I would venture to guess that most of us are very familiar if not most comfortable with, single answer multiple-choice type exams to evaluate student knowledge. However, when it comes to assessing performance, either on a skills type exam such as a simulated patient encounter or venipuncture, or...

There are two common questions I get related to course instructional objectives. First, do I have to teach or cover every objective in class, and second, do I need to have a test question for every objective? 

The operative word in both of these questions is every. The first question of...

Each year during orientation, I would talk to the new students about the importance of self-care behaviors. These behaviors include eating well, exercising, staying hydrated, taking time with loved ones, and getting enough sleep. And yet, every year after a few months into the program many...

The use of digital devices contributes to why students continue to believe they can multitask. We all do know the truth about multitasking, that it is not really possible. The reason I say “not really” possible is that depending on the tasks and the part of the brain being...

If you have been in education even for a short while, I suspect you may have heard that lecture is the least effective teaching method and has the lowest retention rate. This information has been published in the educational literature for decades, commonly appearing in what is known as the...

Although there are different types and forms of syllabi, a growing amount of research is emerging about the importance of a learner-centered syllabus (LCS). A learner-centered syllabus takes a student-centered approach versus a content-centered approach. What this means is that instead of...

A quick way to check to see if you have things educationally aligned in your syllabus is to check for what I call outcome/objective/assessment alignment. As we all know, our syllabi must contain course learning outcomes, instructional objectives, and the inclusion of student assessment methods....

In healthcare, we have the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), which, as you know, helps remind us of our legal responsibility to protect patient information. There is an equivalent to this federal law in education. It is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy...

Ah, instructional objectives. I bet you were tempted not to read this blog! My experience has been that they tend to evoke strong feelings in both faculty and students in a love-hate kind of way. Faculty do not enjoy writing them, and students sometimes feel there are too many, and they...

A common question I get is, can I make changes to the syllabus once the students have it? The answer is yes. Some folks like to think of a syllabus as a contract, and while there is some truth to that, a syllabus can be amended at any time should the need arise. The goal, of course, is to try and...