Moving to the edge of innovation: Marrying technology with teaching ideology

Moving to the edge of innovation: Marrying technology with teaching ideology Advances in educational technology have unleashed the possibilities of how content can be delivered. Tools such as virtual learning communities and classroom response systems are proving to be effective means for increasing student engagement. However, indiscriminant use of these new learning platforms carries risks. In our rush to innovation we may be moving content into a technology-enhanced format that might not be an effective vehicle for learning or development of particular cognitive skills. Indeed streaming videos, wimba classrooms and narrated power points may be time consuming exercises that do not enhance student learning. To effectively marry a new learning technology with their educational objectives faculty should examine three essential questions. One, does the new technology serve your philosophy of learning for this particular content? Two, with this new method have you created a process that promotes the thinking that you are seeking to develop? Three, can faculty gauge if they accomplished their learning goals? In this presentation we discuss a recent innovation to our on-line program, case studies that are rolled out in a series of video clips punctuated by clinical decisions the student confronts and must respond to. We discuss why this innovation is an excellent platform for the engagement learning philosophy our program had adopted, i.e., within a mistakes allowed environment, the student tests their knowledge and assumptions as they are asked to make clinical decisions. We demonstrate how it provides practice at essential components of clinical reasoning: reflection, deductions, and evaluation of information to guide decision making. Finally, we show how the faculty is able to see how the student progressed through the case, their assumptions, the decisions they made and the action line they followed. In this presentation, via a preview of the video, we will demonstrate how the technology is serving our teaching philosophy, targets the promotion of clinical decision making, and helps us gauge student’s progress with these skills.