The qualities of a good teacher: how can they be acquired and sustained?

Viewpoint changes of medical sciences graduates in evaluating the performance of faculty members: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to identify which dimensions of faculty members' evaluation criteria changed from the viewpoint of students after their graduation, and to determine the effective factors in changing their viewpoints.

METHODS

This study was carried out through the qualitative approach and with conventional content analysis method. The target population included all graduates who accomplished their job duty and had a working experience of 2-4 years. A purposive sampling technique with maximum variation used to recruit and interview. Twenty-eight in depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (TBZMED), Iran. The data were analyzed using content analysis.

RESULTS

The data analysis led to the development of two themes and 8 categories. The two types of changes in the viewpoint that were experienced by graduates in evaluating the performance of faculty members were: individual and environmental. Individual factors included the responsibility of graduates, social maturity, personal experience, intellectual maturity, understanding the causes of teachers' behaviors, and understanding the importance of evaluation. The environmental factors were applicability of learning experiences in the work environment and workplace conditions.

CONCLUSION

From the perspective of graduates, the importance of some evaluation criteria in the educational, professional, and personal dimensions changed over their study period due to some factors, such as personal experience, experiences in the work environment, workplace conditions, and intellectual maturity.

The effect of instructors' clinical experience on professional socialization from the perspective of nursing students: A phenomenological qualitative study

Nursing students spend efforts to be familiar with their professional roles and professional values and to understand professional behaviors, functions, and values correctly in clinical practices. First and second-year nursing students are in the early stages of professional socialization in clinical practice. In the third year, students start to reach a level at which they are aware of the professional behaviors of instructors in clinical practice in terms of professional socialization. This study aimed to determine how the effect of instructors on the professional socialization of students in clinical practice was perceived by the students. The study used a qualitative design based on Heidegger's hermeneutic phenomenological approach. First, the content of the questions in the interview form and the aim of the study were explained to the students, and then the interviews were conducted with 10 students who agreed to participate in face-to-face in-depth interviews. The data were analyzed using van Manen's thematic analysis and three themes and seven sub-themes were determined. The themes of the study were as follows: (1) It may make professional socialization easier or difficult (subthemes: "It is important to be aware of my presence"; "Unfair practices related to marks and threat with marks"), (2) Instructors' communication with nurses affects us (subthemes: "Positive atmosphere of care", "Acceptance in the clinic"), (3) I am aware of our instructors with clinical experience (subthemes: "Like someone in the clinic", "Role model with care behaviors", "Like carrying water in your palms"). In light of the results of this study, it has been understood that the clinical experience of the instructors is important. In addition, the importance of clinical experience in the employment of instructors has emerged.

Constraints and Consequences of Online Teaching

In Romania, like in many other European countries, schools and universities were closed and classes were transferred entirely online at the beginning of March 2020, due to the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) outbreak, declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the context of drastic changes and uncertainty, teachers across Romania had to face the challenges of transferring lectures online. The small window of time left to adapt to new technologies, along with other stressors, called into question their work engagement and performance, as key factors for the sustainability of the educational system. An approach based on the dimensions of induced stress, resilience behavior, professional support, and work engagement was implemented to highlight the impact of socio-professional changes during the COVID-19 on the activity of 400 teachers from Romania. The designed construct was validated and subsequently a model was proposed, by using factor analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The article brings updated information on the complex relationship between stress and resilience in the case of employees from the area of education. Among other results, the present research highlights the structure of work engagement and the mediating role of professional support in the relationship between stressors and resilience mechanisms.

Faculty development: From rubies to oak

Introduction: Faculty development has played a significant role in health professions education over the last 40 years. The goal of this perspective is to present a portrait of faculty development in Medical Teacher since its inception and to highlight emerging trends moving forward.Method: All issues of Medical Teacher were reviewed, using the search terms faculty development, staff development, professional development, or in-service training for faculty. The search yielded 286 results of which 145 focused specifically on faculty development initiatives, reviews, or frameworks.Findings: This review demonstrated a significant growth in publications related to faculty development in Medical Teacher over the last 40 years, with a primary focus on teaching improvement and traditional approaches to faculty development, including workshops, short courses and other structured, group activities. The international nature of faculty development was also highlighted.Recommendations: Moving forward, it is suggested that we: broaden the scope of faculty development from teaching to academic development; expand our approaches to faculty development, to include peer coaching, workplace learning and communities of practice; utilize a competency-based framework to guide the development of faculty development curricula; support teachers' professional identities through faculty development; focus on organizational development and change; and rigorously promote research and scholarship in faculty development.

Factors influencing clinical students' perceptions of an embedded research project and associated publication output

In this article, we describe student perceptions of the value of a short, compulsory research project embedded in a clinical degree program, the research output in terms of publications, and the factors influencing this. It was hypothesized that student attitudes toward the project, student perceptions of how much the project contributed to their generic skills, and the number of publications submitted or prepared for submission would be associated with perceived quality of supervision, perceived difficulty of the project, career plans, and attitude before commencement of the project. We explored this using a questionnaire comprising 30 questions that included demographics, Likert scales, and categorical responses. Student attitudes toward research were found to be associated with student attitude before the start of the project, perceived difficulty of the project, perceived quality of supervision, and perceived relevance to the profession. Students thought that the research project contributed most to the skills of "information gathering" and "critical evaluation" and the least to "teamwork," "problem solving," and "oral communication." Research output was significantly linked to perceived quality of supervision and the help students received with data analysis and data collection, though not with the project report itself. In conclusion, although the success of the research project was influenced by many factors, the perceived quality of supervision influenced all three outcome measures. Therefore it is clear that optimization of this aspect offers the most scope for enhancing the student learning experience.

Medical education at the crossroads: which way forward?

Over the last 30 years, several changes have been introduced in medical education including the introduction of new contextualized approaches to instruction (e.g., problem-based learning [PBL]), the use of multimedia to enhance self-directed learning, the use of an integrated curriculum to address basic and clinical sciences, and the introduction of new formative and summative assessment tools that match with the curriculum changes. However, several challenges face medical education and need to be carefully researched. The list may be long and these challenges may vary depending on the needs of local and international health systems, the availability of resources, the vision of medical leaders and how they see these challenges and their impact. This paper discusses a number of challenges facing medical education including the selection of medical students and the validity of selection tools, students' learning skills, what makes a good medical curriculum, and the challenges facing a PBL curriculum.