Going live : building academic capacity in blended learning using web-conferencing technologies

This paper reports on a current initiative at Queensland University of Technology to provide timely, flexible and sustainable training and support to academic staff in blended learning and associated techno-pedagogies via a web-conferencing classroom and collaboration tool, Elluminate Live!. This technology was first introduced to QUT in 2008 as part of the university‘s ongoing commitment to meeting the learning needs of diverse student cohorts. The centralised Learning Design team, in collaboration with the university‘s department of eLearning Services, was given the task of providing training and support to academic staff in the effective use of the technology for teaching and learning, as part of the team‘s ongoing brief to support and enhance the provision of blended learning throughout the university. The resulting program, ―Learning Design Live‖ (LDL) is informed by Rogers‘ theory of innovation and diffusion (2003) and structured according to Wilson‘s framework for faculty development (2007). This paper discusses the program‘s design and structure, considers the program‘s impact on academic capacity in blended learning within the institution, and reflects on future directions for the program and emerging insights into blended learning and participant engagement for both staff and students.

Statistical literacy social media project for the masses

This article examines a social media assignment used to teach and practice statistical literacy with over 400 students each semester in large-lecture traditional, fully online, and flipped sections of an introductory-level statistics course. Following the social media assignment, students completed a survey on how they approached the assignment. Drawing from the authors’ experiences with the project and the survey results, this article offers recommendations for developing social media assignments in large courses that focus on the interplay between the social media tool and the implications of assignment prompts.

Attributes of clinical role models as described by senior veterinary students in Australia

Role models incite admiration and provide inspiration, contributing to learning as students aspire to emulate their example. The attributes of physician role models for medical trainees are well documented, but they remain largely unexplored in the context of veterinary medical training. The aim of the current study was to describe the attributes that final-year veterinary students (N=213) at the University of Queensland identified when reflecting on their clinical role models. Clinical role model descriptions provided by students were analyzed using concept-mapping software (Leximancer v. 2.25). The most frequent and highly connected concepts used by students when describing their role model(s) included clients, vet, and animal. Role models were described as good communicators who were skilled at managing relationships with clients, patients, and staff. They had exemplary knowledge, skills, and abilities, and they were methodical and conducted well-structured consultations. They were well respected and, in turn, demonstrated respect for clients, colleagues, staff, and students alike. They were also good teachers and able to tailor explanations to suit both clients and students. Findings from this study may serve to assist with faculty development and as a basis for further research in this area.

Gender, religion, and sociopolitical issues in cross-cultural online education

Cross-cultural education is thought to develop critical consciousness of how unequal distributions of power and privilege affect people’s health. Learners in different sociopolitical settings can join together in developing critical consciousness – awareness of power and privilege dynamics in society – by means of communication technology. The aim of this research was to define strengths and limitations of existing cross-cultural discussions in generating critical consciousness. The setting was the FAIMER international fellowship program for mid-career interdisciplinary health faculty, whose goal is to foster global advancement of health professions education. Fellows take part in participant-led, online, written, task-focused discussions on topics like professionalism, community health, and leadership. We reflexively identified text that brought sociopolitical topics into the online environment during the years 2011 and 2012 and used a discourse analysis toolset to make our content analysis relevant to critical consciousness. While references to participants’ cultures and backgrounds were infrequent, narratives of political-, gender-, religion-, and other culture-related topics did emerge. When participants gave accounts of their experiences and exchanged cross-cultural stories, they were more likely to develop ad hoc networks to support one another in facing those issues than explore issues relating to the development of critical consciousness. We suggest that cross-cultural discussions need to be facilitated actively to transform learners’ frames of reference, create critical consciousness, and develop cultural competence. Further research is needed into how to provide a safe environment for such learning and provide faculty development for the skills needed to facilitate these exchanges.

How do clinicians become teachers? A communities of practice perspective.

There is widespread acceptance that clinical educators should be trained to teach, but faculty development for clinicians is undermined by poor attendance and inadequate learning transfer. As a result there has been growing interest in situating teacher development initiatives in clinical workplaces. The relationship between becoming a teacher and clinical workplace contexts is under theorised. In response, this qualitative research set out to explore how clinicians become teachers in relation to clinical communities and institutions. Using communities of practice (CoP) as a conceptual framework this research employed the sensitising concepts of regimes of competence and vertical (managerial) and horizontal (professional) planes of accountability to elucidate structural influences on teacher development. Fourteen hospital physicians completed developmental timelines and underwent semi-structured interviews, exploring their development as teachers. Despite having very different developmental pathways, participants’ descriptions of their teacher identities and practice that were remarkably congruent. Two types of CoP occupied the horizontal plane of accountability i.e. clinical teams (Firms) and communities of junior doctors (Fraternities). Participants reproduced teacher identities and practice that were congruent with CoPs’ regimes of competence in order to gain recognition and legitimacy. Participants also constructed their teacher identities in relation to institutions in the vertical plane of accountability (i.e. hospitals and medical schools). Institutions that valued teaching supported the development of teacher identities along institutionally defined lines. Where teaching was less valued, clinicians adapted their teacher identities and practices to suit institutional norms. Becoming a clinical educator entails continually negotiating one’s identity and practice between two potentially conflicting planes of accountability. Clinical CoPs are largely conservative and reproductive of teaching practice whereas accountability to institutions is potentially disruptive of teacher identity and practice.

Leadership in higher education : a decanal perspective /

This is a study which examines the roles and responsibilities of Deans, specifically focussing on the Deans in the Faculties of Education at three Ontario Universities - Brock University, the University of Western Ontario, and the University of Windsor. This study examines the roles of Deans in the context of leadership and as a management position. The initial belief of the researcher was that Deans acted as middle managers at their institution besides being role models, scholars and leaders. Data were collected through interviews with the various participants and through the examination of the official job descriptions at each institution. Concepts such as leadership, motivation, empowerment, and management are discussed in relation to the position of Dean. The research concludes that a Dean is a leader in higher education who is responsible for a variety of issues. Besides academic related responsibilities such as faculty development, program development and research, a Dean is also responsible for a wide range of administrative tasks including financial management and obligations to external groups. As a role model and scholar, the Dean must ensure that all areas have sufficient energies devoted to them. This creates a heavy burden on Deans as they have a great deal of responsibilities to manage while still maintaining their role as a scholar. The researcher concludes that the position of Dean requires additional support from the institution. This support could be in an Associate Dean or an Executive Assistant with training and support mechanisms on an ongoing basis.

La réflexion, processus déclenché et constructeur : cas d’enseignants de FLS en formation ou en exercice et d’aspirants coopérants internationaux

Depuis les années 1990, les formations à visée professionnelle, comme l’enseignement, adoptent le paradigme du praticien réflexif. Au Québec, le référentiel de compétences proposé par le ministère de l’Éducation introduit l’idée que tout futur enseignant doit apprendre à « réfléchir sur sa pratique » (MEQ, 2001). Malgré de nombreuses études sur la réflexion, le concept reste flou et polysémique. Comment, dans ces conditions, « faire réfléchir » ? Des chercheurs contemporains, dans la mouvance éducative, humaniste et pragmatique de Dewey (1933), aboutissent à des conceptions convergentes de l’apprentissage par réflexion sur l’expérience (Osterman et Kottkamp, 2004; Brouwer et Korthagen, 2005; Loughran, 2006; Brockbank et McGill, 2007; Donnay et Charlier, 2008, entre autres). De leurs points communs est synthétisée une définition de la réflexion qui peut aider à clarifier son rôle en formation. La recherche se donne comme objectif de « saisir » des événements réflexifs pour élucider comment des formations universitaires contribuent à développer des mécanismes de réflexion favorables à un autorenouvellement professionnel à long terme. La démarche est qualitative, l’approche interprétative-compréhensive. Des entrevues semi-structurées ont permis de recueillir des données auprès de finissants en enseignement du français langue seconde (FLS), en coopération internationale, à l’Université de Montréal, ainsi que d’enseignants de FLS expérimentés d’une université québécoise. Du corpus d’« occurrences de réflexion » ont émergé les significations que les acteurs donnaient à leur expérience d’apprentissage ou de travail. Les résultats sont présentés en trois articles. Le premier décrit la méthodologie construite pour repérer des occurrences de réflexion. Le second révèle deux grandes caractéristiques de dispositifs qui la stimulent particulièrement: 1) l’agir en situation de travail authentique ou vraisemblable; 2) la confrontation interactive à l’altérité (pairs, clientèle). Le troisième article aborde les représentations plus riches, nuancées et critiques de la profession, l’Autre et soi-même sur lesquelles débouche la réflexion. L’étude documente aussi les effets de ces reconceptualisations sur l’acteur et l’action, et produit des typologies des préoccupations des (futurs) professionnels et des objets réfléchis Des pistes de recherche et d’application sont dégagées pour les formations professionnalisantes et le développement professionnel en milieu de travail.

L’identification et la remédiation des difficultés de raisonnement clinique en médecine (État des pratiques, recherche d’outils et processus pour soutenir les cliniciens enseignants)

INTRODUCTION : Le raisonnement clinique est au coeur de l’exercice professionnel. Cependant, nous manquons d'instruments pour identifier et objectiver les difficultés de raisonnement clinique, et il existe relativement peu de descriptions de méthodes de remédiation définies. Un important travail reste donc à faire, pour mieux comprendre comment les difficultés se manifestent dans le raisonnement clinique des étudiants en formation, mais également pour rendre ces concepts plus accessibles aux enseignants; ceci permettra alors d’améliorer la qualité de la démarche d’identification des difficultés, et d’envisager des remédiations ciblées et efficaces. OBJECTIFS : Cette recherche s’articule d’une part, autour de l’objectivation et la compréhension des pratiques actuelles des cliniciens enseignants en médecine, d’autre part, autour de la construction et l’implantation d’outils et de processus susceptibles de faciliter la démarche de diagnostic et de remédiation des difficultés de raisonnement clinique. MÉTHODOLOGIE : Une recherche de type qualitative, utilisant les méthodes de la recherche action participative s’est révélée pertinente pour atteindre nos objectifs. La recherche est composée de quatre étapes : 1. Une étude exploratoire. 2. La construction et de l’implantation d’un premier outil dans trois milieux cliniques en médecine familiale. 3. L’élaboration d’une taxonomie des difficultés de raisonnement clinique ainsi que la construction d’un nouvel outil. 4. Le développement d’une approche globale pour soutenir et former les cliniciens enseignants. RÉSULTATS : Les enseignants ont une perception rapide, mais qui demeure globale et intuitive, des potentielles difficultés de raisonnement clinique des résidents. Cette perception ne se traduit pas forcément en termes pédagogiques. Nous avons pu observer l’absence de processus pédagogiques organisés et structurés pour la gestion de ces difficultés. Ceci semble projeter les cliniciens enseignants dans une zone d’inconfort, en les confrontant à un manque de maîtrise et à l’incertitude au sujet de leurs actions pédagogiques. La catégorisation des difficultés de raisonnement clinique que nous avons construite permet d’identifier les difficultés telles qu’elles se manifestent dans le quotidien des supervisions cliniques. Cet outil a cependant besoin d’être intégré dans un processus plus global. CONCLUSION : Une approche globale qui comprenne le développement de processus implantés par le Département, l’implantation d’outils, la vulgarisation de la théorie, et la formation des enseignants est déterminante.

Liderazgo educativo: revisión de la situación actual

Este trabajo lleva a cabo una compilación del material escrito acerca del liderazgo educativo, sus implicaciones sociales, educativas y culturales. Así mismo identifica las corrientes que actualmente predominan en el liderazgo educativo como es el Liderazgo pedagógico y el liderazgo administrativo. También brinda un acercamiento a los esfuerzos y la situación actual del liderazgo educativo en Colombia, con el fin de determinar si existe en efecto y liderazgo educativo efectivo en nuestro país. Este trabajo se lleva a cabo recopilando la información de la situación actual y literatura de varios países y encontrando puntos en comuna lo largo de los mismos.

La insuficiencia de las disposiciones del pensamiento para cubrir la brecha del pensamiento crítico a la acción crítica

En esta tesis se evalúan las disposiciones del pensamiento crítico; se demuestra la circularidad de sus enunciados y, consecuencia de ello, su insuficiencia para cubrir la brecha que va de las habilidades del pensamiento crítico a la acción crítica.

La insuficiencia de las disposiciones del pensamiento para cubrir la brecha entre pensamiento crítico y acción crítica

En este artículo se evalúan las disposiciones del pensamiento crítico; se demuestra la circularidad de sus enunciados y, consecuencia de ello, su insuficiencia para cubrir la brecha que va de las habilidades del pensamiento crítico a la acción crítica.

An Educational international partnership responding to local needs: Process evaluation of the Brazil FAIMER Regional Institute

The Brazilian public health system requires competent professionals sensitive to the needs of the population. The Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) provides a two-year faculty development programme for health professions educators, aiming to build leadership in education to improve health. A partnership with governmental initiatives and FAIMER was established for meeting these needs. This paper describes the initial process evaluation results of the Brazilian FAIMER Institute Fellowship (FAIMER BR). Methods: Data were analysed for the classes 2007-2010 regarding: application processes; innovation project themes; retrospective post-pre self-ratings of knowledge acquisition; and professional development portfolios. Results: Seventeen of 26 Brazilian states were represented among 98 Fellows, predominantly from public medical schools (75.5%) and schools awarded Ministry of Health grants to align education with public health services (89.8%). One-third (n = 32) of Fellows' innovation projects were related to these grants. Significant increases occurred in all topic subscales on self-report of knowledge acquisition (eff ect sizes, 1.21-2.77). In the follow up questionnaire, 63% of Fellows reported that their projects were incorporated into the curriculum or institutional policies. The majority reported that the programme deepened their knowledge (98%), provided new ideas about medical education (90%) and provided skills for conflict management (63%). One-half of the Fellows reported sustained benefits from the programme listserv and other communications, including breadth of expertise, establishment of research collaboration and receiving emotional support. Conclusion: Contributors to initial programme success included alignment of curriculum with governmental initiatives, curriculum design merging educational technology, leadership and management skills and central role of an innovation educational project responding to local needs.

Entre a teoria e a prática: o projeto político-pedagógico do curso de medicina da UFMA

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Challenges for medical educators: results of a survey among members of the German Association for Medical Education

BACKGROUND Despite the increasing interest in medical education in the German-speaking countries, there is currently no information available on the challenges which medical educators face. To address this problem, we carried out a web-based survey among the members of the Association for Medical Education (Gesellschaft für medizinische Ausbildung, GMA). METHODS A comprehensive survey was carried out on the need for further qualifications, expertise and the general conditions of medical educators in Germany. As part of this study, the educators were asked to list the three main challenges which they faced and which required urgent improvement. The results were analysed by means of qualitative content analysis. RESULTS The questionnaire was completed by 147 of the 373 members on the GMA mailing list (response rate: 39%). The educators named a total of 346 challenges and emphasised the following areas: limited academic recognition for engagement in teaching (53.5% of educators), insufficient institutional (31.5%) and financial support (28.4%), a curriculum in need of reform (22.8%), insufficient time for teaching assignments (18,9%), inadequate teacher competence in teaching methods (18.1%), restricted faculty development programmes (18.1%), limited networking within the institution (11.0%), lack of teaching staff (10.2%), varying preconditions of students (8.7%), insufficient recognition and promotion of medical educational research (5.5%), extensive assessment requirements (4.7%), and the lack of role models within medical education (3.2%). CONCLUSION The medical educators found the biggest challenges which they faced to be limited academic recognition and insufficient institutional and financial support. Consequently, improvements should be implemented to address these issues.

Exploring the goals, content, and methods of entrepreneurship professors: A multiple case study

Along with the accumulation of evidence supporting the role of entrepreneurship in economic development (Acs & Armington, 2006; Kuratko, 2005, Reynolds, 2007), governments have persisted in encouraging people to become entrepreneurs (Acs & Stough, 2008; Brannback & Carsrud, 2008). These efforts have tried to reproduce the conditions under which entrepreneurship emerges. One of these conditions is to develop entrepreneurial skills among students and scientists (Fan & Foo, 2004). Entrepreneurship education within higher education has experienced a remarkable expansion in the last 20 years (Green, 2008). To develop entrepreneurial skills among students, scholars have proposed different teaching approaches. However, no clear relationship has been demonstrated between entrepreneurship education, learning outcomes, and business creation (Hostager & Decker, 1999). Despite policy makers demands for more accountability from educational institutions (Klimoski, 2007) and entrepreneurship instructors demands for consistency about what should be taught and how (Maidment, 2009), the appropriate content for entrepreneurship programs remains under constant discussion (Solomon, 2007). Entrepreneurship education is still in its infancy, professors propose diverse teaching goals and radically different teaching methods. This represents an obstacle to development of foundational and consistent curricula across the board (Cone, 2008). Entrepreneurship education is in need of a better conceptualization of the learning outcomes pursued in order to develop consistent curriculum. Many schools do not have enough qualified faculty to meet the growing student demand and a consistent curriculum is needed for faculty development. Entrepreneurship instructors and their teaching practices are of interest because they have a role in producing the entrepreneurs needed to grow the economy. This study was designed to understand instructors’ perspectives and actions related to their teaching. The sample studied consisted of eight college and university entrepreneurship instructors. Cases met predetermined criteria of importance followed maximum variation strategies. Results suggest that teaching content were consistent across participants while different teaching goals were identified: some instructors inspire and develop general skills of students while others envision the creation of a real business as the major outcome of their course. A relationship between methods reported by instructors and their disciplinary background, teaching perspective, and entrepreneurial experience was found.