1. Curriculum in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities
Faculty Development to Design and Implement an Interprofessional Blended Learning
Curriculum in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities
Tyler Reimschisel, MD, MHPE and Tara Minor, MAT, MA
Vanderbilt Consortium LEND, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
Table 1: Professional Representation of Vanderbilt LEND Faculty
Background
Pre-Professional Development Survey Results (N=10; 53%)
List at least 3 possible benefits to the flipped classroom approach.
Allows for student interaction and the chance for students to learn from each other (reported by 40% of respondents)
Creates better student engagement (30%)
Allows for deeper learning and critical thinking (30%)
Creates an opportunity for discussion (30 %)
Participation in the Core Seminars isn’t limited by who can attend at a given time of day (20%)
List at least 3 challenges you anticipate in using the flipped classroom approach.
Preparation is time consuming (70% )
Planning challenges (60%)
Learners are used to lectures and may prefer to learn in that format (10%)
Requires more preparation on the part of the learner [than attending lecture] (10%)
Keeping activities challenging/engaging enough (10%)
Ensuring students have done the activities/work before class (10%)
Weekly Core Seminars on core neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD) topics are a key component of the LEND program.
Attendance at these seminars had been very low in our program, primarily because of barriers to attending a seminar in the middle of a weekday.
Very few watched lectures that had been recorded.
To help trainees maximize learning about NDD, we created a blending learning Core Seminar curriculum using a flipped classroom approach.
The blended learning curriculum is comprised of two components:
Weekly online modules (learning objectives, required reading, and a group assignment that teams completed asynchronously) and
In-person, two-hour evening seminars every 4-6 weeks.
Since blended learning was new to most of our faculty, we created a faculty development series on designing & implementing a blended learning curriculum.
Number of Faculty
Profession 4
Medicine (DBP, NDD, Neurology) 3
Physical Therapy
Psychology 2
Genetics (Physician, Counselor) 1
Audiology
Family Mentor
Nutrition
Occupational Therapy
Pediatric Dentistry
Social Work
Special Education
Speech Language Pathology
Table 2: Faculty Development Series on Designing
and Implementing a Blended Learning Curriculum
Objectives
Use a flipped classroom approach to teach our faculty how to plan for and implement a blended learning curriculum in NDD.
Enhance faculty knowledge and skills in creating a blended curriculum, including writing measureable learning objectives, identifying helpful online resources in NDD, and creating meaningful team assignments.
Evaluate faculty and trainee perspectives on the blended learning Core Seminar curriculum
Session 1
General Principles of Blended Learning
Session 2
Writing Learning Objectives, Part 1
Session 3
Writing Learning Objectives, Part 2
Session 4
Educational Strategies
Session 5
Implementation of Educational Strategies
Session 6
Troubleshooting
Sessions 7-9
Presentations of Proposed Core Seminar Modules
Methods
Authors designed a flipped-classroom faculty development curriculum to educate LEND faculty about blended learning.
Sessions offered to 19 LEND faculty in 12 professions (Table 1).
There were 9 one-hour, in-person sessions over 8 months at LEND faculty meetings (Table 2).
Utilizing the flipped classroom approach, faculty accessed resources & completed assignments via online modules before each in-person session.
Faculty and trainees were surveyed regarding their experience with the Core Seminar curriculum once it had been implemented.
LEND Trainees’ Feedback on the Online Modules
Excellent or Above Average Ratings for Individual Online Modules: %
Post-Professional Development Survey Results (N=11; 58%)
List up to 3 things you learned as a result of implementing the flipped classroom.
New awareness of the resources and modes for presenting information to learners (55% )
Students are more engaged [than in traditional classroom] (36%)
Importance of learning objectives (27%)
Preparation by the faculty before the session is essential for success (9%)
When learners collaborate they extend themselves to new knowledge levels and they can consolidate knowledge they already have by including other's point of view (9%)
What will you do differently next year and why?
Review the feedback from the learners on the module I taught (36% )
Consult national resources for module ideas [LEND NDD Core Curriculum Resources] (18%)
Revise my group assignment a bit to make it more targeted and challenging, so students would be required to wrestle a bit more with their answers as a group (9%)
Consider different ways to present information as well as assess the learners' knowledge following a presentation instead of the traditional PowerPoint presentation with a follow-up multiple choice exam (9%)
What advice would you provide to first-time flipped classroom teachers?
Get feedback from experienced teachers and trainees (36%)
Do research and use available resources (27%)
Create learning objectives that ask students to do more than memorize (18%)
The Online Modules Helped Me To:
(percent indicating Agree or Strongly Agree)
References
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3. Kiviniemi M. Effects of a blended learning approach on student outcomes in a graduate-level public health course. BMC Medical Education 2014;14:47-53.
4. Prunske AJ, Batzli J, Howell E, and Miller S. Using online lecture to make time for active learning. Genetics 2012;192(1):67-72.
5. Ruiz J, Mintzer, MJ, and Leipzig RM. The impact of e-Learning in medical education. Acad Med 2006;81(3):