Leveraging Collaboration and Peer Support to Initiate and Sustain a Faculty Development Program

In today’s impoverished higher education fiscal climate, especially considering the enormous financial implications to higher education of accommodating the changes required by the coronavirus pandemic, “nonessential” though highly important programs, such as centers for teaching and learning (CTLs), are very likely to be underfunded. In this study, we illustrate how underfunded programs can leverage peer collaboration and support to initiate productive, formal systems of assistance for faculty by describing a number of such programs developed by and/or coordinated by our CTL. Moreover, we propose that sustainable programs, especially at small liberal arts institutions, must include a strong component of peer networking and in-house expertise rather than relying on outside consulting services. In a climate of shrinking dollars, CTLs can still perform some key roles effectively while continuing to advocate for more adequate funding.

Reflection Leading to Action on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Virginia GWEP

Last year’s Black Lives Matter protests inspired the Virginia Geriatric Education Center (VGEC) GWEP’s plenary to engage in reflection and discussion on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in our work together. During each bi-monthly meeting, we dedicate time to generate ideas to improve our programming, how we work together, and how we partner and recruit for our programs. Champions for DEI on our plenary led an effort to develop a DEI newsletter clarifying DEI concepts and introducing resources thematically related to the monthly VGEC faculty development program curriculum. By incorporating these resources into our monthly curriculum, facilitators have a new access point to incorporate content on health equity and policy into our curriculum. The intentional focus on DEI is opening the door to deeper reflection and conversation with a goal of improving all our programming, cultivating a new social awareness, and bringing new voices and perspectives to the table.

Mounting Need Assessment of Medical Faculty: to Shift from Tradtional to Integrated Curriculum

Introduction: FDP is an integral part of any organization to improve the expertise and skills of the faculty that is needed to indorse educational excellence. It is an important tool to enhance student learning and ultimate patient care. To get maximum benefit it must be well formed, properly executed and evaluated. Needs of faculty and institution play important role in organizing faculty development program. Aims & Objective. Current study was conducted to explore professional needs of medical faculty required for implementation of integrated curriculum in various medical colleges of Lahore. Material & Method: This is a descriptive cross sectional study conducted during the period of August to October 2019. Online google form was developed to identify the area of concern. It has two parts, demographic and faculty need assessment. Need assessment questionnaire having six domain (teaching and learning, assessment, curriculum, research, publication and community services) that comprises of 38 items. Each item has five point Likert scale (Strongly disagree to strongly agree). Link of this form was share with the medical faculty through whatsApp and email. Medical teaching faculty were asked to fill the survey form. Result: The response rate was 73%. All Participants exhibited more interest in areas especially teaching competance(70%), publication competence(78%), community services(69%). Whereas express comparatively less interest in research competence(63%), curriculum(63%) and assessment(60%). Conclusion: Need assessment is basic and fundamental part of any FDP. This survey enabled us to identify the concerns of our faculty and areas that needs enhancement in faculty development program. Keywords: Faculty development program, integrated curriculum , need assesssment

Assessing Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs Using Bandura’s Scale

The study aimed to assess the level of teacher’s self-efficacy belief as input to faculty development plan based on Bandura’s instrument. Mean and ranking were utilized to determine the Teachers’ Self- efficacy level. The results show that faculty members have higher efficacy in terms of discipline, instruction, create a positive school climate. Meanwhile, low efficacy in terms of influence in school resources, enlist parental and community involvement, and influencing decision making in the University. Generally, it indicates that faculty members need to enhance their self-efficacy belief in some aspects. It is suggested to include a plan as part of the faculty development program to enhance the teachers’ self-efficacy level particularly on decision making, community involvement, getting school resources, and parental involvement.

The impact of a faculty development program, the Leadership in Academic Medicine Program (LAMP), on self-efficacy, academic promotion and institutional retention

Background Academic medical centers invest considerably in faculty development efforts to support the career success and promotion of their faculty, and to minimize faculty attrition. This study evaluated the impact of a faculty development program called the Leadership in Academic Medicine Program (LAMP) on participants’ (1) self-ratings of efficacy, (2) promotion in academic rank, and (3) institutional retention. Method Participants from the 2013–2020 LAMP cohorts were surveyed pre and post program to assess their level of agreement with statements that spanned domains of self-awareness, self-efficacy, satisfaction with work and work environment. Pre and post responses were compared using McNemar’s tests. Changes in scores across gender were compared using Wilcoxon Rank Sum/Mann-Whitney tests. LAMP participants were matched to nonparticipant controls by gender, rank, department, and time of hire to compare promotions in academic rank and departures from the organization. Kaplan Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine differences. Results There were significant improvements in almost all self-ratings on program surveys (p < 0.05). Greatest improvements were seen in “understand the promotions process” (36% vs. 94%), “comfortable negotiating” (35% vs. 74%), and “time management” (55% vs. 92%). There were no statistically significant differences in improvements by gender, however women faculty rated themselves lower on all pre-program items compared to men. There was significant difference found in time-to-next promotion (p = 0.003) between LAMP participants and controls. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that LAMP faculty achieved next promotion more often and faster than controls. Cox-proportional-hazards analyses found that LAMP faculty were 61% more likely to be promoted than controls (hazard ratio [HR] 1.61, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.16–2.23, p-value = 0.004). There was significant difference found in time-to-departure (p < 0.0001) with LAMP faculty retained more often and for longer periods. LAMP faculty were 77% less likely to leave compared to controls (HR 0.23, 95% CI 0.16–0.34, p < 0.0001). Conclusions LAMP is an effective faculty development program as measured subjectively by participant self-ratings and objectively through comparative improvements in academic promotions and institutional retention.