System Mapping: An Opportunity to Collaborate
McMaster University’s MSc in Global Health Program participates each year in a two-week learning symposium, typically held in in Karnataka, India at Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) where students engage in experiential education. When in India, students participate in field orientation visits and gain firsthand insight into how the Indian health care system functions. Due to the pandemic, for the second year, it will be held online as a unique opportunity for global engagement that aims to replicate the in-person elements of the symposium.
The symposium is driven by educational innovation and uses multiple modalities such as learning pods, cluster interaction, and transcontinental faculty. As one of many activities, students from McMaster and its partnership universities in Netherlands, India, Sudan, Norway, Colombia, and Thailand work closely together in small virtual teams on a system mapping exercise.
System mapping is an approach often used in global health consultancy work to quickly generate an overview of a system or a part of a system to assess how it is functioning and whether any adjustments need to be made to enhance elements of the system. The system mapping exercise is designed to introduce students to systems thinking, provide them with an opportunity to collaborate, and to take advantage of diversity in backgrounds, knowledge, and skills among students from partnership universities.
“By participating in the system mapping exercise, students become familiar with the health system of various countries while working collaboratively in diverse groups,” explains McMaster University’s Sue Barclay, who co-ordinates the symposium each year with? Agnes Meershoek from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and Dr. Arathi Rao from MAHE.
“Applying system mapping provides students the chance to apply what they have learned from their courses throughout the academic year” she says, “they are able to depict the connections and relationships between various stakeholders and then demonstrate their understanding in a panel discussion.”
This year, each virtual team has chosen two countries and will create system maps related to a chosen topic regarding the countries’ health care systems and will compare the health care systems to each other. The topics range from Occupational Health, Environmental Health, Traditional Health, Reproductive and Child Health, Infectious Disease Surveillance, Mental Health, and Planetary Health. The culmination of the group work is a panel discussion where students will respond to moderated questions and demonstrate their understanding of system mapping – an essential approach for navigating the complexities of global health problems.
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