Got 15? Try Faculty Development on the Fly: A Snippets Workshop for Microlearning

Abstract

Introduction: Faculty development (FD) is an element critical to the professional growth of medical educators and a necessary component in developing effective educators. FD offerings are prevalent across academic institutions; however, faculty report they are unable to participate in these initiatives due to time limitations and competing priorities. The snippet FD approach can address these concerns but requires training for FD providers to be effectively used. Methods: This snippet train-the-trainer workshop was presented to approximately 310 physician and nonphysician medical educators at a national medical education conference. The session incorporated multiple teaching modalities (e.g., lecture, demonstrations, structured small-group snippet development groups, and large-group debriefs). A 14-item Likert-scale survey was used to obtain participant evaluations. Narrative feedback was collected using constructed response items. Results: Ninety-five percent of respondents (125 of 132) planned to use snippets as an FD strategy at least once per year, with 38% (50 of 132) noting they planned to use snippets at least four times per year. Respondents indicated that FD snippets could positively impact educational practices (94%) and that the session was a valuable use of their time (94%), as well as expressing interest in a snippet repository (90%). Discussion: A brief FD train-the-trainer workshop for snippets can successfully prepare FD providers to create and use this approach.

Reimagining Faculty Development Deployment: A Multipronged, Pragmatic Approach to Improve Engagement

“…The SIX-pack workshops feature vetted, high-quality content that anyone across the AHC can take off the (electronic) shelf and deliver in person or virtually. 10 We have encouraged education chairs, course directors, program directors, and other education leaders to tailor SIX-packs to their area and deliver 1 topic each quarter to colleagues within their department or division. SIX-pack topics include the science of learning (e.g., elaboration and reflection, retrieval practice), active learning (e.g., digital classroom, large and small group), curriculum and assessment (e.g., asking effective questions, curriculum mapping), feedback (e.g., learner-centered verbal feedback, written feedback without bias), learning environment (e.g., creating a positive, inclusive culture, transitions of care), and evaluation.…”

“…We developed a series of short videos that leveraged microlearning, an evidence-based approach that delivers complex content in smaller “nuggets,” and used multimedia principles to promote engagement and learning. 8,10 We called our series Take 5 videos because each video is 5 minutes or less in length and each features a respected member of our teaching faculty delivering 5 concrete tactics for how they approach a common teaching challenge. We invited faculty who received teaching awards or other recognition to deliver the content, and we deliberately recruited a diversity of voices from all specialties and AHC work sites.…”

Allyship in Residency: An Introductory Module on Medical Allyship for Graduate Medical Trainees

“…Our response rate of 36% was disappointing, but we found from a search of MedEdPORTAL that other responses have ranged from 13% to 100% and we fell within that range. [21][22][23] In all four residency programs that implemented this workshop, residents at all levels of training were invited to attend. Ideally, residents should receive this training as part of orientation or as early as possible in their residency.…”

Assessing the Use of Microlearning for Preceptor Development

“…Microlearning has not been extensively evaluated as a means to further improve pharmacy preceptor development, and microlearning learning outcomes for preceptors are lacking at this time [ 8 , 13 , 14 ]. In medical education, the “snippet” faculty development approach has been used to train educators using a hands-on 15–20 min workshop with multiple teaching modalities [ 15 ]. Satisfaction was positive, but learning outcomes were not reported [ 15 ].…”

“…In medical education, the “snippet” faculty development approach has been used to train educators using a hands-on 15–20 min workshop with multiple teaching modalities [ 15 ]. Satisfaction was positive, but learning outcomes were not reported [ 15 ]. Dyrbe and colleagues noted that five-minute multimedia videos developed for faculty at academic health centers had high open rates and satisfaction [ 16 ].…”