Elective Pathways in Pharmacy Education

Purpose of the programs: Prepare current and future pharmacy educators for academic teaching, and to help inspire others to consider academic careers.

Program Outcomes: Upon completion of this program, the participant is expected to be able to:

1. Discuss the history and future of pharmacy education,
2. Discuss current issues in pharmacy and higher education,
3. Identify and evaluate references and resources for pharmacy faculty to aid in their teaching,
4. Create and deliver an instructional module,
5. Assess the learning value of that module or other instructional activity,
6. Accurately assess and reflect upon one’s own ability to facilitate learning,
7. Utilize a variety of instructional methodologies and assessments to facilitate learning,
8. Implement appropriate grading systems,
9. Create a teaching portfolio to demonstrate achievement of program outcomes,
10. Complete and present an education-related capstone project (TCPE requirement; others optional).

Advisory Board: Dana Hammer (chair/director), Karan Dawson, Nanci Murphy, Peggy Odegard, Terri O’Sullivan, Stan Weber, Jan Carline (MEBI)

Instructors: advisory board members, others in and outside of pharmacy

Admission Process: For all Pathways please complete the online Program Application Form.

Admission Standards: for PharmD students, must have successfully completed 1st year. For others, limit to those currently in the UW system.

Elective Pathway Options:

Pathway #1: Focused Electives in Pharmacy Education (FEPE)-5 credit series provides a foundation of pharmacy education and helps participants to create, implement and evaluate an instructional module (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Pathway #2: Curricular Emphasis in Pharmacy Education (CEPE)-Students must complete at least 9 credits of pharmacy and/or medical education electives, which includes the 5 credit FEPE series (Figure 2-Years 1 & 2)).

Pathway #3: Teaching Certificate Program in Pharmacy Education (TCPE)-Students must complete at least 15 credits of pharmacy and medical education electives, which includes the 5 credit FEPE series (Figure 2-Years 1-3).

Figure 2.

Capstone Project (required for TCPE pathway #3; optional for others):
Students should determine the topic for their project during fall quarter year 2. Students will be matched with a faculty advisor for their project and be expected to meet with their advisor periodically during the year (PHARM 599). Students will also create a proposal for their project the MEBI 599 course. One goal for the projects is to be worthy of an American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) poster. Works in progress are accepted and abstracts are due in mid-late February. Students should become somewhat of an expert on the topic of their project.

• Topics: The only criteria for topics is that they should relate to education in some way and contain a measurement/evaluation component. This could be anything from measuring the learning/satisfaction of an educational module to doing a nationwide survey about an education topic. Many good ideas can be found in poster abstracts (such as http://www.ajpe.org/legacy/pdfs/aj6204S25.pdf). Care should be taken to make sure the project is manageable and not necessarily thesis-worthy.
• Literature review: a cursory literature review should be conducted PRIOR to beginning the project and findings should be included in the final report. For pharmacy education, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts is a great source to search.
• Research question/hypotheses: Students should determine what it is they want to find out. What are they trying to accomplish? Answers to these questions will guide the project and research design.
• Research design: Students should design the project to be as valid and robust as possible and practical. Alternatively, students may choose to describe an educational project or innovation – one method to do this is the IDEAS format (Introduction. Design, Evaluation/Assessment, Summary/discussion). See http://www.ajpe.org/view.asp?art=aj680492&pdf=yes for more info.
• Data analysis: Can be as complex is as needed, but should include at least descriptive statistics. Should probably be doable using MS Excel™.
• IRB approval: Obtaining approval from the UW Human Subjects Division may be required depending on the project, and is always a good learning experience!
• Proposal: A proposal should be prepared to contain all of the above information and be approved by the faculty advisor PRIOR to collecting data (completed in MEBI 599).
• Final report: A final report should be prepared and include the following: (unless completing the IDEAS format)
  • Abstract
  • Introduction/background (including lit review)
  • Methods/analysis (research design)
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion

Other Non-Credit Options:

Campus workshops and programs related to teaching and learning:

• Center for Instructional Development and Research (CIDR) http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/
• UW Teaching Academy http://www.washington.edu/uaa/teachingacademy/programs.html
• Department of Medical Education and Bioinformatics (MEBI) http://www.dme.washington.edu/facdev.html
• Others:
  • Catalyst Workshops
  • Center for Curriculum Transformation Events
  • GO-MAP Events
  • Practical Pedagogy
  • Teaching Academy Events Calendar

UW Toastmasters: opportunities to improve upon public speaking skills – there are several groups that meet on campus

• Husky Toastmasters, meets noon to 1 p.m. Thursdays in 170 Schmitz. Contact: http://huskytoastmasters.freetoasthost.us/ or Tamara Young at 206-543-4028, youngtam@u.washington.edu.
• UW Toastmasters, meets from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Health Sciences Center. The exact location varies, but this summer it's Room E212. Learn more at http://depts.washington.edu/uwtm, or e-mail uwtm@u.washington.edu. 206-616-6937.
• Purple Toast Toastmasters, meets 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays in Room E214 of the Health Sciences Center. For more information, Marilynn McGlashan at mmcglash@u.washington.edu.
• Harborview Medical Center Toastmasters Club, meets noon to 1 p.m. Thursdays in engineering building 16. For more information, call 206-731-2926.

 

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