Concentration Director
Richard Dollase, EdD, Director, Office of Medical Education
Email Address: Richard_Dollase@brown.edu
Phone: 401 863-3198
Mailing Address: Box G-B 215, Providence, RI 02912
Other participating faculty:
Luba Dumenco, MD, Department of Pathology and Office of Medical Education
Paul George, MD, Department of Family Medicine and the Office of Medical Education
Thais Mather, PhD, Office of Medical Education
Dale Ritter, PHD, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Overview
Students participating in the Scholarly Concentration in Medical Education develop an interdisciplinary perspective on the teaching and learning processes related to patient-centered health care. Specifically, the concentration program integrates the study of education, philosophy, and psychology to enable students to gain a holistic view of medical education in the context of academic medicine and clinical care. The seminars and workshops focus on active teaching-learning processes including current assessment strategies in the field of psychometrics. Concentrators gain competence in lecturing, leading small groups, tutoring, motivating and counseling students, and assessing individual student progress and a student’s small-group and class performance.
Moreover, in developing an educational philosophy that is based on moral and ethical standards related to clinical practice, students draw upon the literature in the field of philosophy and clinical ethics. Students also gain perspective on the underlying principles related to information technology and its impact on teaching and learning in the classroom and in medical practice.
Curriculum
Timeline of Activities
Summer after Year I: Students are involved in curriculum-development activities related to developing or revising first- or second-year preclinical courses. Students may also be engaged in developing preclinical electives or constructing self-learning modules related to the first-year or second-year curriculum.
Year II: Students participate in teaching and learning seminars on Wednesdays that address such topics as students’ various learning styles; how to lead a small group or how to effectively use technology in teaching and in patient care. In the second-year, students are expected to assume a leadership role in teaching and mentoring other preclinical students. They often serve as coordinators and tutors in the Doctoring Teaching Academy, the Content Tutoring Program or a preclinical elective they have created. Medical Education Concentrators may also give workshops related to such topics as health disparities or aged-based stereotyping or serving as small-group leaders, participate in undergraduate basic science courses that are offered on Wednesday mornings or afternoons.
Years III & IV: After completing a core clerkship, medical education concentrators are asked to serve as Teacher Assistants in the third-year Clinical Skills Clerkship, the transition course preparing third-year students for the clinical experience. As a Teaching Assistant, the medical education concentrator leads daily seminar sessions that further develop third-year students’ clinical skills and working knowledge about how to “survive” and succeed in the core clerkships. The Teaching Assistants also evaluate third-year students’ clinical performance and their professionalism by administering and grading an end-of-the course OSCE.
Students may also undertake an independent study at the end of the third year or during the fourth year to prepare a final project. Medical Education Concentrators who are interested in teaching in the preclinical classes may also be able to work in a basic science course or the Doctoring course during the fall or spring semester.
Learning Objectives
The medical education concentrators 1) develop an interdisciplinary perspective on the teaching and learning processes related to patient-centered health care; 2) employ active-learning strategies that enable them to become highly effective teachers and mentors; 3) self-reflect and effectively self-evaluate their effectiveness as tutors, teachers, and mentors.
Specifically, the medical education concentrators will demonstrate competence in
- Lecturing and preparing effective PowerPoint Presentations
- Leading a small-group discussion
- Tutoring and counseling other students
- Applying the latest educational technology to improve instruction
- Developing curriculum
- Creating written examinations and OSCE cases
- Evaluating the clinical performance of other students
- Utilizing self-evaluation strategies to assess their teaching effectiveness
Evaluation
Teaching: During their teaching and tutoring, students will be observed and evaluated by faculty who are members of the Medical Education Concentration faculty and by other faculty members who may supervise students as tutors and/or teacher assistants in preclinical and clinical courses. There will also be peer observations and evaluations by other medical students who may be concentrators or in the Teaching Academy.
Curriculum Development: In planning, developing and implementing new curriculum modules, students will be assigned faculty mentors who will review and critique their curriculum at each stage of development; and then the faculty mentors will observe the students teaching some of the teaching material. The faculty will also review the evaluation of the materials by students who participated in the curriculum project. A final report will be developed by the Medical Education Concentrator that will be reviewed by the faculty mentor and then student will make an oral presentation to the Medical Education Concentration faculty.
Research: Under the supervision of a faculty mentor, the student will develop and implement a research design to evaluate the effectiveness of a component of our interdisciplinary preclinical curriculum. The research will be critiqued by the faculty member and two other members of a review team. The student will then make an oral presentation to the Medical Education Concentration faculty and to other students in the concentration.
Resources
Participating students will work closely with Medical Education Concentration faculty, composed of excellent teachers and mentors, and the core clerkship directors in family medicine, medicine and pediatrics, who are also very effective teachers and mentors. Standardized patients will also be used to help develop and refine the Medical Education Concentrators’ clinical teaching skills. The University libraries have a substantive collection of books and articles on education. The Concentration will also utilize the resources of the Harriett Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning.
Concentration Related Electives
Clinical:
Teaching Medical Interviewing
Project Examples
1) Develop a curriculum module in a core clerkship or in a preclinical course that will involve creating an interdisciplinary curriculum unit, teaching the material, and evaluating the curriculum innovation. Once the curriculum module has been completed, the student will present the written document for review and then make an oral presentation to the Medical Education Concentration faculty and other students in the concentration on its educational goals, pedagogy and overall effectiveness.
2) Undertake an evaluation project related to the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary component of a preclinical course or clinical course, or conduct a study of the effectiveness of one or more elements of the new integrated preclinical curriculum. The written report will be reviewed by a faculty mentor and the student will make an oral presentation to the Medical Education Concentration faculty and other students in the concentration.
3) Create and design an interdisciplinary preclinical or clinical elective that focuses on a topic of interest and that employs active-learning strategies and valid assessment protocols. The student will offer the elective to 5 or more students. The student will develop the curriculum, teach a substantive part of the material, and receive feedback on its effectiveness from students who take the elective and from a faculty mentor who has reviewed the material and observed a number of the classes. The student then will write a final report and make an oral presentation to the Medical Education Concentration faculty and other students in the concentration.
4) Teach for a semester or half-a-semester in first- and second-year basic science courses and/or the two-year Doctoring course. Collaborating with course faculty, the student will develop and implement lesson plans in lecturing or helping lead small-groups; also assess or critique the academic and/or clinical performance of students; and work effectively as a team member with senior faculty in the course. The student will be systematically observed by faculty and will also be evaluated by students in the course. The Medical Education Concentrator will keep a journal of reflections on the teaching experience and develop a substantive reflective essay related to the individual’s strengths and weaknesses as a teacher and mentor; what important “lesson” the student has learned during the teaching rotation; and recommendations for improving the teaching component of the concentration.
2010 Accepted Students and Scholarly Concentration Projects
| Student | Project Title | Mentor |
| Anderson, Thomas | Teamwork in Medical Education | Dr. Richard Dollase |
| Drapkin, Zachary | Improving pre-Clinical and Clinical Teaching Methods by Emphasizing the “Big Picture” | Dr. Richard Dollase |
| Engler, Zachary | The Adaptation of Medical Education to Diverse Learning Styles | Dr. Richard Dollase |
| Heneghan, Julia | Confronting the Lion in the House: Using Education to Address Late Effects of Pediatric Cancer Treatment | Dr. Christine Trask |
Maximum Number of Students
We can generally accommodate 3-5 students.
Faculty Mentors
Presently there are four faculty members who will mentor students.
Funding Opportunities
(alternatives to Summer Assistantships)
Curriculum-development funds from the Dean of Medical Education are available to two to three Medical Education Concentrators interested in developing or revising the preclinical curriculum.