HLT 665 Topic 1 DQ 2: practicum communication guide
HLT 665's Topic 1 DQ 2 is three questions wearing one sentence: describe your practicum, inventory how your site actually communicates health information to the public, and — the graded pivot — show yourself applying that competency, not just observing it.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 11, 2026
What is HLT 665 Topic 1 DQ 2 really asking?
The prompt's three questions ascend, and most answers stall on the second rung. 'Briefly describe your practicum work' is scene-setting — the site, its population, your role — and 'briefly' means it: two or three sentences. 'What methods does your practicum site apply to communicate health information to the public?' asks for an inventory, and the strong version names channels with their audiences attached: not 'social media and flyers' but which platform reaches which segment, what the site translates into which languages, where it relies on community partners or trusted intermediaries to carry messages it cannot deliver directly. Sites communicate through more channels than students initially notice — provider counselling, signage, press contact, school and faith partnerships, campaigns — and noticing the quiet ones is what makes the inventory read as observed rather than assumed.
The third question is the competency check: 'How have YOU applied this competency in your practicum work?' The shift from the site's methods to your application is where the marks concentrate, because it converts description into evidence of practice. Pick one concrete instance — a flyer you drafted, an outreach event you staffed, materials you plain-languaged, a social post you wrote for review — and narrate it as competency application: the audience you were reaching, the choice you made for that audience, and what you would adjust now. If your practicum has only just begun, apply the competency prospectively: name the communication task your preceptor has assigned or that you have identified, and how you plan to execute it. One instance told well beats three told thinly, because the competency being certified is judgement about audiences, and judgement only shows in the details.
The prompt closes by stating no research citations are required — take that at face value and spend the space on specifics from your site instead. What the instructor is reading for is whether you can see communication infrastructure that surrounds you daily, which no citation can substitute for. A post that names its site's languages, partners and quiet channels sounds like a practicum; a post that could describe any site sounds like a guess, and the instructor has read enough of both to tell instantly.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Describe a practicum site and role in the two or three sentences 'briefly' allows.
- 02Inventory a site's health communication methods with audiences attached, including the low-visibility channels — counselling, signage, partner organizations.
- 03Evidence personal application of the communication competency through one concrete practicum instance, narrated as a choice made for an audience.
- 04Write a citation-free post whose authority comes from observed specifics rather than references.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. HLT 665 Topic 1 DQ 2 I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01A brief description of your practicum work, as the prompt's first question asks.
- 02An account of the methods your practicum site applies to communicate health information to the public.
- 03An account of how you have applied this competency in your practicum work.
- 04No research citations — the prompt states they are not required for this discussion question.
How should the practicum communication post be built?
The practicum, briefly
Establish the site, the community it serves, and your role in it — just enough that the communication inventory has a context.
The site's communication inventory
List the methods the site actually uses — campaigns, platforms, translated materials, provider counselling, signage, media contact, community partners — pairing each with the public it reaches.
Mapping methods to publics
Turn the raw inventory into analysis: pair each method with the audience it actually reaches, note the audiences no channel reaches, and say which single method carries the most weight for the site's priority population.
Your application
Present one instance of you applying the competency — what you produced or did, for whom, and the communication choice involved — or, early in a practicum, the assigned task and your execution plan.
The reflective close
One or two sentences on what the site's methods taught you about reaching its specific public — a natural hook for classmate replies.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Health Communication
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · 2024
The professional framing of health communication as a practice area — useful for naming your site's methods with the field's vocabulary, even though the post itself needs no citations.
- 02
The CDC Clear Communication Index
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · 2024
A concrete instrument for judging public-facing materials — reading it sharpens what to notice in your site's flyers and posts, and gives your 'what I would adjust' reflection a standard.
- 03
Health Communication Strategies — Rural Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Toolkit
Rural Health Information Hub · 2023
A channel-by-channel strategy catalogue (mass media, interpersonal, small group, community) — the checklist to run your site against so the inventory misses fewer methods.
- 04
Health Communication — Healthy People 2030
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion · 2020
The national objectives your site's methods can be read against — a way to frame the reflective close in terms of measurable communication goals rather than impressions.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Answering the site question generically ('they use social media and brochures') without audiences, languages, or intermediaries — the inventory is graded on observation, not plausibility.
- Letting the practicum description sprawl when 'briefly' is the prompt's first word — the third question is where the assessment lives.
- Describing the site's communication and never reaching your own application, which skips the competency evidence the DQ exists to collect.
- Adding citations anyway and letting them displace site-specific detail — the prompt removes the citation requirement precisely so the space goes to specifics.
- Claiming an application you cannot ground in an instance — 'I have communicated with the public' without the flyer, event, or material is assertion, not evidence.
Submission checklist
- Practicum description held to two or three sentences: site, population, role.
- Communication inventory names at least three distinct methods, each with its audience.
- At least one low-visibility channel included (counselling, signage, partners) alongside the obvious ones.
- The application answer narrates one concrete instance with the choice you made and why.
- No reference list — per the prompt's own instruction.
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.