What Traits Characterize Expert Biomedical Educators?

Abstract

It is well known across different cognitive domains that there are differences in the knowledge, skills and actions of experts compared to novices (1). The goal of the present study was to identify traits of expert biomedical educators, with a view to informing future faculty development activities. Two approaches were used. Firstly, a literature review was undertaken using the PubMed and ERIC databases to catalogue expert traits and thereby create a codebook of important themes. A total of 15 articles from higher education settings met search criteria, with five of them focusing on the clinical aspect of teaching, seven on medical education/basic science education specifically, and three on characteristic of all educators. Second, we performed qualitative analysis through a line‐by‐line coding of all available essays from teachers who have been recognized by the American Physiological Society, either as the Arthur C. Guyton Physiology Educator of the Year or as the Claude‐Bernard Distinguished lecturer. Results show that while the literature and the expert essays reported similar qualities, the frequencies differed between two with the top characteristics stressed by leading physiology educators being: student‐centered, active environment, and self‐reflection compared to the literature's frequent terms of: content knowledge, pedagogical competency, and ability as an assessor. These traits were also stratified into 3 more broad categories of: in‐classroom activities, outside‐of‐class activities, and trait of personality or philosophy. In most cases the identified traits are likely to require time on task to develop expertise but others such as student‐centered philosophy and reflective practice could be learned more quickly through deliberate practice.Support or Funding InformationNo FundingThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.