Philosophy
"Always Learning, Always Leading"
My teaching approach is strongly grounded in the philosophy of experiential learning. Teaching, both for students and educators is a process of discovery, “constructing knowledge and meaning from real life experience” (Yardley 2017). My goal as a teacher is to serve as facilitator and guide to allow learners to uncover their own learning process, including critical reflection, identification of learning gaps, and how to fill those gaps. Ideally, I help facilitate this process by tailoring the educational experience to particular learner, envisioning them as holistically as possible and appreciating the unique experiences and perspectives that have brought them to this point in their educational career. While fostering a psychologically safe learning environment, I encourage learners to struggle, to grow beyond their comfort, forcing adaptation and new learning (Branzetti 2022). The goal in this process is to focus on a conceptual understanding that can be applied to new and challenging situations, equipping my students with an approach that can be applied beyond my time with them.
The majority of my teaching is clinical, and this is an ideal setting to put my teaching principles into practice. I am a strong advocate for learners to have practice autonomy, but with the understanding that this autonomy is relational to the bounds of safe practice. I attempt to promote this behavior by asking learners to commit to decisions and allow as much independence as they are comfortable with. As the results of their decisions play out, I promote reflection on the reasoning and help the learners link their experiences to other clinical scenarios encouraging assimilation or accommodation of new knowledge (Yardley 2017). At times, when their choices are sound, I engage them in hypothetical clinical scenarios to force adaptation in their knowledge application and promoting continued innovation in their thinking (Branzetti 2022)
Teaching is a process of discovery
Learners comment that they enjoy the autonomy I afford them, particular senior learners and several junior residents now ask for advice in how to supervise as they transition to precepting roles. I constantly refine my teaching style, and continue to work on effective ways to integrate formal didactics into clinical practice. Currently I draw on the concepts of “just in time learning” and “microteaching” to integrate didactics into the clinical environment (Yilmaz 2022). My teaching style draws on several concepts highlighted in the “master adaptive learner” framework, which is currently growing in popularity as an ideal to aim for at the end of formal medical education training (Cutrer 2017). My teaching, particularly the reflection I attempt to promote, helps learners develop planning, learning, assessing, and adjusting processes, which are described as characteristics of master adaptive learners.
In sum, there are several educational theories I find useful and inspirational in my teaching. I attempt to integrate these concepts and tailor them to meet the needs of each learner. At the heart of this endeavor is the learner, and I envision my relationship with them as cooperative investment in the quality of care we provide for patients today and in the future.
References
Yardley, S., Teunissen, P. W., & Dornan, T. (2012). Experiential learning: Transforming theory into practice. Medical Teacher, 34(2), 161–164. https://doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2012.643264
Branzetti, J., Gisondi, M. A., Hopson, L. R., & Regan, L. (2022). Adaptive expertise: The optimal outcome of emergency medicine training. AEM Education and Training, 6(2), e10731. https://doi.org/10.1002/aet2.10731
Yilmaz, Y., Papanagnou, D., Fornari, A., & Chan, T. M. (2022). The learning loop: Conceptualizing just-in-time faculty development. AEM Education and Training, 6(1), e10722. https://doi.org/10.1002/aet2.10722
Cutrer, W. B., Miller, B., Pusic, M. V., Mejicano, G., Mangrulkar, R. S., Gruppen, L. D., Hawkins, R. E., Skochelak, S. E., & Moore, D. E. (2017). Fostering the development of master adaptive learners: A conceptual model to guide skill acquisition in medical education. Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, 92(1), 70–75. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000001323