9610 - Teaching and Learning in Medical Education (TLMed) - Arranged (Building Not Needed)

Course Prerequisites: N/A

Description: This course is designed to provide fourth-year students with the opportunity to cultivate their teaching skills in order to better prepare them for residency. This course provides all students with the fundamentals of learning theory and evidence-based teaching to help medical students become effective educators. Students will apply educational principles as they work with first, second, third, and/or fourth-year students. The course includes two virtual workshops and a series of modular assignments that support teaching session preparation and encourage reflective analysis of teaching methods. Students are required to complete a minimum of eight teaching sessions, including six in-person, at WSUSOM designated classes or clinical sessions.

Educational skills are increasingly recognized as essential components of the education of future physicians, particularly in residency training when learners take on new teaching responsibilities for their teams. MD4 9610 provides students with the skills, strategies, and techniques to instruct medical students in classroom and clinical contexts. This course integrates a full range of educational experiences, including teaching placements, live virtual workshops, self-paced online learning modules, instructional design projects, and a final capstone project to develop M4 students into skillful teachers. 

Students can choose to complete one of three separate teaching tracks to fulfill their teaching requirements: (1) general teaching, (2) clinical skills teaching, and (3) small group facilitation.

Objectives: This course is designed to provide fourth year students with the opportunity to cultivate their teaching skills in order to better prepare them for residency.  Students will participate in workshops on how to refine their teaching skills, with topics such as creating a positive teaching environment, how to prepare an effective lecture, and how to give and receive feedback.  Students will teach sessions for junior medical students to help practice their improved skills and will also provide feedback to junior students.

Upon completion of this course, students will gain mastery in the following competencies:

• Giving constructive feedback
• Precepting in clinical contexts
• Small group teaching
• Case-based teaching
• Large-group teaching
• Self-directed learning principles

By the end of the Teaching and Learning in Medical Education course, students will be able to:

1. Identify and apply principles of key adult learning theories to set and monitor one’s progress towards learning and teaching goals.  
2. Explicitly track knowledge gaps and apply learning strategies, resources, and seek assistance to address learning gaps. 
3. Apply principles of adult learning theory to evaluate and improve junior students' clinical reasoning abilities. 
4. Create opportunities to demonstrate leadership and professionalism in a simulated clinical setting by providing constructive and effective feedback to junior students. 
5. Identify and implement appropriate instructional strategies when giving feedback to junior students. 
6. Identify and implement evidence-based teaching strategies that are rooted in the science of learning. 
7. Identify and apply evidence-based leadership strategies to develop and facilitate small group active learning sessions. 
8. Identify and apply evidence-based teaching strategies to facilitate large group active learning sessions.  
9. Apply teaching and feedback strategies that promote junior students’ procedural and critical thinking skills during a simulated clinical encounter. 
10. Compare and apply models of effective feedback to support junior students’ learning in classroom and clinical contexts.

Methods: 

• Teaching Sessions: Students are expected to complete a minimum of 8 teaching sessions, 6 of which must be in-person sessions. 2 teaching sessions must be completed per unit. Refer to the “Teaching Requirements” page on Canvas (Module 0: Orientation) for more information.
• Teaching Workshops: Students are expected to attend 2 virtual sessions. These sessions will be held over Zoom and will be delivered in Unit 1 (April – June).
• Final Teaching Portfolio: Students will complete a summative reflection project which will consistent of submitting a end-of-term course reflection and portfolio of instructional activities.
• Self-Paced Learning Modules: Students will complete two self-paced learning modules per 3-month unit.     Each module is organized into a self-paced sequence of instructional activities that take approximately 3-4 hours to complete. The module activities must be completed within the 3-month period for each unit.

Recommended Reading/Resources: JAMA Rational Clinical Exam, Presentation Zen, Thinking Fast and Slow

Length: Segment 4 Longitudinal

Additional Locations: Various (Kado, Maz, Scott Hall, Virtual)

Evaluation: A satisfactory (S) or unsatisfactory (U) grade for the course will be determined from the timely completion of the required activities and teaching sessions as outlined below:

• Teaching sessions
• Completion of learning modules
• Workshop activities
• Final project

Course Director(s): Chih Chuang, MD; Marissa Zhu, PHD

Preceptor(s): Dr. Chih Chuang

Category: Non-Clinical

Recommended Attire: business

EMR System: N/A