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Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Exploring the effectiveness of our teaching models

Our mission is to educate the next generation of health and human sciences professionals and ensure that they have the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to improve the world around us.

Faculty from every department are involved in activities that delve into the practice of teaching and learning to ensure we’re having the biggest possible impact on our students.

These research projects expand our knowledge about how best to teach the next generation of students and refine the pedagogies for our field.

Research highlights

Expanding integrated case-based learning opportunities

An SHHS team is working to expand the current integrated case-based learning model to promote clinical readiness using videos and other content types.

The majority of the research focuses on investigating strategies that will prepare students to be critical thinkers and problem solvers in any healthcare setting by providing them with more authentic case scenarios.

As a result of this project, healthcare educators will have more effective learning tools to enhance student education.

Assessing curriculum

Our faculty are carrying out research that focuses on curriculum assessment so we know how well we are preparing our students for contemporary clinical practice.

Curricular elements being examined include:

The impact of integrated clinical education on acute care confidence in entry-level physical therapy students
The potential to develop student confidence in critical-care environments through high-fidelity simulation
The development of clinical decision making using a case rounds seminar course

This research helps us understand areas of curricular strength and those needing improvement, allowing us to make changes to our curricular design and delivery in order to best prepare our students to practice after graduation.

Resources

The resources needed for this type of research vary wildly. In general, our faculty rely on each other to get access to the appropriate students and curricular materials.

Grant funding is also available through the Center for Teaching and Learning.

The most valuable resource that has been available for me has been the mentorship of my faculty peers in the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Valerie Strunk, Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Education