Educational Innovation Project Research Articles

The Initiative for Innovation in Pediatric Education: A Snapshot of a Program Evaluation

* Abbreviations: GME — : graduate medical education IIPE — : Initiative for Innovation in Pediatric Education LOI — : letter of intent As the Residency Review and Redesign Project came to a close in 2009, the Initiative for Innovation in Pediatric Education (IIPE) was ushered in as the next phase of ongoing evaluation and transformation of pediatric residency education. The mission of the IIPE is to initiate, facilitate, and oversee innovative change in pediatric residency education through carefully monitored, outcome-directed experimentation.1 The IIPE pursues this mission by supporting residency programs in their pursuit of innovative educational projects via a structured process for project review, consultation, monitoring, and dissemination. At the start of the IIPE, leaders of the Residency Review and Redesign Project wrote, “We need to recognize that conducting the business of graduate medical education (GME) is a project that is never complete and requires acknowledgment of a certain degree of ambiguity and uncertainty.”2 Recognizing that GME is a complex system, the IIPE leadership adopted developmental evaluation as its approach to program evaluation because it embraces ambiguity and uncertainty and because it could inform program development. Specifically, developmental evaluation aims to facilitate systematic, data-informed reflection and decision-making as the program evolves, whereas traditional evaluation approaches generally aim to improve a relatively stable program (process evaluation) or judge the merit and worth of an established program (outcome … Address correspondence to Dorene Balmer, PhD, RD, 701 West 168th St, Hammer Health Science Center, Lobby 10-A, New York, NY 10032. E-mail: db2595{at}columbia.edu

From theory to actual practice: Creation and application of milestones in an internal medicine residency program, 2004–2010

Background: In the USA, the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education, Educational Innovations Project is a partner in reshaping residency training to meet increasingly complex systems of health care delivery.Aim: We describe the creation and implementation of milestones as a vehicle for translating educational theory into practice in preparing residents to provide safe, autonomous patient care.Method: Six program faculty leaders, all with advanced medical education training, met in an iterative process of developing, implementing, and modifying milestones until a final set were vetted.Results: We first formed the profile of a Master Internist. We then translated it into milestone language and implemented its integration across the program. Thirty-seven milestones were applied in all settings and rotations to reach explicit educational outcomes. We created three types of milestones: Progressive, build one on top of the other to mastery; additive, adding multiple behaviors together to culminate in mastery; and descriptive, using a proscribe set of complex, predetermined steps toward mastery.Conclusions: Using milestones, our program has enhanced an educational model into explicit, end of training goals. Milestone implementation has yielded positive results toward competency-based training and others may adapt our strategies in a similar effort.

Building up an equilateral language learning triangle through innovation and pedagogic improvement: the example of an educational innovation project

In recent years, several initiatives relating to pedagogical innovation have been implemented at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), Spain, in order to integrate ICT into current teaching practices by means of combining the efforts made by teachers, students and the institution itself in terms of the support it provides. These three core elements reflect the main theme of the EuroCALL 2011 Nottingham Conference, i.e. the CALL triangle. The paper focuses on the role played by each of these three elements or sides of the equilateral triangle that has been set up in our particular research context. The authors will refer to one of the projects funded by the UPV, known as the Innovation and Improvement in Education Project (Proyecto de Innovación y Mejora Educativa – PIME), which aims to encourage academic staff to engage in projects that provide an added value to a subject by renewing methodologies, rethinking teaching strategies, that is, on innovation. It was this funding initiative that allowed the authors of this paper to complete the final design, development and implementation stages of the recently published InGenio FCE Course & Tester, an online preparatory course and exam simulator for learners wishing to acquire a B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2001) of competence in English or take the Cambridge First Certificate in English Examination. The authors will refer to the courseware and illustrate how the CALL triangle has been formulated and sustained.

Faculty development projects for international health professions educators: Vehicles for institutional change?

Background: Projects are an important tool in faculty development, and project emphasis may offer insights into perceived education priorities. Impact of projects has been focused on individuals, not institutions or health.Aim: Education innovation projects of Fellows in an international faculty development program were examined to better understand perceived needs in health professions education and institutional impact of projects.Method: Four hundred and thirty-five projects were analyzed to identify focus areas. Fellows were asked to identify changes in their schools and communities resulting from their projects.Results: New education methods and curriculum change were common project focus areas. Regional differences were evident with a higher percentage of education methods projects by Fellows residing in India (52%), compared with South Africa (25%) and Brazil (24%). Fifty-six percent of projects were incorporated into the curriculum and/or incorporated as institutional policy. One-third to two-thirds of respondents noted improved teaching quality, collaboration, education research interest, assessment, student performance, and curriculum alignment with community health needs.Conclusion: National differences in project focus may offer insight into local conditions and needs. High rates of diffusion of projects and impact on faculty, students, and curriculum suggest that faculty development projects may be a strategy for institutional change in resource limited environments.

Methodological Proposal for Teamwork Evaluation in the Field of Project Management Training

Abstract Teamwork is one of the abilities that today is highly valued in the professional arena with a great importance for various personal and interpersonal skills associated with it. In this context, the Technical University of Madrid, is developing a coordinated educational innovation project, which main objective is to develop methodological and assessment tools for the acquisition of personal skills necessary to improve the employability of graduates and their skills for project management. Within this context, this paper proposes a methodology composed of various activities and indicators, as well as specific assessment instruments linked to the teamwork competence. Through a series of systematic steps it was allowed the design of an instrument and construction of a scale for measuring the competence of teamwork. The practical application of the methodology has been carried out in Projects lectures from different Schools of Engineering at the Technical University of Madrid, which results are presented in this document as a pilot experience. Results show the various aspects and methods that teachers should consider in evaluating the competence of the work, including analysis of the quality of results, through reliability and construct validity. On the other hand, show the advantages of applying this methodology in the field of project management teaching.

Introducing Psychiatry to Rural Physicians in China: An Innovative Education Project

A brief educational program for 10,000 rural physicians in China introduced them to psychiatric knowledge and skills, emphasizing suicide risk assessment and management. Six months after the program, the physicians reported positive changes in their attitudes toward psychiatry, applicability of their new knowledge, and more communication with specialists.

Best evidence calling for educational reform: will we do the right thing?

Best evidence calling for educational reform: will we do the right thing?

EDUCAÇÃO FÍSICA ESCOLAR EM BRASÍLIA, NA DÉCADA DE 1960

A pesquisa teve como objetivo analisar atividades de educação física presentes no currículo original da Escola-Parque de Brasília, na década de 1960. Utilizamos como referência teórico-metodológica a história cultural, enfocando o tratamento de fontes primárias, como fotografias, documentos oficiais, entrevistas e publicações da época. As fontes evidenciaram que a educação física se realizava na forma de recreação, esportes, competições, desfiles e aulas, ocupando lugar de destaque na cultura escolar analisada. As atividades de educação física faziam parte de um projeto educacional inovador, cuja concepção pedagógica, currículo ampliado, turno integral e arquitetura especial valorizavam uma educação do corpo.

Effect of 16-Hour Duty Periods on Patient Care and Resident Education

To measure the effect of duty periods no longer than 16 hours on patient care and resident education. As part of our Educational Innovations Project, we piloted a novel resident schedule for an inpatient service that eliminated shifts longer than 16 hours without increased staffing or decreased patient admissions on 2 gastroenterology services from August 29 to November 27, 2009. Patient care variables were obtained through medical record review. Resident well-being and educational variables were collected by weekly surveys, end of rotation evaluations, and an electronic card-swipe system. Patient care metrics, including 30-day mortality, 30-day readmission rate, and length of stay, were unchanged for the 196 patient care episodes in the 5-week intervention month compared with the 274 episodes in the 8 weeks of control months. However, residents felt less prepared to manage cross-cover of patients (P = .006). There was a nonsignificant trend toward decreased perception of quality of education and balance of personal and professional life during the intervention month. Residents reported working fewer weekly hours overall during the intervention (64.3 vs 68.9 hours; P = .40), but they had significantly more episodes with fewer than 10 hours off between shifts (24 vs 2 episodes; P = .004). Inpatient hospital services can be staffed with residents working shifts less than 16 hours without additional residents. However, cross-cover of care, quality of education, and time off between shifts may be adversely affected.

A multidisciplinary approach for teaching systems-based practice to internal medicine residents.

Rapid growth in the complexity of the health care environment (including monitoring systems for health care quality and patient safety) may result in graduating internists not being adequately prepared for the demands the system places on them. In response, the Residency Review Committee for Internal Medicine created the Educational Innovations Project (EIP) to encourage select residency training programs to develop new strategies and methods to meet changing demands in graduate medical education. As part of the EIP, our program created an innovative administrative internship. This multiyear curriculum provides systems-based practice training and consists of a series of rotations that take place during the 3years of internal medicine residency. Each session involves close interaction with the nonphysician personnel who are instrumental in making our institution a functional and cohesive unit. To assess the potential impact of the rotations, we survey senior residents, recent graduates, and faculty educators. In conjunction with the Performance and Patient Experience departments of the hospital, we track several systems-based practice metrics for residents, including compliance with core health care measures, length of stay, and patient satisfaction. Residents recognize the need to develop systems-based practice skills, to readily participate in structured curricula designed to enhance such skills, and to provide leadership in organizing and publishing quality improvement initiatives, and upon graduation, they may lament that they did not receive even more vigorous training in these areas. Although internal medicine residencies continue to improve their training in systems-based practice, our experience suggests that an even greater emphasis on these skills may be warranted.

Adaptación de las prácticas de Análisis Instrumental al Espacio de Convergencia Europeo: Elaboración de Material Didáctico

This paper presents the development of an educational innovation project done by the faculty team of the Department of Analytical Chemistry of the University of Huelva in Spain, as part of the course Instrumental Analysis of the major B.Sc. in Chemistry. This project tries to move to the laboratories a wider concept of self-learning, promoting the capacity of the students to search, acquire and develop knowledge, which they have to inform in protocol of practices report. The use of this active method of learning, which increases the motivation of the students, has been evaluated through a survey, through personal interviews and workshops that have allowed knowing the satisfaction of the students with the methodology used.

Collaborative development of reusable educational resources for software engineering and information systems core subjects

In the context of the European Higher Education Area adaptation process, a group of teachers of the Computer Science degree of the University of Cadiz have developed an initiative for the collaborative creation of a set of educational resources that are used or supplemented in diverse courses of software engineering and information systems core subjects. This initiative has been implemented as the proposal of a project, which has been accepted in the context of a call for higher education innovation projects for teachers and researchers and is developed along the academic year 2008/2009.

Peer-to-peer capacity-building in tourism: Values and experiences of field-based education

Taking tourism as a metaphor for the complex and unequal relationship between the Majority World and the more affluent tourist-generating countries, this paper reports research into ways in which educational tourism can facilitate mutually beneficial exchanges between ‘hosts and guests’. The empirical work is based on data collected as part of an innovative field-based education project on international tourism development and management with field-based activities conducted in The Gambia. The paper aimed to show that if the exchange, both culturally and pragmatically, was to benefit not only the visiting students but also the host country, then values, cross-cultural interaction, innovation and knowledge exchange would have to play key roles to ensure that this peer-to-peer capacity-building opportunity though educational tourism would contribute to sustainable (tourism) development in the chosen locality.

An Innovative Educational Project at the University of Granada

The European Space of Higher Education (ESHE) is a new conceptual formulation of the organization of teaching at the university, largely involving the development of new training models based on the individual student’s work. In this context, the University of Granada has approved two plans of Educational Excellence to promote a culture of quality and stimulate excellence in teaching. The Area of Environmental Technology in the Department of Civil Engineering has developed an innovative project entitled Application of new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to the Area of Environmental Technology teaching to create a new communication channel consisting of a Web site that benefits teacher and student (“Environmental Studies Centre”: http://cem.ugr.es). Through this interactive page, teachers can conduct supervised teaching, and students will have the tools necessary for guiding their learning process, according to their capacities and possibilities. However, the material is designed to serve as a complement to the traditional method of attended teaching.

Randomized Trial of Web-based Training About Opioid Therapy for Chronic Pain

The treatment of chronic noncancer pain with chronic opioid therapy has increased rapidly, but medicine residents receive little training concerning this therapy. Therefore we conducted a trial to determine if an interactive web-based training focusing on shared decision-making for chronic opioid therapy improves knowledge and competence compared with exposure to practice guidelines. A randomized controlled educational trial of 213 internal medicine residents from 5 medicine residencies participating in the Residency Review Committee for Internal Medicine's Educational Innovations Project comparing access to interactive web-based training (COPE: Collaborative Opioid Prescribing Education) or access to the Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Opioid Therapy for Chronic Pain. Pretraining and immediate posttraining knowledge test; pretraining and 60-day posttraining self-reported competence, satisfaction, patient-centeredness, and selected clinical behaviors were analyzed using t tests, Pearson chi, and Generalized Estimating Equations. The web training group had greater increase in knowledge with training (chi(2)=72.06, P<0.00001) and greater self-rated competence in the management of outpatients with chronic pain (chi(2)=6.48, P=0.01), and specifically in the use of opioids in this management (chi(2)=5.17, P=0.02). Residents in both groups reported more satisfaction with managing chronic pain care after training (chi(2)=52.72, P<0.0001), though the web training was superior on subscales concerning training adequacy (chi(2)=4.94, P=0.026) and relationship quality (chi(2)=5.79, P=0.016). Exposure to an interactive web-based training focused on shared decision-making and communication skills was more effective than exposure to compatible practice guidelines for knowledge and self-reported competence in the management of chronic noncancer pain.

Participatory action research and the reconstruction of teachers’ practical thinking: lesson studies and core reflection. An experience in Spain

Following the thoughts and topics we have discussed and worked on for a very long time with Bridget Somekh, we would like to present the theoretical relationship between lesson studies, action research and practical knowledge in teacher education. Inspired by the pedagogical philosophy of lesson studies, participatory action research, and core reflection of Korthagen’s approach, we have carried out an educational innovation and research project in a master’s degree on educational innovation, offered online for Spanish‐speaking teachers by three universities in Andalusia (southern Spain). In particular, we analyse the possibilities of lesson studies as an action research model in which observation, action, reflection and cooperation between participants should help to reconstruct the theories in use that teachers count on in their school practice. Let us offer Bridget this brief tribute, from Spain, to thank her and recognise her important work in teaching and cooperation ever since her first visit to Andalusia in 1985.

STFM AND THE STFM FOUNDATION ANNOUNCE THE 2009 GROUP PROJECT FUND WINNERS

The STFM Group Project Fund, supported by the STFM Foundation, was established to promote and support innovative educational projects proposed by STFM groups. This fund encourages STFM group members to collaboratively plan, develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate findings from educationally

Steps forward and new challenges: indigenous communities and mother-tongue education in southern Africa

Two international conferences held in southern Africa in 2005 gathered education and language experts to discuss practical, theoretical, and political aspects of the development of African languages for education. Despite the diversity of the participants, there was unanimous agreement that the economic and social benefits of providing mother-tongue education far outweigh the costs. Furthermore, the predominant view was that mother-tongue education in minority languages should be seen as valuable in its own right, and not merely as a bridge to the dominant language, and that it should continue beyond the first few years of schooling. These meetings represent a major step forwards, ushering the movement toward mother-tongue education into a new phase of priority and collaboration. However, with this new phase come new challenges. As the movement toward mother-tongue education gains steam, and as national governments, local and global non-government organizations, and international donors get on board, we must remain attuned to the need for projects that are flexible, process-oriented, and firmly embedded in the communities they aim to serve. Using an innovative mother-tongue education project in Namibia as a case study, this paper highlights some important considerations and potential pitfalls.

‘Learning by Doing’ Methodology Applied to the Practical Teaching of Electrical Machines

An educational improvement and innovation project has been initiated in the Electrical Machines area of the Escola Universitària d'Enginyeria Tècnica Industrial de Barcelona (EUETIB) with the support of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the assistance of its Department of Electrical Engineering. One of the main tasks performed within the project framework has been the design of a new active methodology for laboratory sessions. This methodology is an adaptation of the ‘learning by doing’ method to the singularities of practical work in electrical machines courses. The development and implementation of this active, student-centered methodology has yielded excellent results and allowed electrical machines courses to be accommodated to UPC's new educational models in the European High Education Area (EHEA) context. In this new environment, students play a more active role in the teaching and learning process.

Internal Medicine's Educational Innovations Project: Improving Health Care and Learning

Internal Medicine's Educational Innovations Project: Improving Health Care and Learning