Faculty Involvement Research Articles

Adapting the CACAO model to support higher education STEM teaching reform

BackgroundEfforts to achieve improved student outcomes in STEM are critically reliant on the success of reform efforts associated with teaching and learning. Reform efforts include the transformation of course-based practices, community values, and the institutional policies and structures associated with teaching and learning in higher education. Enacting change is a complex process that can be guided by change theories that describe how and why a desired change takes place. We analyzed the utility of a theory-based change model applied in a higher education setting. Our results provide guidance for change efforts at other institutions.ResultsUse of the CACAO model to guide the transformation of STEM instruction at a large public university resulted in changes to faculty teaching practices and department culture consistent with the vision defined for the project. Such changes varied across STEM departments in accordance with the emergent nature of project activities at the department level. Our application of the CACAO model demonstrates the importance of (1) creating a vision statement (statement of desired change or end-state); (2) attending to different levels of the organization (e.g., individuals, departments, and colleges); (3) working with change agents who are situated to be effective at different organizational levels; and (4) employing strategies to meet the needs and interests of faculty at different stages of adoption with respect to the desired change.ConclusionOur work, which demonstrates the utility of the CACAO model for change and captures its key elements in a matrix, provides a potential foundation for others considering how to frame and study change efforts. It reinforces the value of using change theories to inform change efforts and creates a structure that others can build on and modify, either by applying our CACAO matrix in their own setting or by using the matrix to identify elements that connect to other change theories. We contribute to the growing body of literature which seeks to understand how change theories can be useful and generalizable beyond a single project.

Shaping Students' Attitudes Toward Diversity: Do Faculty Practices and Interactions With Students Matter?

Scholars have advocated for further investigation of the campus climate for diversity and students’ attitudes and behaviors surrounding diversity, and there appears to be an increasing responsibility for higher education professionals to consider ways to encourage students’ awareness and acceptance of difference. Using longitudinal data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, this study examined the relationship between students’ perceptions of faculty practices and student-faculty interactions and two measures of students’ attitudes toward diversity, and whether these relationships were moderated by race/ethnicity. Findings revealed that several perceptions of faculty practices and student-faculty interactions were positively associated with students’ fourth-year diversity attitudes, including: (a) quality of faculty contact; (b) faculty interest in teaching and student development; (c) how often students had discussions with faculty whose political, social, or religious opinions were different from their own; (d) how often faculty engaged students in cooperative learning activities; (e) whether courses helped students see connections between intended careers and how they affect society; and (f) whether courses helped students understand the historical, political, and social connections of past events. Overall, findings suggest that the type and quality of each faculty practice or measure of interaction with students may be significant in terms of fostering positive diversity attitudes among students. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Advocating active and meaningful involvement of patients in the delivery of medical education

The onus of knowledge acquisition and learning has demonstrated a paradigm shift in the field of medical education. The present review has been carried out to explore and understand the role of patient involvement in the training of medical students. An extensive search of all materials related to the topic was carried out in the PubMed search engine, and a total of 26 articles were selected based on the suitability with the current review objectives. The involvement of patients in medical education has been linked with a wide range of proven benefits and learning progression. The patients can discharge multiple roles, namely a teacher, developing curriculum, assessor, and someone who can select students for the course. The role of actively involving patients in the teaching process is bound to have some challenges and barriers considering the different aspects in heterogeneous settings. The ideal approach to involve patients in medical education has to start with sensitizing the faculty members and the medical students about the benefits that can be derived out of such clinical interactions. The successful implementation will essentially require adequate resource support and faculty involvement. To conclude, the patient involvement in medical training is not a new practice, but the ground reality is that we are falling short to optimize the benefits of the overall practice. The need of the hour is to adopt a systematic approach and structure the overall program, so that we can derive tangible benefits out of the same and prepare the future generation of doctors in the delivery of patient-centered care.

Introduction of Module-based Training on Communication Skills among Interns in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of Kolkata, India

Introduction: Many of the problems in Indian healthcare settings resulting in mistrust, violence, allegations and litigations against doctors can be solved by effective communication between doctors and patients or their relatives. Interaction of the students as a community physician needs training in communication skills. A structured module-based training on communication skills during internship will help the interns to communicate effectively with patients and their relatives. Aim: To develop, introduce and evaluate a structured, validated module on communication skills for interns in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of Kolkata, India. Materials and Methods: A quasi-experimental, prospective, non randomised educational intervention study was conducted in the Department of Community Medicine at Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal, India, from January 2020 to December 2020. A structured and validated module for teaching communication skills to interns was used to train one batch of interns posted (n=40) in the department, over two days. To establish the content validity of the module, the items on content validation were rated on a scale of 1-4 by 10 experts. The validators were asked about their responses favoring face validity of the module and the average of their responses were calculated. Post-training their knowledge, skills and self-reported efficacy were assessed. Feedback from the faculty (n=6), and the interns (n=40) were collected using structured survey forms with likert scale ratings and open-ended questions. The trained cohort of interns was also assessed on communication using the SEGUE (Set the stage, Elicit information, Give information, Understand the patient's perspective, and End the encounter) Framework during patient encounter. Results: Post-training knowledge score (16.68±2.5) was significantly higher than the pre-training score (15.45±2.9). Also, there was significant increase in self-assessed knowledge (11.08±3.7 and 17.23±3.3) and skills (9.60±4.6 and 16±2.9) before and after the training. All the interns had positive attitude towards communication skill on the Communication Skills Assessment Scale (CSAS). The mean score of interns on assessment using the SEGUE framework was 16.6±3.59. The satisfaction index of the items on the feedback survey obtained from interns ranged from 82.5% to 93%. There was 100% agreement by the faculty on the relevance, usefulness and use of the module by other departments for communication skill training. More faculty involvement and more such sessions were suggested by both groups as evident from thematic analysis of open-ended responses to the feedback questsions. Conclusions: The development and delivery of a structured training module on communication skills for interns improved the knowledge and skills of the interns. Both the faculty and the interns were satisfied with the module.

Increasing Faculty Participation and Mentorship in Quality Improvement with an Experiential Four-Hour Workshop.

BackgroundGraduate medical education programs lack enough faculty trained in quality improvement (QI). A major barrier to increasing the number of faculty competent in QI is insufficient time to engage in training. Research is missing on the effectiveness of short faculty development workshops to teach academic faculty QI principles and promote participation and mentorship in QI projects.ObjectiveThe authors assessed the ability of a four-hour experiential QI workshop to increase faculty proficiency in QI principles, enhance faculty involvement in QI, and improve resident mentorship in QI.MethodsFrom 2016 to 2017, the authors conducted seven QI faculty development workshops at a large academic medical center with 12 ACGME training programs. We evaluated the workshop using pre- and post-workshop surveys, as well as six- and twelve-month follow up surveys.ResultsSixty-five faculty participated in seven workshops over 13 months. All participants completed pre- and post-workshop surveys, while 38% (n = 25) responded to the six- and twelve-month follow up surveys. Overall, the workshop significantly increased confidence to lead and mentor residents on a QI project (25% pre vs. 72% post, p < .001), increased ability to teach QI (8% pre vs. 36% post, p < .001), increased participation in planning and decision making on a QI team (32% pre vs. 50% post, p = .002), and increased the mean number of QI projects implemented (.45 pre vs. 1.24 post; p < .05).ConclusionA four-hour QI workshop is a quick and effective training method to develop academic faculty to teach and mentor residents in QI. The principles taught increased perceived knowledge, confidence in mentorship, and participation in QI.

Graduate Medical Education Can Be an Impetus for Behavior Changes in Physicians in Practice: Point-Of-Care Ultrasound Faculty Development Intervention in Anesthesiology.

While there is growing evidence to suggest that point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) may aid in clinical decision-making in the perioperative setting and there are new requirements that anesthesiology residents must be trained in POCUS, few practicing anesthesiologists use POCUS in their practice. The goal of this investigation is to determine whether a multifaceted faculty development program helps a group of faculty members incorporate POCUS into their practice. This intervention had five parts: (1) online prework, (2) 2-day workshop, (3) follow-up hands-on sessions, (4) regular communication, and (5) equipment acquisition. This is a pretest/posttest, single group, observational study where the main outcome measure is the number of POCUS examinations documented and the number of providers who performed at least one examination. In addition, presurveys and postsurveys were administered to determine whether there was a change in confidence and self-reported use of POCUS. The number of examinations completed and the number of providers completing examinations by month both seemed to increase over time between May 2017 and October 2018. Between August 2017 and October 2018, the number of examinations completed per month increased by a rate of approximately one examination per month (starting with one examination in May 2017) and the number of providers completing examinations increased by a rate of approximately 0.61 providers per month (staring with one provider in May 2017). This study shows that an intervention that targets interested faculty can increase the use of POCUS in practice and residents' perceptions of teaching.

Professional Development Coaching for Health Professions Graduate Faculty: A Pilot Implementation.

Organizations have offered executive coaching to their senior leaders for several decades and report improvement in performance, leadership, self-efficacy, and goal attainment. Despite this success, little research exists on coaching programs for faculty who may also benefit from this resource. We sought to develop, implement, and evaluate a professional development coaching program for diverse graduate faculty at a health professions university. We implemented a professional development coaching program to provide one-on-one support for interested faculty. Faculty were offered four 1-hour or eight half-hour sessions each academic semester by eight trained volunteer coaches unaffiliated with the university. We had 67 faculty members participate across the academic year. They were asked to complete a brief impact survey at the end of each semester. The coaches provided 378 sessions, totaling 281 hours of coaching. Survey results revealed that coaching was effective in helping faculty achieve their professional goals and empowered them for future professional success. Faculty were highly satisfied with the program. There is early evidence that professional development coaching can help faculty reach their professional goals and add value to an institution. The program may be a helpful model for developing and implementing coaching programs on other campuses.

Has the University Always Been “Neoliberal”?

Has the University Always Been “Neoliberal”?

English

BACKGROUND India has been facing various challenges in the past decade, which include outbreaks of different communicable diseases and the rising of slow pandemics of non-communicable diseases. The current COVID 19 pandemic brings to light the need to revamp the training in public health during the internship. A standardized and outcome-based approach to internship training is the need of the hour for the Indian medical graduate (IMG). The internship program in community medicine should train the Indian medical graduate to develop patient management and administrative skills to promote health care through a health facility. The training provided is not standardized or evaluated across the medical colleges. Hence, it was aimed to study the effectiveness of educational interventions on internship training during the posting at the rural training health centre (RTHC). METHODS A quasi-experimental study was conducted among the interns posted in the rural training health centre using a validated semi-structured questionnaire as a pretest followed by a post-test after two weeks of training on the primary health care system. The perception of the students towards the training was assessed using the Likert 5 point scale. RESULTS The pre-test score was 5.30 (SD 2.105) and the post-test mean score was 9.35 (SD 2.033) [P &lt; 0.01]. The gender-based analysis also showed significance within genders. Student perception revealed 80 % found the training useful, 90 % agreed that the guidance provided by the field staff helped them and 90 % agreed that the intervention changed their outlook towards the internship training in community medicine. CONCLUSIONS The study has brought a positive outlook towards giving adequate guidance to acquire knowledge and skills to interns by the active involvement of faculty. Rethinking and re-implementation of the existing internship training in the community is the need of the hour. KEYWORDS Internship Training, Community Medicine, Medical Education, Kerala, GMR 2019

Learning Communities: Factors Influencing Faculty Involvement

The debate in higher education has inspired broad discussion about the quality of undergraduate education. Several of these criticisms have focused on a lack of curricular coherency, an emphasis on research versus teaching, and intellectual isolationism within the academic community. The debate has inspired broad discussion and questions the overall quality of undergraduate education in this country. One attempt by some institutions of higher education to counter these criticisms is through the development of various curricular structures referred to as learning communities. Learning communities represent a structural response to curricular fragmentation by promoting curricular coherence, intellectual and social community, and sense of common purpose within the academic environment. The research on learning communities as been limited in identifying factors which prompt faculty to become involved in this kind of teaching and learning structure. The purpose of this research study is to provide additional insights on variables that influence faculty involvement in learning communities. Three variable sets—faculty background, structural, and organization/environmental—frame the theoretical basis for the research study.

Determinants of Students’ Satisfaction in HEIs’ of Pakistan: An Empirical Investigation

Service quality is vital for higher education institutions in order to remain competitive and growing. There is a dire need to ensure students’ satisfaction with university. Factors influencing students’ satisfaction had been explored in private universities of Islamabad, Pakistan. The factors that influenced students’ satisfaction were measured on teaching excellence, quality of academic programs, faculty involvement, and institutional environment. Non-probability sampling technique applied for 436 of HEIs students from three universities which were selected as a sample for study. A set of questionnaires was administered and distributed to the respondents of the study. A variance based Partial Least Squares regression (PLS) was applied to test the hypotheses. Results indicate a positive and direct relationship between perceived service quality of education and student satisfaction. The results of study contribute towards the literature of student satisfaction determinants and practical implications for academicians of HEIs of Islamabad, Pakistan universities.

A national assessment of residency wellness initiatives in emergency medicine.

Wellness is increasingly recognized as an important component of graduate medical education. However, there are limited data regarding how wellness initiatives are enacted in practice. This study aimed to survey emergency medicine (EM) residency programs to identify current, previous, and planned wellness initiatives as well as barriers to implementation and resources utilized. This was a cross-sectional survey study performed from November 2019 through January 2020. A literature search was performed to identify existing published wellness interventions and existing barriers, and these interventions and barriers were compiled to create a survey. The survey was piloted among five program directors and assistant program directors in person with feedback directly incorporated into the survey. The survey was sent to program leadership at all 223 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited EM residency programs across the United States. Of the programs surveyed, 95 (42.6%) were included. The most common current wellness interventions reported were resident retreats (91%), group events (90%), formal mentorship (74%), and wellness committees (66%). Reported factors that contributed to the successful implementation of wellness interventions were faculty involvement (78%), resident involvement (78%), department chair support (51%), institutional support (44%), and financial support (36%). Lack of financial support (65%) and limited time (62%) were the most commonly reported barriers that prevented the implementation of wellness interventions. Resident wellness is an important aspect of residency training. Survey respondents generally perceived that wellness interventions were associated with wellness improvement. Successful programs have financial, institutional, and chair support.

Challenges of Measurement Education for Rehabilitation Science Graduate Programs

<h3>Research Objectives</h3> To describe barriers to and gaps in rehabilitation science measurement education curriculum. <h3>Design</h3> Survey research. <h3>Setting</h3> Surveys were collected using Qualtrics, an online survey platform. <h3>Participants</h3> Forty-one educators from rehabilitation science graduate programs in the United States and the United Kingdom using snowball sampling. <h3>Interventions</h3> Not Applicable. <h3>Main Outcome Measures</h3> We asked respondents if there was a course dedicated to measurement within their graduate programs, the qualifications of persons teaching the measurement courses, and to identify any barriers to teaching measurement. We also asked respondents to identify the specific measurement properties taught in their courses. <h3>Results</h3> Fifty-four percent (n=22) of respondents reported that they had a course entirely dedicated to measurement, and most educators (47%) had a PhD in rehabilitation science. Fourteen (34%) respondents reported that they perceived no barriers to measurement education. Of those who thought barriers existed (n=27), most selected lack of student interest (n=8), followed by a lack of faculty with measurement expertise (n=6), and no time or space within the curriculum (n=4). All respondents reported that they taught levels of measurement and test-retest reliability within their curriculum, but only 44% taught applied psychometrics topics such as cross-cultural validity. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Given barriers such as lack of student interest or lack of faculty with measurement expertise, it would benefit rehabilitation science graduate programs to have access to established measurement education content and curriculum guides fostered by measurement experts to complement current teaching approaches. We recommend the use of resources such as the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab's Rehabilitation Measures Database to provide such content. <h3>Author(s) Disclosures</h3> All authors declare no conflicts.

Welcome to the Summer 2021 Issue of Intersection: A Journal at the Intersection of Assessment and Learning

As the Summer Issue Editorial Board, we are excited to share the Summer 2021 issue of Intersection: A Journal at the Intersection of Assessment and Learning, with you. Intersection is The Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AALHE’s) quarterly publication. The topics covered in this issue span the scope of Intersection, with topics including the involvement of faculty, different assessment methods, and the impact of the pandemic on the assessment of student learning.

The Efficacy of Virtual Subinternships as a Novel Educational Platform for Education and Recruitment.

The Efficacy of Virtual Subinternships as a Novel Educational Platform for Education and Recruitment.

Navigating the Storm: Community Colleges’ Decision to Pivot to Virtual International Education in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted community college international education programs, prompting some to pivot to virtual international education (VIE). This mixed-methods study explored how community colleges navigated the transition to VIE through a framework of second-order transformational change. The study presents results of a fall 2020 survey and interviews about community college international education and the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings point to both successes and challenges in community colleges’ transition to VIE. Community college international educators experienced unexpected positive consequences of the pandemic, such as the ability to repurpose unused funds from canceled education abroad programs toward supporting their VIE initiatives. College administrators used flexibility and creative problem-solving skills, and leveraged networks and communities of practice to successfully pivot to diverse portfolios of VIE programs. VIE administrators faced challenges regarding technology barriers, the amount of time and effort needed to cultivate partnerships, and the potential for faculty burnout due to additional responsibilities assumed during the pandemic. Findings also indicate that sustaining VIE initiatives will require second-order change and that community colleges, as flexible institutions, are well-positioned to capitalize on the advantages of VIE. Recommendations include continuing to provide community college faculty and administrators with autonomy to explore creative strategies for implementing and sustaining VIEs, investing in additional technological supports, and providing additional faculty supports to increase faculty interest in these programs.

Novel model to teach health care delivery in geriatrics

ABSTRACT Introducing health policy to interprofessional graduate students, anchoring health policy to older adult health needs, while conveying how current policy issues will affect their individual careers is challenging, yet essential, for health profession education. This novel program integrated graduate level health profession learners from medicine, nurse practitioner, pharmacy, psychology, social work, physical therapy and occupational therapy disciplines. The aim was to embed health policy into an existing interprofessional (IP) geriatrics course at an academic medical center. Selection of disciplines was based on prior collaborative work and faculty interest. The objectives were to 1. Introduce current health policies that affect older adults; 2. Understand the effects of health policy and social determinants of health on the older adults in their future practice; 3. Challenge learners to apply their knowledge and develop health advocacy strategies for older adults; and 4) Teach the importance of teamwork in interprofessional practice within a geriatric population. The health policy curriculum impacted 487 learners for 12 sessions over three years. Four themes emerged with the sessions: health policy awareness, interprofessional appreciation, patient care “pearls,” and pharmacological considerations in geriatrics. Each of the eight modules generated thoughtful recommendations by the learners, providing a glimpse into future workforce priorities.

A Call for Reform: Variability and Insufficiency in Radiation Oncology Resident Didactics-a Brief Report and National Survey of Program Directors.

An informal needs assessment and lack of a national standardized curriculum suggest that there is tremendous variability in the formal teaching of radiation oncology resident throughout the USA. The goal of this study was to characterize formal radiation oncology resident education, in order to identify knowledge gaps and areas for improvement. We developed a 14-item survey consisting of the following domains: program characteristics, teaching faculty, formal teaching time, instructional approaches for formal teaching, curricular topics, and satisfaction with didactics. All 91 accredited US-based radiation oncology program directors received an invitation to complete the survey anonymously by email. Twenty-four (26% response rate) program directors responded. Programs used a variety of instructional methods; all programs reported using lecture-based teaching and only a minority using simulation (38%) or flipped classroom techniques (17%). Other than PowerPoint, the most common electronic resource utilized was quizzing/polling (67%), webinar (33%), and econtour.org (13%). The lack of a national, standardized, radiation oncology residency didactic curriculum promotes variability and insufficiency in resident training. Themes for improvement were diversity in didactic topics, incorporation of evidence-based teaching practices, increased faculty involvement, and sharing of resources across programs. Development of a national curriculum and increased electronic resource sharing may help address some of these areas of improvement.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13187-021-02080-5.

Exploring the antecedents of institutional effectiveness: a case study of higher education universities in India

The significance of Institutional Effectiveness is pivotal to the functioning of an academic institution. The mushrooming of private institutions in the Indian higher education space necessitates exploring its antecedents to ensure quality higher education is imparted by the institution. The purpose of this research endeavor is to explore the impact of Academic Leadership on Institutional Effectiveness with a mediating role of Campus Culture and Faculty Involvement in Decision Making. The study employed a cross-sectional research design and implemented a purposive sampling technique to collet primary data from 80 permanent faculties and 249 students of private engineering colleges located in the Karnataka state of India. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling. Hypothesis shows academic leadership and campus culture has high influence on institutional effectiveness. Faculty in decision making and campus culture partially mediates between academic leadership and institutional effectiveness. The results of FIMIX-PLS and PLS-MGA analysis shows the similarity in the results of total effect and path relationships. This paper provides theoretical foundations and empirical findings on conceptualizing the antecedents of institutional effectiveness. The outcomes of this research serve as significant input to policy makers and higher education institutions to facilitate enhancement of institutional effectiveness.

Inclusion of the Pharmacist Patient Care Process in Doctor of Pharmacy Curricula

Objective. With the inclusion of the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process (PPCP) in the most recent Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education standards, institutions must determine how best to vertically and horizontally integrate and assess the PPCP in the curriculum. The objective of this study was to identify the breadth and depth of PPCP implementation as well as faculty involvement in teaching the PPCP at ACPE-accredited institutions.Methods. A survey to address the study objectives was developed, piloted, and distributed electronically to all US pharmacy institutions in candidate or accredited status. Electronic reminders were implemented to improve response rates. The data were analyzed descriptively.Results. Approximately 70% of institutions responded to the survey. Integration of the PPCP was most often championed by an individual faculty member and/or a committee. Practice faculty taught PPCP at nearly all institutions, while only a third of survey respondents reported that foundational and social administrative faculty taught the PPCP. Development related to PPCP curricular integration mainly focused on preceptors. Most institutions integrated the PPCP through the didactic and experiential curriculum in an approach that allowed for reinforcement or mastery of concepts. There were limited integration efforts into interprofessional education. Institutions had a plan for assessing the effectiveness of the integration, but were varied in their approach.Conclusion. Institutions have embraced integrating the PPCP into their curricula, didactically and experientially. Progress still needs to be made regarding inclusion of all faculty in teaching the PPCP as well as integrating the PPCP into other key curricular areas, such as interprofessional learning. Faculty development efforts may be beneficial to address these aspects.