Storytelling is a perpetual teaching and learning strategy. The practice has been commonly communicated by way of individual experiences, observations and didactics. Higher education learners largely praise knowledge gained from astute anecdotes. The following information will highlight effective methods of classroom study. (Click post title to continue reading)
Why Are You Here?
I start each class by asking students to (anonymously) write the answer to a simple question: "Why are you here?" Students typically look up with a confused expression; they anticipated a discussion on the syllabus and how to get an "A." (Click on post title to continue reading)
Communication is like the Weather; Everyone Grumbles about It, but Nobody does Anything about It
I thought about this paraphrase of Mark Twain as I was participating in a recent Faculty Senate meeting. The word “communication” was mentioned several times. The Senate was discussing, among other issues, the need for better communication among and between the various Touro constituencies. (Click post title to continue reading)
Transitioning from Passive to Active Learning in the Classroom
Over the past 20 years, professors in higher education (particularly those in science, technology, engineering, and medical fields) have seen a gradual exodus away from purely didactic educational experiences to those that embrace more active learning strategies. This emphasis on active learning aims to help our students practice both critical and clinical thinking skills in the classroom, before they leave the structured college environment and move into their experiential rotations. It is imperative that we give students the opportunity to learn and practice these “thinking” skills before they are released to rotations where they will encounter patients with complex problems. With the large volume of information pharmacy students need to be successful in practice, the Touro College of Pharmacy professors have accepted that it is not possible to present all of this information in their years of study at the college. We are increasing the amount of active learning in the classroom and fostering accountability for students to prepare for class ahead of time. After making this transition last year, I reflected on how I transformed my material from a traditional to a flipped classroom model, and the results I saw from my efforts.
Distance Teaching and Learning: Group Projects and Oral Presentations
Imagine an online course where the participants are in different states or countries. How does one engage students in the learning process? How do we ensure that all students meet the learning outcomes? How do we facilitate project-based activities inclusive of oral presentations in the virtual classroom? These are questions I have asked myself on occasion. (Click post title to continue reading)
Bringing Zoom into my Classroom
Here at the Graduate School of Social Work we are in the process of developing fully-online courses, both asynchronous and synchronous, to supplement our traditional in-class offerings. Social Work, like other human service professions, requires not only didactic facts and information but also practice skills, appropriate dispositions and attitudes, and practical experience. I was very concerned, even anxious, that these important “soft skills” may not be able to be effectively taught online but I was eager to explore. Accordingly, I developed and taught an online clinical practice elective over the summer semester and would like to share my experiences. (Click on post title to continue reading)
The Touro Interprofessional Education Collaborative (TIPEC)
As participants in Touro College Academy of Leadership and Management (TCALM) inaugural class of 2018, we were charged with developing and planning a project that would support the mission, vision, value and strategic plan of Touro College and University System (TCUS). Dr. Tamie Proscia-Lieto asks, “What do you get when you put a Doctor, a Dentist, a Physical Therapist and a Nurse?” An Interprofessional Team!!! (Click post title to continue reading)
How to Feed Two Birds with One Scone: A New Curriculum Model for Enhancing Faculty Scholarship and Engaging Students and Clinicians in Research
In the past two years the occupational therapy (OT) department focused on meeting two challenges, one within our college and one within our profession: The internal challenge: Our college is committed to creating a vibrant research infrastructure. We are challenged to engage faculty and students in research and to contribute to our professions’ body of knowledge. The external challenge: Our profession is committed to evidence-based practice. We are challenged to provide our students with opportunities to participate in clinical research. A related challenge is the limited engagement of current clinicians, who serve as clinical educators for our students, in research. This limits our students’ exposure to real-life research in daily practice. (Click blog title to continue reading)
Leading a Book Discussion
In December 2018, I had the pleasure of leading the first-ever, at least since I’ve worked here, Touro College Book Club organized by our Director of Strategic Initiatives, Rima Aranha. Being the first is always difficult, one has no exemplars on which to model. So, I did what people have been doing for years, I turned to Oprah. Of course, that was of little help. I knew I couldn’t ask my colleagues to keep a journal, annotate the book or other time intensive activities. (Click post title to continue reading)
Making Assessment the Foundation of Our Teaching and Learning
In the past several decades, assessment has become a widely prevalent and often considered as a controversial element of the American academia. While the focus on assessment has been elevated to advance expectations of student scholastic achievements and to foster accountability, many in academia consider it as an administrative burden imposed on those involved in teaching and learning. In my many informal and formal conversations with many faculty and students, I have heard opinions that the key to assessment is to do it less and that more assessment doesn’t mean better outcomes. In the view of these individuals, assessment is busy work and nothing more. Others contend that assessment measures such as item analysis and rubrics are forced upon them and they don’t appreciate them because they are clear in their head about what they expect from students and have been evaluating student performance for years. For these individuals, today’s assessment practices are too quantitative, constraining and overbearing. (Click on post title to continue reading)
TOURO COLLEGE LEARNING & TEACHING EXCHANGE 