Using a Course Pathway Model to Evaluate and Improve a Student‐Centered, Co‐Taught Anatomy and Physiology Course

Abstract

Enthusiasm for active learning and other student-centered teaching practices in undergraduate physiology is increasing as many instructors seek to extend their pedagogical toolbox beyond lecturing. Counterintuitively, the adoption of active learning in undergraduate physiology has manifested slowly – likely due to the added instructional complexity and time burden that accompanies the transformation to student-centered teaching. These challenges are exacerbated in situations where multiple instructors are co-teaching the same course, as is common in many STEM disciplines. New tools are needed to aid with planning, organizing, evaluating and communicating classroom innovations to ease this burden. Pathway modeling is tool that individual instructors, co-instructors, or evaluation teams can use to address this need. Pathway models create a visual map of a single course in order to demonstrate how an instructor's teaching practices influence and align with short-,mid-, and long-term learning outcomes for students, and fit into their overall vision for their courses. Most importantly, pathway modeling captures the complexities and nuances of student-centered courses, which may facilitate improvements in curricular design, course evaluation, student assessment, and communication – especially in co-taught courses. Here we provide instructions for building a course pathway model, and share our experiences and insights using it in a co-taught undergraduate Anatomy and Physiology course at the University of Connecticut.