Graduate Teaching

HS705: Educational Technologies in Higher Education. Masters in Health Sciences Education (MHSE), McMaster University (2017)

In fall 2017, I developed and delivered a one-week online module for McMaster University. The module covered content on instructional design in online environments, and included an asychronous lecture, a synchronous presentation and group discussion, and online discussion forum development and moderation.

Masters in Health Professions Education (MHPE), Maastricht University (2016-2017)

Maastricht University offers a Masters in Health Professions Education, which is taught partly online, and partly on campus, delivered by scholars at UBC and UWO. This degree involves formal coursework as well as participation in UBC Faculty of Medicine’s Centre for Health Education Scholarship (CHES) Clinical Educator Fellowship Fellowship Program.

MHPE Unit 7: Quantitative and Qualitative Research Thesis Seminar (2016-2017)

I co-lead a thesis seminar for second year MHPE students. The thesis seminar guided students in developing their research questions and methodologies. We sought to balance the structure required to learn about and develop proposals with the freedom required to develop research projects relevant to the students interests.

Academic Half-day, Clinical Educator Fellowship Program, UBC (2016-2017)

The fellowship offers clinical educators an opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills in teaching and educational research to support a career in health professions education. I have offered (and co-offered) workshops on instructional design models, online instructional design, and qualitative data analysis. Workshops present fellows with theoretical perspectives on the topics, then engage participants in discussing and applying these new theories and skills to their current work.

Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (2015-2016)

Through the University of Alberta’s Department of Educational Policy Studies, I was involved in the development of a formal graduate certificate for future and current university and college instructors. I co-designed and delivered the certificate, including teaching two mandatory courses, described below. The certificate focuses on offering students the opportunity to build on their existing knowledge and skills related to teaching and learning in higher education contexts, and to apply knowledge and skills in authentic teaching contexts. It invites students to take theory and evidence-informed risks in their teaching practice. Courses include:

EDPS 560 (Fall 2015): Instructional Practice in Adult and Higher Education

This course was co-taught and involves two core components. First, students engaged with learning theories relevant to teaching in higher education. Second, it focused on critiquing teaching philosophies in higher education, examining the range of philosophical and epistemological assumptions that circulate in the academy and their relationship to learning theory. Students were assessed based on their ability to teach using relevant learning theories and to develop their own teaching philosophy.

EDPS 561 (Winter 2016): Program Planning in Adult and Higher Education

This course invited students to analyze and use theories and models of instructional design. The course built on authentic learning and assessment principles: students partnered with a community group to work through an instructional design process, applying the course content to develop or re-develop educational programming to meet the needs of the community partner.

Undergraduate Teaching

EDPS 410 :Ethics and the Law in Teaching (Fall 2015)

EDPS 410 familiarizes pre-service teachers with legal and ethical frameworks and issues that apply to K-12 teaching. Students apply these frameworks by analyzing case law related to teaching in the Canadian context and by working through ethical issues common in practice.

Faculty Development

The Interdisciplinary Health Education Partnership (IHEP) (2009-2012)

IHEP is a partnership between NAIT, Norquest, Macewan, The University of Alberta and Alberta Health Services with the goal of building interprofessional and inter-institutional educational opportunities for health science students. As a member of IHEP’s faculty development team, I collaborated on the design and delivery of two successful faculty development initiatives:

• a 4-hour workshop on debriefing has been delivered at NAIT, MacEwan, Norquest, The U of A and Grand Prairie Regional College. This workshop focuses on helping educators develop students’ reflective capacity through debriefing.
• a 3-day workshop on developing and delivering simulation experiences for students using various technology platforms. This workshop has been successfully delivered at Norquest College, The University of Alberta, MacEwan University, and The British Columbia Institute of Technology.

IntD 410 Facilitation Workshops (2007-2011)

These 3 3-hour workshops prepare health science educators with basic knowledge and skills required to facilitate the group process of interprofessional student teams. The workshops combine didactic teaching and experiential activities to prepare participants with background and theory behind interprofessional education, basic co-facilitation and debriefing theory and skills, and small group assessment strategies. Workshop syllabus and lesson plans are provided in the attached portfolio.

Developing critical reflection in clinical settings (2011)

In January 2011, I developed and team-taught a workshop on building reflection into clinical learning experiences in dental hygiene. The workshop provided instructors with theory and tools to incorporate and assess written reflective assignments. It also provided a theoretical framework through which to incorporate reflective debriefing in their clinical teaching. The workshop contained experiential learning components. Workshop evaluation comments are provided in the attached portfolio.

Semi-Formal Teaching

Simulation-based learning: Help! Save Stan Saturday (2012-2016)

In partnership with a colleague from speech language pathology, I developed and delivered simulation-based scenarios for an annual semi-formal interprofessional learning event – Help! Save Stan Saturday. As part of the Interdisciplinary Health Education Partnerships project (IHEP) the event invites students from any health professional program at NAIT, Norquest, Macewan or The University of Alberta to participate in a day of simulation activities to develop interprofessional team skills. Our simulations involved an actor portraying a patient with various speech disorders, inviting student teams to collaborate and explore alternative modes of communication to meet patient needs.

Curriculum Development and Coordination

IntD 410 (2007-2011)

IntD 410, or Interprofessional Health Team Development, is a large (over 1000 student) interdisciplinary course focused on developing health science students’ team skills in a small group, problem-based learning format. I was responsible for curriculum development and delivery coordination, including training and providing feedback to instructors. The course included simulation and community service-learning (CSL) components. Through CSL, student teams worked with health-related community agencies in order to complete research and provide resources of use to that agency. As part of my work in IntD 410, I completed faculty consultations and benchmarking that guided the development of an interprofessional competency framework.