programs, many of the lessons learned are transferable to other food systems educational contexts.