Master Teachers' Program Focuses on Learner

Dr. Thomas Teasdale, a graduate of the MTFP, visits the current class to discuss his project, "Computer Assisted Learning."

Dr. Pat McColloster realized quite some time ago that Houston was becoming one of this country's most cosmopolitan cities. As a physician at Casa de Amigos Health Center, a free-standing clinic in the Harris County Hospital District's network of clinics, Dr. McColloster has seen patients who have immigrated to Houston from all corners of the world, diagnosing and treating their illnesses. As an assistant professor in the department of family and community medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, he also teaches medical students and residents.

To make sure his teaching and educational leadership skills are every bit as good as his clinical skills, Dr. McColloster enrolled in the Baylor Master Teachers' Fellowship Program, a 15-month curriculum designed for faculty members. The Master Teachers' Fellowship Program (MTFP) is in its fifth year; 60 Baylor faculty have graduated from the program.

As a part of his fellowship, Dr. McColloster is developing an elective course in immigrant medicine for senior medical students.

"In immigrant medicine, you have to initiate screening, diagnose and treat illnesses affecting immigrants coming into the U.S.," he says. "It's necessary to also have an understanding of the community's demographics and be able to construct grant proposals which will help ensure health care will exist in that community."

Dr. Boyd Richards is co-director of the MTFP, and he believes in focusing on learning rather than teaching. "What we hope the program does is allow the fellows to work towards a balance of theory and practical skills to promote effective learning," says Dr. Richards, who received his Ph. D. in instructional design at Indiana University and was at Wake Forest School of Medicine for 12 years before coming to Baylor. "The Fellows come into the program with a real interest in their students and a very real interest in making their own teaching skills better. Many of the fellows come from a traditional background - as students and as faculty. When we talk about focusing on the learners, it is a new way of thinking. It leads to new teaching methods such as problem-based learning, typically accomplished in small groups. The skills for this kind of teaching are different than for lecturing in a large auditorium," says Dr. Richards. "We are gratified when fellows use the skills we've taught them. One participant from the class two years ago went back to his department really promoting the small group teaching techniques. He proposed a model that worked very well for the department."

According to Dr. Joan Friedland, chair of Baylor's committee for educator development, many of the graduates of the MTFP also go on to teach other faculty. "For example, our committee has relied on MTFP Fellows to design and present skill-building workshops on such topics as lecturing techniques, use of Power Point, small group facilitation, curriculum design, and evaluation," says Dr. Friedland.

The Master Teachers' Fellowship Program was championed by Dr. Bobby Alford, executive vice president and dean of medicine at Baylor; Dr. Major Bradshaw, dean of education; and Dr. Rebecca Kirkland, associate dean for curriculum. The program was planned and implemented by the faculty training and education committee, chaired by Dr. Andrew Wilking, associate professor of pediatrics.

During the first part of the MTFP - about four or five months - Fellows learn about small group learning methods, delivering effective lectures, evaluating learners fairly and accurately and educational leadership. "We call this phase of the fellowship `Basic Sciences Teaching and Learning,'" says Dr. Richards. "There has been a recognition for some time that over reliance on passive learning doesn't work well. It tends to be ineffective and it may create cynicism," says Dr. Richards. "More active methods, like problem-based learning, are recognized as more effective."

The second component of the fellowship involves very specific teaching theories and techniques. Led by Dr. Wilking, founder and co-director of the program, it focuses on such topics as learning climate, control of the teaching session, promoting understanding and retention, evaluation and feedback and self-directed learning.

"During this part of the fellowship, we use a video camera," says Dr. Wilking. "There is a lot of self-discovery while watching yourself. And the feedback is rich with questions: `Why did you interrupt your lecture at that point?' `Why did you do this or that...?' There are challenges to your teaching."

The final component of the MTFP is the independent project, such as Dr. McColloster's immigrant medicine course for medical students. These final projects are presented to the Fellowship class towards the end of the program. "The final project is a kind of bridge from the class to the real environment - dealing with issues which are meaningful to the Fellow," says Dr. Richards.

"My impression is that a lot of faculty just do it [teaching], but they have no method," says Dr. Paul Haidet, staff physician in internal medicine at the Houston Veterans Affairs Medical Center and assistant professor at Baylor. Dr. Haidet is in the current Fellowship program.

"I am understanding various teaching techniques and their advantages in different situations," says Dr. Haidet. "The more different ways you can teach something, the better you can keep all types of learners engaged. So this is exciting to move towards multiple modalities of both learning and teaching. It's a major paradigm shift."

---

©2006 Texas Medical Center

---

E-Mail: tmcinfo@texmedctr.tmc.edu
URL: http://www.tmc.edu/tmcnews/05_01_00/page_01.html