Education Scholar

www.educationscholar.org

 A comprehensive Web-based program to advance teaching skills, professional scholarship, and instructional improvement for educators in the health professions. 

Program Goals

The Education Scholar program was designed to:

• Elevate teaching as a respected activity of health professions faculty through scholarly inquiry and development;

• Assist faculty in adopting successful learner-centered teaching methods;

• Promote the scholarship of teaching as integral to the faculty role;

• Help faculty master the skills necessary to document teaching/learning activities as part of their scholarly work;

• Contribute to improving the quality of teaching and learning in the health professions;

• Develop a community of "like-minded" educators committed to the advancement of teaching excellence;

• Expand the dialogue about teaching/learning among local faculty to the national level; and

• Build a framework that will ultimately recognize teaching excellence as a positive factor in faculty rewards and careers.

Program Strategies

To help you meet the goals of the Education Scholar program, information and learning experiences have been provided that will:

• Make current, relevant educational research and theory practical and accessible;

• Explain and model practical strategies that you can begin implementing in your teaching setting today;

• Alert you to publications, electronic resources, and education experts to provide ongoing support for your professional development;

• Encourage interaction with other health professions faculty who are interested in improving their teaching skills; and

• Help you document your teaching experiences for the purposes of meeting continuing education, promotion, retention, or tenure requirements.

Program Curriculum

When taken in sequence, the modules that compose the teaching excellence curriculum provide a valuable learning experience for health professionals new to the art and science of teaching. While experienced health professions educators will also gain new insights from completing the program in its entirety, the curriculum is designed to provide access to selected modules based on specific need.

Module 1: Developing a Personal Working Philosophy to Guide Teaching/Learning in Health Professions Education. This module is designed to provide health professions faculty the opportunity to identify beliefs, values, and biases about the educational process that will help them address challenges in their teaching environment.

Module 2: Facilitating Learning in a Traditional Classroom Setting. This module is designed to provide health professions educators with the knowledge and experiences that will help them successfully plan and implement learner centered, classroom-based instruction.

Module 3: Improving Outcomes through the Use of Active Learning Strategies. This module goes beyond traditional teaching skills by introducing strategies that faculty can use to engage learners more actively in the teaching/learning process. In addition to demonstrating selected techniques, the module explores the impact of these strategies on student learning and faculty roles.

Module 4A: Distance Learning. This module introduces health professions faculty to the scope, direction, and challenges of distance education. Participants will learn how to prepare students for distance learning, and how to develop and facilitate instruction using a variety of distance education technologies.

Module 4B: Problem-based Learning. This module introduces health professions educators to the concept of PBL and its use in clinical and non-clinical education. The module provides guidelines for implementing PBL and demonstrates relevant facilitation techniques.

Module 4C: Learning in the Experiential Setting
This module focuses on the role of the preceptor, and introduces the skills needed to be an effective preceptor-educator in the practice environment. The module also presents a model for planning, facilitating and assessing learning outcomes in the experiential setting.

Module 5: Assessment of Instructional Effectiveness. A growing issue in health professions education is the impact of instructional programs on learners. This module is designed to introduce health professions faculty to the scope and purpose of student outcome assessment and its contribution to continuous educational quality improvement..

Module 6: Promoting Teaching/Learning Excellence in Your Institution. This module will prepare faculty members to serve as change agents within the context of their own institutions, professions, and programs. Primary emphasis is on the development of skills in developing an integrated, scholarly approach to key roles and responsibilities in health professions education, leadership innovation, and change in the higher education setting.

Please note: modules require reading from texts (not included) as well as active exercises.

Registration

To register for a module, visit the Education Scholar Web site at www.educationscholar.org. Click on Registration and fill in the requested information. AACN will then be notified of your registration and contact you about payment (check or credit card). Following receipt of payment, you will receive a user name and password to access the module(s) on the Education Scholar Web site. See below for information on pricing and special discounts: 

Pricing Information

	First Year Registration Fee	Annual Renewal Fee
All 8 Modules	$500	$50
Module 1	$50	$10
Module 2	$100	$10
Module 3	$100	$10
Module 4A	$100	$10
Module 4B	$100	$10
Module 4C	$50	$10
Module 5	$100	$10
Module 6	$50	$10

The above fees reflect individual registration. Discounts are available for groups of faculty. When two-nine faculty enroll together at the same time for the same module(s), the first registration is full-price and each additional registrant receives a 5% discount. The most cost-effective approach for ten or more faculty is the annual site license issued to a school of nursing. For $5000, the site license offers full access to the Education Scholar modules for all faculty for one year. Please contact Anna Kathryn Pierce at apierce@aacn.nche.edu or (202) 463-6930, ext. 227 for more information.