Selecting & Developing Cases and Clinical Problems

Selecting & Developing Cases and Clinical Problems Janet M. Riddle, MD Director of Faculty Development Department of Medical Education jriddle@uic.edu DME Collaborative for Active Learning in Medicine

Today’s goals • Select and develop cases and clinical problems that allow students to apply concepts and practice clinical problem solving • Develop approaches for collaborating with clinical colleagues • Explore strategies for using a “library” of cases across courses DME Collaborative for Active Learning in Medicine

A brief digression DME Collaborative for Active Learning in Medicine

What makes a “good” case? DME Collaborative for Active Learning in Medicine

Let’s review the key points from the last session DME Collaborative for Active Learning in Medicine

Cases and Clinical Problems: A Learner-Centered Perspective DME Collaborative for Active Learning in Medicine

What skills do your learners most need in order to master the content that you are teaching? Weimer, 2002

Content allows the development of learning skills • Process of making judgments • Problem analysis • Problem solving • Critical appraisal Weimer, 2002

Content can promote the self-awareness of learning • How learners learn • Their strengths and weaknesses • Meta-cognition Weimer, 2002

Content allows learners to experience the field first hand Weimer, 2002

To make instruction effective . . . • Situate learning in real-life problems • Build on previous experience • Demonstrate what is to be learned • Give learners the opportunity to practice problem-solving • Reinforce learning through transfer of learning to new problems Merrill, 2002

Situate learning in real-life problems • What kinds of problems will allow your learners to develop the learning skills they need? • What kinds of activities might you use? DME Collaborative for Active Learning in Medicine

Time to work! DME Collaborative for Active Learning in Medicine

Identifying “good” cases and clinical problems • A needs assessment problem • Informal discussions with clinicians • Direct observations of clinical rounds • Journals, e.g. NEJM • Expert recommendations, e.g. clerkship directors’ guides DME Collaborative for Active Learning in Medicine

What did you learn today that you plan to use in your teaching? DME Collaborative for Active Learning in Medicine

Three core learning principles • Learning builds on prior knowledge • Teachers must identify and work with pre-existing knowledge and understanding learners bring with them Bransford, 2000

Three core learning principles • To develop competence, learners must • Have a deep foundation of factual knowledge • Understand facts & ideas in context of conceptual framework • Organize knowledge to facilitate retrieval • Teachers must teach some material in depth; provide conceptual frameworks Bransford, 2000

Three core learning principles • Develop “metacognitive” approach in learners • Metacognition – monitoring what you know & what you don’t know • Teachers should help learners define learning goals & monitor progress in achieving them Bransford, 2000

Selecting & Developing Cases and Clinical Problems