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Instructional Methods in Health Professions Education

Build the professional teaching skills you need to provide effective teaching to healthcare professionals at all levels.

1,761 enrolled on this course

A group of medical students watching an instructor use some medical equipment
  • Duration

    8 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours

Learn instructional design and teaching strategies to enhance teaching practice

This interactive course, led by experts at the University of Michigan, offers you the opportunity to build in-demand skills in healthcare teaching.

You’ll learn through educational videos, readings, recommended reference books, crowd-sourced recommendations, and discussion with the course educators and other learners.

Develop your knowledge of adult learning theory

Teaching adults requires specific teaching techniques and health professions education demands a thorough understanding of educational theory.

You’ll build your knowledge of educational theory as it relates to education in the health professions and better understand the diverse learning styles and motivations of adult learners.

Upskill in instructional and assessment design

As well as enhancing your teaching methods, this course will teach you how to design lessons that encourage active learning and skill development in a diverse range of healthcare areas environments, including using strategies like clinical reasoning, simulation, and teaching with data, and supportive questioning.

You’ll learn how to set intended educational outcomes, exploring evidence-based frameworks including Bloom’s Taxonomy, Miller’s pyramid and clinical competence, and Dryfus’ Dreyfus’ model of skill acquisition

Learn how to reflect on and improve your teaching methods

The course will also encourage you to incorporate reflection and feedback into your work so that you can iterate on your instructional techniques.

You’ll even build your skills in teaching with technology, as you explore synchronous versus asynchronous online teaching formats and how to share clinical simulations online.

What topics will you cover?

  • Adult learning theory, including learning styles and motivation, metacognition, social learning theory, and professional identity formation.
  • Formulating Intended Learning Outcomes, including Bloom’s Taxonomy, Miller’s pyramid and clinical competence, and Dryfus’ model of skill acquisition.
  • Instructional design and individual assessment, including multiple-choice question writing, skill assessment, oral presentation, and rubrics and standardization.
  • Knowledge transfer, including active learning in large lecture formats, supportive questioning, and “Big Ticket” technique.
  • Skill development, including simulation, teaching with data, and clinical reasoning.
  • Attitudes in instructional techniques, including reflection, feedback, and incorporating art, music, and theatre.
  • Teaching with technology, including large lecture format, synchronous versus asynchronous formats, and high fidelity clinical simulations.

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Summarize educational theory as it relates to health professions education
  • Design instructional methods to achieve desired educational outcomes
  • Assess a variety of applied teaching techniques
  • Collaborate and share successful teaching strategies

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for anyone actively engaged in a health professions setting such as medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, social work, and public health. It will be particularly useful for those involved in medical education and teaching members of the health professions.

Many of the concepts explored can also be applied more broadly to adult education.

Who will you learn with?

Instructor for Instructional Methods in Health Professions Education. Faculty at the University of Michigan.
Edugeek.

Who developed the course?

University of Michigan

As the #1 public research university in the United States, U-M has been a leader in research, learning, and teaching for more than 200 years, with 102 Grad programs in the top 10 — U.S. News & World Report (2019).

  • Established

    1817
  • Location

    Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
  • World ranking

    Top 30Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn

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