Pathway to Discovery in
Health Professions Education
The purpose of Health Professions Education (HPE) pathway is to develop innovators, scholars, and leaders in the field of health professions education. In addition to promoting excellence in teaching, this Pathway aims to develop scholars who can translate educational theory and strategies to the health professions learning environment and investigators who can add to the current body of knowledge.
The HPE pathway is a three-tiered program (Core, Masters, and Post-Masters) allowing maximum flexibility in depth and time commitment. The Core program is currently available to all learners in the SOM and can generally be completed within the standard training timeframe for all students, residents, and fellows. The Masters program will require up to 15 months of additional training time for almost all learners and is currently in development. Interested individuals are invited to inquire about participating in the pilot phase. The Post-Masters program is reserved for faculty and extends over a two year period. See table 1 (PDF) for descriptions of the three tiers of the Pathway.
The HPE curriculum includes an integration of educational research and instructional technology through all formal courses and will focus on the following areas of educational scholarship: 1) teaching strategies, 2) learning theory, 3) curriculum development and evaluation, 4) assessment, and 5) educational leadership. Participants will learn the methods and current state of inquiry for each of these areas. Learning will be both didactic and experiential. Some coursework will be delivered in face-to-face courses or workshops, while others will be offered as online or independent activities to allow for easier scheduling and participation by learners with diverse schedules. Additionally, all learners will complete a mentored scholarly project resulting in a legacy product.
Core Program
The HPE Core program provides the foundational knowledge and skills needed for the scholarly educator. The scholarly educator is a knowledgeable user of best practices in HPE, is aware of inquiry strategies, and can participate in HPE research. Learners in the core program are required to complete the four program components below. Please refer to table 2 (PDF) for additional information.
Required Coursework. All learners must sign up for and complete the month-long Teaching Strategies and Curriculum Development course offered annually in the fall. Learners must also complete three additional flexibly scheduled courses (Learning Theory, Assessment, and Educational Leadership). Altogether, these latter three courses require a time commitment that is equivalent to another month of coursework, but the work may be spread out over several months to years according to the needs and scheduling restrictions of the specific learner.
Experiential Component. All learners must participate in experiential activities that allow the practice of educational skills such as direct teaching or mentoring. The required coursework described above will include some of these activities. However, learners are encouraged to take advantage of additional opportunities. Each learner will use an Educator’s Portfolio (a professional development tool) to document and reflect on their work in health professions education and to organize completion of their experiential activities.
Legacy Projects. All learners must complete an HPE legacy project with an HPE Pathway approved mentor. Many types of HPE projects are acceptable but must be grounded in the general education or health professions education literature. Previous projects have included formal needs assessments, curriculum development, curriculum evaluation and educational research. Because these projects are designed to allow learners to develop additional skills, previously completed projects (such as Curriculum Ambassador projects) may not be used to meet the Legacy Project requirement. However, the Legacy Project may certainly be an extension or next phase of a previously completed project.
Works in Progress Seminars. These are mandatory monthly seminars that address specific topics (working with mentors, project planning, IRB approval, writing abstracts, etc.) relevant to successful project completion and allow group problem-solving around individual projects. Solutions will be based in the educational literature. Learners are expected sign up to present their projects on specific dates and update the group periodically on their projects.
