Which Knowledge and Skills Do Participants Retain after Attending Medical Education Training Workshops?

Naghma Naeem

doi:10.4236/ce.2016.76091

Abstract

The Aga Khan University (AKU) renewed its undergraduate curriculum and incorporated Problem Based Learning (PBL) as one of the main teaching strategies in years one and two. PBL requires a huge pool of facilitators. Recent AKU graduates were recruited as Teaching Assistants (TAs) to support teaching. A faculty development program was conducted to prepare TAs for their teaching role. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a faculty development program (conducted in two parts) in increasing knowledge, skills and teaching performance of the participants and assess the long term retention of knowledge by participants. A longitudinal, mixed method, evaluation study was conducted at Aga Khan University from 2006-2008. The participants included all eleven TAs recruited by AKU. Workshop evaluation forms, pre, post and delayed post test and student evaluations of TAs teaching performance were used to gather data. Evaluation of the PBL workshop was much better than the one on broader aspects of medical education since the PBL workshop was in line with the participants’ goals. TAs reported perceived improvement in PBL facilitation skills. Student evaluations of TAs facilitation skills validated this perception. The workshop helped improve knowledge (p = 0.036), which increased on immediate post-test but decayed at the end of year on delayed post-test. Short training programs lead to increase in knowledge, skills and improved teaching performance. The participants retain knowledge and skills which are applied while those that are not applied regularly decay over time. Regular, periodic refreshers should be instituted to reinforce and retain knowledge and skills.

Highlights

Medical teaching is a complex task for which faculty is poorly prepared (Pololi et al, 2001)
When the participants were asked in the introductory session about their expectations, it became evident that their main objective of attending these workshops was to gain knowledge about Problem Based Learning (PBL) and PBL tutorial facilitation skills, and they were not much interested in current global trends in curriculum development, learning and teaching, and assessment
It was the workshop developer’s perspective that in order to understand the principles of PBL, a basic understanding of the philosophy underpinning medical education globally and at Aga Khan University (AKU), as well as the knowledge about the relationship between curriculum, assessment and teaching and learning was essential

Summary

Introduction

Medical teaching is a complex task for which faculty is poorly prepared (Pololi et al, 2001). Academic medical faculty members have received little or no explicit training in how to teach or in the theories and processes of teaching (Pololi et al, 2001). Teaching Assistants (TAs) are increasingly being employed by the Universities to augment teaching. TAs like the majority of teaching staff were provided little or no formal training in education when they were first appointed (Wilkerson & Irby, 1998). Several universities have instituted brief entry-level workshops on instructional techniques designed to help the academic staff become more proficient at teaching undergraduates (Smith, 1983)

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