Developing and Implementing an Educational Research Agenda Elizabeth Hoppe Health Professions Educational Research Symposium Nova Southeastern University January 14, 2007

Disclaimer! Not representing the views of any organization or institution Solely my opinions What I look for as an administrator when I am mentoring or evaluating a faculty member What I wish someone had told me!

Step One: Make sure your institution values and rewards educational research!

Two Important Things: Value and Reward Tangible benefits: grant $ (with indirects) specific benefit to the program (e.g., improved retention rates, better board scores) Merit, promotion and tenure documents

Grants – the Sad Story Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE) Appropriations

Grants – the Sad Story FIPSE – no projects were funded in 2005 Competition reinstated in 2006 Federal funding in 2007 will be frozen at last year’s levels -- The Chronicle of Higher Education January 5, 2007

Grants – A new opportunity? What about private foundations? Has anybody had any success? What about professional associations? Has anybody had any success?

Rewards Merit, Promotion and Tenure documents Educational research should show up in 2 places: Teaching Scholarly Activity (Research) “Two-fers” are not cheating! Document your work in both areas for each project

Teaching Not usually a problem for most health professions educators Document using teaching portfolio Another topic for another day!

Scholarly Activity Gold Standard: Peer-reviewed publication Alternatives are often less valued on-line or e-journals posters presentations Do both – poster or presentation first, followed by a peer-reviewed publication

Focus, Focus, Focus! Advantages: easier literature review synergistic efforts reputation impact Stick with it for a while (3-5 years) You can pick another focus when you are done

Your Research Agenda Plan each project to get multiple benefits Maximize your benefits and results from limited funding available It’s not “cheating” – it’s good academic strategy!

Hypothetical Example… You decide to implement a new learning module about providing health care to individuals with significant physical disabilities Document your teaching activity via your teaching portfolio Structure an assessment plan

Hypothetical Example… Look for a validated instrument to measure student knowledge, attitudes, beliefs that has been published in the literature Can be advantageous to look in other disciplines

Hypothetical Example… Research Design Gold Standard -- RCT Students enrolled in study – baseline assessment of knowledge, attitudes beliefs RANDOMIZE Educational Intervention No or Other Intervention MEASURE, CLASSIFY, COMPARE

Hypothetical Example… Publications List “Optometry Students’ Knowledge, Attitudes and Beliefs about People with Physical Disabilities” Description of baseline survey instrument results and student characteristics associated with responses (e.g. gender, age, undergrad major, GPA) Poster/Presentation #1 Peer-reviewed Manuscript #1

Hypothetical Example… Publications List “A Model Curriculum to Teach Optometry Students about Patients with Physical Disabilities” Description of the curriculum you have designed, theoretical constructs, why it’s important Poster/Presentation #2 Peer-reviewed Manuscript #2

Hypothetical Example… Publications List “Effectiveness of an Educational Intervention on Improving Student Attitudes about the Disabled” Results from your RCT, heavy on statistical analysis Poster/Presentation #3 Peer-reviewed Manuscript #3

Hypothetical Example… Publications List If your validated instrument came from another discipline… “A comparison of attitudes towards people with disabilities – does choice of health profession reflect differences?” Compare the results from your students versus the results from the other study, e.g. optometry and nursing Poster/Presentation #4 Peer-reviewed Manuscript #4

What have we published lately? Optometric Education Descriptions of curricular changes, classes, or teaching techniques Assessment of effectiveness of a class or curricular component Surveys describing some characteristics or aspects of educational programs, faculty, residents, or students

Do you want to publish? If you presented something at this meeting – What are your plans to publish it? Optometric Education

Thank You! time for discussion / questions?