Experiential Learning Curriculum Research Articles

Assessing resident experience of a new experiential learning health advocacy curriculum: a mixed methods study

BackgroundHealth Advocacy is considered one of the most difficult skills to teach. Many medical learners feel ill-equipped in social competencies and identify it as a significant gap in their medical training. Experiential learning has recently been emerging as a more effective method to teach health advocacy. The Post Graduate Medical Education (PGME) Health Advocacy Day is a new experiential learning curriculum designed to teach important competencies of health advocacy and social accountability to post-graduate medical residents at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada. The objective of this mixed-methods study was to assess resident experiences.MethodsSecond-year trainees from all adult residency programs attended the Advocacy Day as part of a mandatory academic day. All participants completed a mandatory pre-and post-session quiz to assess knowledge of key topics before and after the course. We also distributed a voluntary survey to all participants and invited residents to participate in semi-structured interviews to provide feedback on the course. We used descriptive statistics to analyze quiz scores and survey results and conducted a paired t-test of pre and post-test quiz scores. We also performed a thematic analysis of qualitative feedback, specifically survey comments and semi-structured interviews.ResultsOne hundred and eighty-three residents participated in the Advocacy Day and 112 (61.2%) completed the post-course survey. Ten residents volunteered to be interviewed. Respondents were generally satisfied by the session and felt it was of good quality. Most residents felt the course enhanced their ability to advocate for individual patients or communities (N = 80; 71.5%) and understand patients and families’ lived experience with illness (N = 87; 77.5%). Most residents also felt the course improved their knowledge of the impact of social determinants of health (N = 91; 81.2%) and increased their awareness of local resources that can support patients and their families (N = 88; 78.3%). Visiting community sites in-person and meeting persons with lived experiences were highlighted as the most valuable components of the course.ConclusionExperiential learning can be integrated within post-graduate medical curricula to teach health advocacy competencies. Future studies should examine the longitudinal impact of the curricula, to determine whether shifts in perspectives persist over time.

Designing our Thinking: Examining the Effects of Experiential Learning and Design Thinking on Creativity, Innovation, and Collaboration Skills Development in the Undergraduate Classroom

This paper shares initial findings from a study of the way that design thinking and experiential learning informed approaches to teaching can help programs and institutions in the higher education community meet the teaching and learning objectives identified by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as critical for our global future. The project surveyed undergraduate students in a large first year introductory course to learn more about how design thinking based learning practices might serve to extend an experiential learning pedagogical approach toward the successful development of innovation, creativity, interpersonal, self-paced, problem-based and lifelong learning skills. Results from the survey of 600 students reveal that using a design thinking model of learning as part of an experiential learning curriculum may be an effective way to enhance the development of the identified skills and approaches within an experiential learning framework. Students who experienced the addition of design thinking based learning practices to an experiential learning framework reported higher levels of confidence in their innovation and creativity skills and were more likely to seek opportunities for collaboration and self-paced learning than those who participated in an experiential learning focused section of the same class. This article provides an illustration of the impact of using design thinking as an extension of experiential learning in an undergraduate higher education class and offers recommendations for institutions and professional programs seeking to meet World Economic Forum Education 4.0 Initiative goals.

Effects of an Experiential Learning Curriculum on Systems-Thinking.

Though health systems science (HSS) is referred to as the third pillar of medical education along with the pillars of basic science and clinical care, the effects of learning theories used to teach components of HSS including quality improvement/ patient safety (QI/PS), are poorly understood. Experiential learning theory is often referenced in QI/ PS education but its effects on QI/PS education are not well-described. To examine the effects of teaching QI using experiential learning theory on resident systems-thinking. Data was gathered from 30 resident participants in a 3-h QI workshop designed using experiential learning theory. Using a mixed-methods design, aspects of learner systems-thinking were analyzed both before and after the workshop. Learners were asked about their confidence in systems-thinking behaviors, and their QI plans were evaluated qualitatively for themes as well as quantitatively via the QIKAT-R. There was a significant increase in self-reported confidence in systems-thinking behaviors post-workshop. Odds ratio of the QI aim statement focusing on the systems-level of the problem after the workshop was 41.4 with a 95% CI of 8.9142 to 192.2721, p-value .0001. Thematic analysis of QI plans revealed a change in residents' thinking about healthcare problems. They shifted from attributing problems to individual actors to thinking about the problem as lying in the interaction between systems. Experiential learning theory can be an effective framework for QI to transform learners into systems-thinkers.

The Iowa Health Data Resource (IHDR): an innovative framework for transforming the clinical health data ecosystem.

This manuscript will be of interest to most Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) as they retool for the increasing emphasis on translational science from translational research. This effort is an extension of the EDW4R work that most CTSAs have done to deploy infrastructure and tools for researchers to access clinical data. The Iowa Health Data Resource (IHDR) is a strategic investment made by the University of Iowa to improve access to real-world health data. The goals of IHDR are to improve the speed of translational health research, to boost interdisciplinary collaboration, and to improve literacy about health data. The first objective toward this larger goal was to address gaps in data access, data literacy, lack of computational environments for processing Personal Health Information (PHI) and the lack of processes and expertise for creating transformative datasets. A three-pronged approach was taken to address the objective. The approach involves integration of an intercollegiate team of non-informatics faculty and staff, a data enclave for secure patient data analyses, and novel comprehensive datasets. To date, all five of the health science colleges (dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and public health) have had at least one staff and one faculty member complete the two-month experiential learning curriculum. Over the first two years of this project, nine cohorts totaling 36 data liaisons have been trained, including 18 faculty and 18 staff. IHDR data enclave eliminated the need to duplicate computational infrastructure inside the hospital firewall which reduced infrastructure, hardware and human resource costs while leveraging the existing expertise embedded in the university research computing team. The creation of a process to develop and implement transformative datasets has resulted in the creation of seven domain specific datasets to date. The combination of people, process, and technology facilitates collaboration and interdisciplinary research in a secure environment using curated data sets. While other organizations have implemented individual components to address EDW4R operational demands, the IHDR combines multiple resources into a novel, comprehensive ecosystem IHDR enables scientists to use analysis tools with electronic patient data to accelerate time to science.

Enhancing Physician Advocacy Through Collaboration With Government Relations: Report From the Health Policy Scholars Program

ObjectiveTo explore barriers, facilitators, and benefits of collaboration between academic pediatricians and institutional offices of government relations (OGR) to enhance policy advocacy efforts. MethodsThe Academic Pediatric Associations' Health Policy Scholars met with the government relations team in their affiliated institutions as part of their experiential learning curriculum. Afterward, they submitted written reflections, which were coded and analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis to identify key themes. ResultsReflections were completed by 21 of 23 (91.3%) participants. Most participants (76.2%) were faculty at free-standing children’s hospitals and had been at their institutions <5 years (52.3%) or 5 to 10 years (33.3%). Institutional OGR structure varied widely and not all institutions had well-defined priorities. Key themes of the reflections included that OGRs often had dynamic priorities and fiscal considerations frequently took precedence. Barriers to physician involvement with OGR are often related to difficulty identifying the correct staff contact and not having the time and support for advocacy work. Facilitators included leveraging existing relationships and collaborations, including those of peer or mentor connections to the OGR staff. Anticipated benefits to both OGR and physicians included improved knowledge of advocacy opportunities, enhanced advocacy efforts leveraging physicians’ expertise and patient stories, and message alignment and amplification of physician and institutional advocacy work. ConclusionsCollaboration between physician-advocates and institutional OGR is feasible and, with orientation and mentorship, may facilitate improved physician and institutional policy advocacy efforts. Supporting this type of collaboration may enhance physician and institutional advocacy on behalf of their shared patients and communities.

Assessing Experiential Learning at an HBCU

This paper will highlight the work at Delaware State University, an HBCU, on experiential education projects through a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Inclusive Excellence grant. It focuses on assessing experiential learning curriculum in individual courses as well as evaluating student growth from research and external opportunities. It highlights the preliminary outcomes of these projects with rubrics and survey data for assessing new experiential activities in course curriculum across campus as well as the Experiential STEM Lab Internship Program. As a component of Delaware State University’s strategic plan, these new programs have promoted student success as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The results will demonstrate positive benefits for faculty, students, and a culture of assessment.

Development and evaluation of a modular experiential learning curriculum for promoting AI readiness

Development and evaluation of a modular experiential learning curriculum for promoting AI readiness

Integration of clinical trial development in hematology and oncology fellowship training: Washington university school of medicine experience.

11012 Background: Education in clinical trial design and development is highly variable among Hematology and Medical oncology fellowship programs. The Clinical Trial Development (CTD) program at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSM) is an experiential learning curriculum designed to provide a structured and personalized education to fellows about clinical investigation in Hematology and Oncology. We describe the results of the CTD program and its impact on subsequent academic faculty appointments. Methods: The CTD program was initiated at WUSM in 2002 as a hands-on learning experience for Hematology and Oncology fellows in the design, implementation, evaluation, and publication of clinical trials. Each fellow was required to identify a mentor in their first year of training and propose at least one CTD project, determined as a prospective investigator-initiated clinical trial involving human subjects or materials. Outcome data were collected from an internal registry of fellow CTD projects, Clinical Trials Management System (OnCore), PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov and e-mail inquiries to fellows and mentors. Descriptive statistics were collected for the characteristics of CTD projects, including the phase of study, site (single center or multicenter), disease subtype, projects that received IRB approval, and projects that resulted in publication. Logistic regression and odds ratios (OR) were also used to assess the association between these characteristics and academic faculty appointments. Results: We included 118 fellows who began fellowship from 2002 to 2021 for this analysis with 16 still in training. Many trials were phase I/II (n = 53; 45%), phase I (n = 34; 29%) and phase II trials (n = 17; 14%) and most trials were single center studies (n = 93; 79%). Disease types of the investigations were evenly distributed between Oncology (n = 60, 51%) or Hematology (n = 58, 49%). Most fellows were successful in obtaining IRB approval for their CTD project (n = 93, 79%) and approximately two thirds of those with IRB approval went on to publish their results in peer-reviewed journals (n = 60, 65%). Forty-five percent of fellows who published their CTD projects were first authors (n = 27) and 38% published in journals with an impact factor of greater than 10. Among the graduating fellows, two-thirds (n = 67, 66%) secured an academic faculty appointment. Fellows with IRB approved CTD projects had significantly higher odds of obtaining an academic faculty appointment (OR 4.96, 95% CI 1.54-15.98, p &lt; 0.05). Conclusions: The CTD program is a well-established clinical investigation program for fellows with a track record of success and impact on subsequent academic faculty appointments. The CTD program is a model that other fellowship programs can emulate for education related to clinical trials.

Bridging the gap: Development of an experiential learning-based health disparities curriculum.

The increasing number of vulnerable populations served by the emergency department (ED) calls for developing and implementing curricula aimed at training residents to deliver quality care for the most marginalized groups. We aimed to address this by developing and piloting a curriculum to introduce the unique challenges and disparities encountered by our diverse ED patient population using an experiential learning approach. We engaged community partners in designing and implementing a curriculum for incoming interns. This curriculum addresses specific populations encountered within the ED including patients with psychiatric illness, patients with cognitive disabilities, intoxicated patients, violent patients, patients of various cultural backgrounds, non-English-speaking patients, and LGBTQ patients. Experiential and active learning sessions with content experts and site visits to area organizations were arranged. Pre-, post-, and time-delayed surveys were deployed to evaluate the pilot of this curriculum. Thirteen incoming interns participated in the orientation curriculum. Residents' comfort with each of these various patient populations as well as familiarity with community and ED resources was assessed before, after, and 1 year delayed from each session (response 13/13, 100%). Their scores increased significantly from baseline in the postsurvey and were maintained 1 year later (p < 0.05). Residents additionally provided narrative responses regarding what they learned and what was most helpful after completing their intern year. This pilot curriculum demonstrates that implementing an experiential learning curriculum and engaging community leaders and resources is key to training residents to address health disparities within their unique ED patient population. As such, it is imperative that we seek to immersively introduce trainees to the unique needs of the patient population they will serve early in training.

Multimodality in medical education: Perspectives on medical shadowing from an experiential learning curriculum

When undergraduate students join a premedical programme, they enrol in basic sciences with the rare opportunity to engage in clinical activities. One way to overcome this is a medical shadowing programme aimed at introducing students to important aspects in building their professional identity as future doctors: emotional intelligence and empathy, professionalism, teamwork, and leadership in medicine. As medical shadowing involves students’ constant engagement with various material artefacts in a clinical setting, it makes sense to apply methods that include artefacts, such as multimodal and visual semiotics. Using an inquiry graphics analytical framework inspired by Peircean semiotics, this paper argues for the integration of multimodality in undergraduate medical experiential learning, a scarcely researched area in medical education. Using a case study methodology, this study reports on an analysis of students’ visual representations of the intended learning goals and the applicability of visual artefacts as a tool for reflection on their shadowing experience. This research fills a gap in the literature on the role of multimodality, particularly visual imagery, in fostering new ideas that promote professional identity in medicine. Using data collected from 15 premedical students’ written reflections on their shadowing experience, the study results show students’ heightened awareness of physician attributes and their role in socializing premedical students early in their medical profession. The research findings would benefit premedical education leaders, instructional designers, and curriculum developers and inspire medical educators to embrace multimodality in teaching, learning, and assessment.Keywords: premedical education; multimodality; medical shadowing programmes; visual imagery; experiential learningPart of the Special Issue Visual literacies and visual technologies for teaching, learning and inclusion <https://doi.org/10.21428/8c225f6e.bf2afe2e>

Impact of an experiential learning curriculum on youth developmental assets in alternative high schools

ABSTRACT Adventure-based learning is used by behavioral health providers to connect clients to therapeutic activities outside traditional settings. These approaches often aim to build internal and external assets that support positive youth development. Here we evaluate the impact of an experiential learning curriculum on youth development and identify program characteristics that support development of positive assets. The evaluation included classroom field observations, a pre/post survey of developmental assets, semi-structured student interviews, and focus groups with school employees. Program staff were successful creating a supportive environment, but there was no significant difference in average student asset scores before and after each course. Students described the program as an opportunity to explore their own backyard while stepping outside their comfort zone through teamwork and leadership activities. Evaluation of individual programs can build a suite of best practices for adventure-based education. In particular, emphasis on “challenge by choice” and youth-led activities resonated with students.

Big Need Not Be Bad: A Case Study of Experiential Leadership Development in Different-Sized Classes

Higher education classes have increased in size at a time of significant resource restrictions for universities. At the same time, employers are looking for graduates with relevant competencies and skills. This poses two key challenges: (1) how to design an experiential curriculum that produces significant skill development and (2) how to ensure that this program is scalable and effective in a large class context. In this case study, we describe the curriculum of a postgraduate experiential learning curriculum focused on leadership development, and report its effectiveness in developing leadership competencies in different-sized large classes. This case study demonstrates that effective large class experiential learning and leadership skills development is possible. We found comparable effectiveness across different-sized classes of up to 130 students. These results were achieved by combining experiential learning, intentional change theory, dedicated and experienced faculty coaches, feedback and coaching in small peer groups, and periodic self- and peer-evaluations. We observed that class size may differentially affect the effectiveness of experiential learning for leadership competency development at different stages of a course. Practical implications for course design and delivery are discussed, with a focus on the curriculum design elements that help make large class experiential learning impactful and manageable.

Experiential Learning Methods in Culinary Course Can Bridge the Gap: Student Perceptions on How Hands-On Curriculum Prepares Them for Industry

ABSTRACT This exploratory study investigates students’ understanding of how they believed hands-on activities prepared them for the hospitality industry. While competitive hospitality businesses around the globe seek out new employees to take on the many leadership challenges, hospitality schools make parallel efforts to prepare their students to take on these responsibilities after graduation. Although traditional classroom techniques have a place in the hospitality classroom, experiential learning methods have emerged as a powerful way of better preparing students for the unique environment they will face when employed. The inseparable employee-to-guest nature of the hospitality industry creates idiomatic scenarios, which can often be stressful for a new employee. The context for this study is the University of South Florida’s College of Hospitality & Tourism Leadership (CHTL). Using qualitative explorative methods, students were interviewed and synthesized themes were identified. The main findings indicate students were enthusiastic when describing their hands-on activities with professionals and shared how the experiential learning curriculum was more engaging then traditional methods. Students provided narratives that claimed the dynamic activities made learned material more memorable and relevant to the real industry. Furthermore, students felt the challenging group work caused them to develop diverse insights for problem solving.

Experiential Learning Curriculum Delivery Approach for Quality Improvement in Resource Limited Settings: Mobile Learning for Point-of-Care Technologies

BACKGROUND: Despite impressive progress that has been made in the provision of health care services to all, the issue of quality service delivery still remains a challenge particularly for point-of-care (POC) diagnostics in resource-limited-settings. Poor competency of primary health care workers in these settings has been shown to be amongst the main contributors to poor quality service delivery.&#x0D; &#x0D; FINDINGS: Participatory-based continuous professional development (CPD) strategies to support technology advancements in health care are recommended. Experiential learning approaches have been shown to be efficient in supplementing traditional teaching methods for both health care students and professionals. These approaches have been shown to further contribute towards continuous skills development and lifelong learning. &#x0D; &#x0D; CONCLUSION: This review therefore provided an overview of literature on experiential learning as one of CPD approaches in relation to health care service improvement in resource-limited setting. In addition, this review has recommended a mobile-based experiential learning approach to help deliver a quality POC technology curriculum to Primary health care-based workers in resource-limited settings.

Leading from all levels: building supply chain leadership capacity in Equateur Province, Democratic Republic of Congo

A well-functioning supply chain is a critical component of the health system to ensure high-quality medicines and health products are available when and where they are needed. However, because supply...

Global simulation as a mediating tool for teaching and learning language and culture as discourse

This article reports on a multiliteracies‐based experiential learning curriculum designed for intermediate French built upon the framework of a global simulation pedagogy. Students adopted the roles of fictitious characters living together in an apartment building in Paris and carried out written and spoken tasks through the voice of their character, in dialogic response to an emerging story‐world that integrated both imagined and real‐world current events, and whose discourses were mediated by texts of various genres. Findings from this study demonstrate the way that some students appropriated forms of discourse based on their situated identities and genre conventions of literacy tasks. Implications from these findings point to both the pedagogical possibilities for teaching language, culture, and discourse holistically and the carefulness with which such curricula must be designed if classroom foreign language instruction is to help prepare students for real‐world literacy practices.

P131 - Food Environments in the Classroom: Testing of an Experiential Learning Curriculum Intervention on Dietary Behavior

Background (Background, Rationale, Prior Research, and/or Theory): Food environments are implicated as factors in adolescent food behaviors and choices. Objective: To explore the impact of adolescents evaluating their food environments (community, home, and school) on the adolescents' dietary behavior. Study Design, Setting, Participants, Intervention: Quasi-randomized control trial with two arms: food environment curriculum (n = 13) and food environment curriculum and environmental audit (n = 17) of high school wellness classes in one school in the southeastern U.S. (total participants = 30). The food environment intervention (FEI) was delivered as part of a required high school wellness course, with both intervention and comparison groups receiving the same nutrition and food environment lectures (twice weekly; total of 10 classes); the intervention group also conducted hands-on assessments of their own food environments over the five weeks outside of class using the Healthy Campus Environmental Audit (HCEA) tool. Fidelity testing was conducted in both classes to ensure lesson consistency in both arms. Outcome Measures and Analysis: The effects of the intervention were tested using pre-and post-health behaviors surveys [fruit and vegetable intake (FV) and meal patterns]. Analysis of variance and chi-square tests were conducted to evaluate differences between the two arms. Results: The baseline consumption of FV for both groups was 1.63 (SD = 2.64) cups daily. Only 36.7% of both groups met the recommendations for FV at baseline. There were no significant changes in FV or meal patterns after the intervention for either group. More variance was noted in the intervention group for change in weekly fast food intake from pre to post-test, with 18.75% decreasing consumption and 31.25% increasing consumption. Conclusions and Implications: This intervention, designed to increase awareness of food environment issues (with or without experiential food environment audits), was not effective in changing adolescent food behavior. Future research is needed to confirm or challenge the role of individuals' awareness of food environments as a non-factor in food behavior. Funding: NIFA.

The Effectiveness of a Student‐Centered, Experiential Learning Curriculum on Musculoskeletal Anatomy of the Lower Limb Using Yoga Asanas

Background and purposeTraditional human anatomy pedagogy has been experiencing paradigm shifts over the years as curricula evolve to better engage students with student‐centered, experiential learning. Today, these conceptual strategies are integrated into Dance Technique Education, as a way to increase dancers' knowledge and understanding of how to use their own bodies. The same active learning approach has a future in applications to other physical activities including yoga practice. Using the three representations (Iconic, Symbolic, and Enactive) of curriculum design from Bruner's Theory and Kolb's two‐fold Experiential Learning Theory, the primary purpose of this study was to fashion a new teaching curriculum dedicated to the learning and understanding of the anatomy of the lower limb. The secondary purpose was to document and assess improvements in participants' Range of Motion (ROM), flexibility, strength, and balance in the lower limbs post completion of the experiential learning curriculum.MethodFollowing literature reviews on the successful impact of Active and Experiential Learning, 17 experimental participants were recruited to participate in a two‐hour, lower‐limb musculoskeletal anatomy learning session using yoga asanas and inspired by Bruner's three Representations. In contrast, 17 control participants were recruited to participate in yoga sessions lacking anatomical instruction. All participants were assessed on anatomical knowledge retention, ROM, flexibility, strength, and balance performance over a two‐month time period. Participants attended two follow‐ups sessions where the researcher documented changes in lower limb mobility. Participants' qualitative feedbacks were used to study the overall impact of a learner‐centered and experiential learning experience.ResultsBased on participant feedback and documented results, the Experiential Learning program was well received, effective in teaching anatomical concepts, and notably increased participants' ROM, flexibility, and strength. Experimental participants outperformed control participants in knowledge retention and overall improvement in lower limb mobility over two months.Discussion and ConclusionBruner's theory on curriculum design and Kolb's theory on experiential learning proved effective when implemented into a two‐hour anatomy‐yoga learning session. The positive outcomes yielded from the two‐hour learning session and the two follow‐ups sessions over the span of two months holds promise for this curriculum's future application using any movement‐based practice. Future work should focus on the development of anatomical experiential learning curricula to compliment traditional didactic teaching approaches.Support or Funding InformationQueen's UniversityThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Didactic Content and Experiential Aging Simulation for Developing Patient-Centered Strategies and Empathy for Older Adults.

The number of people over 65 years of age is increasing, and many of those individuals will have sensorineural hearing loss in addition to other chronic health conditions. Future hearing health care providers need to be sensitive to the needs of elderly patients. The purpose of this article is to describe an experiential learning curriculum used in the Doctor of Audiology program in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. The curriculum uses simulations of sensory disorders common in the elderly to transform knowledge and active experience into patient-centered, empathetic counseling skills and strategies to use with older adults with hearing loss.

Eat Your Way to Better Health: Evaluating a Garden-based Nutrition Program for Youth

Eat Your Way to Better Health (EYWTBH) is a garden-based nutrition education program that was conducted and evaluated for 3 years in Indiana third-grade classrooms. Program participants started and maintained their own school gardens as a part of an authentic experiential learning curriculum designed to reconnect youth with where their food comes from and educate about healthy eating habits. Implementation lasted between 8 and 12 weeks and outcomes were evaluated using pre- and postprogram questionnaires. Results showed that upon completion of the EYWTBH program, youth reported a higher healthy food choice self-efficacy, as well as a higher variety of fruit and vegetable consumption. Relationships among the variables were identified and discussed in the context of improving future school garden nutrition programs.