Teaching + Supervision Skills

Workshops

The following interactive workshops provide members of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry with the knowledge, skills and strategies to become more effective and accomplished teachers and supervisors.

You may view the calendar of upcoming workshops and then click on individual course links to register, available on the calendar. Or you may contact the office by email at fomdfdev@ualberta.ca. Additionally, watch for emails from the Office of Faculty Development for new workshop offerings.

Classroom-based / Non-clinical

Participants will explore the use of ChatGPT in clinical medicine. The workshop will include a combination of didactic material, livestreaming demonstrations, and small group exercises in an interactive online format. Beginner, intermediate, and advanced uses of ChatGPT will be discussed. No previous knowledge of ChatGPT is required.

The three-part, interactive Clinical Reasoning Workshop series covers theoretical concepts as related to clinical reasoning in medical education and provides participants with practical strategies and tools to teach and assess clinical reasoning in their different learners.

In this workshop, participants will consider characteristics that indicate learner engagement in the classroom setting and reflect on research that underscores the beneficial impacts of increased engagement on select learning outcomes. There will also be opportunities for participants to share with one another strategies that can be used to increase learner engagement specifically during lectures.

This workshop aims at getting teachers to learn strategies for question development for their own respective exams and/or the skills to write MCQ questions for different contexts.
This workshop will introduce participants to some concepts of simulation-based education and provide ideas on how it could be used in their own educational contexts.

Workplace-based / Clinical

This workshop is divided into two 2-hour sessions. Session 1 introduces teaching techniques that maximize teaching in the busy workplace environment. Session 2 focuses on more difficult situations and how to give effective, actionable feedback.
The purpose of this workshop is to equip faculty members with the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to effectively supervise and mentor medical students and residents in their research endeavors. Through case-based discussions, participants will explore the unique challenges faced by trainees undertaking research projects during their training and identify strategies for supporting them in navigating these challenges and achieving success.
Join us for an introduction or a refresh on supervision and mentorship of graduate students. This workshop will be an interactive discuss of communication, setting expectations and providing a foundation for graduate student success.
To be an effective Peer-Consultant, training in observation, feedback skills and techniques are provided through a structured and standardized program, with the goal to build better teachers, the Peer Consultation program enables a teacher (peer) to act as a consultant to another. You can obtain feedback on your teaching skills and methods to enhance your teaching practice, optimize your bedside and classroom teaching and gain feedback giving skills.
Feedback is an important aspect of a learner’s training. When given in a balanced, respectful, and outcome-oriented manner, feedback has shown to improve performance and is appreciated and wanted by learners. This 2-hour workshop will help a teacher understand the why, how, and what of providing feedback to learners. We will show you that providing effective feedback is not onerous or time consuming. The workshop will include videos and debriefing scenarios to help practice skills.
This interactive workshop will cover many of the time management skills outlined in the book "The Time Management Guide" by Dr. Hema Patel and Dr. Derek Puddester. Given we know you want to spend your time on important activities, you will be pleased to know that 93% of participants felt this workshop was a valuable use of their time.

Additional Resources

Centre for Teaching and Learning

Additional resources are available at the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL).

A dossier showcases an individual’s contributions and growth and development in their academic domains. A well written dossier that provides clear documentation of academic activities is an important part of the application package for tenure and promotion and other job opportunities. The dossiers are cumulative and provide a template for reflection on academic activities that helps with upward trajectory in an academic environment.

This interactive workshop will help you understand the important elements of dossiers and how to capture your academic activities under these elements.

Longitudinal Teaching Skills

For longitudinal professional development in a number of health professions education (HPE) areas, please see the Teaching Scholars Program (TSP) courses offered by the IDEAS Office for faculty (all types), trainees, and staff in the College of Health Sciences.

Classroom-based / Non-Clinical

  • Active Learning Cards
  • Clinical Reasoning
  • Curriculum Development
  • Multiple Choice Questions Writing
  • Simulation

Workplace-based / Clinical

  • Clinical Teaching
  • Graduate Student Supervision
  • Peer Consultation of Clinical Teaching Mentorship, Wellness & Professionalism
  • Time Management

Centre for Teaching and Learning

Peer Consultation Program

Goal: Enhance reflective teaching practice to improve teaching skills and learner experience in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.

Objectives:

  • Improve and share best teaching skills
  • Improve learner experience and enhance learner recruitment
  • Develop and support a community of teachers who are skilled in observing and providing feedback to other teachers.

Why Peer-Consult?

Clinical and classroom teaching is integral to the mission of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta. The faculty members are responsible for teaching learners at a variety of stages (undergraduate, postgraduate, graduate) and in multiple venues. Commonly, evaluation and feedback for such teaching are not received in a timely manner for the teacher to make meaningful changes, and are limited to variably submitted reports from learners, and "teaching awards".

Teachers can observe and provide feedback to other teachers on their teaching skills. If performed effectively, this can provide valuable support for continuous professional development, be included in overall assessment of teaching, and have a positive impact on learners. Peer-review of another's teaching is akin to a consultation, and consists of formally observing a teaching activity, followed by a timely, reflective, constructive and consolidative feedback session. We have adopted the peer-review model, in which teachers observe each other, using a set of mutually agreed upon "rules of engagement" and without power differential or judgment, and with an anticipation of mutual learning, discovery, and community building.

Peer-Consultation for Teaching

Trained peer consultants are available to observe and provide feedback to all teachers who request this service. The program also includes evaluation of its utility and impact on teachers as a measure of long term outcome. Currently the program offers Peer-Consultation for clinical teaching. It is in active collaboration with the University's Centre for Teaching and Learning and is presently expanding Peer-Consultation to other settings of teaching such as small and large group classrooms.

Workshops

3-hour workshops are held several times per year to promote understanding of the Peer-Consultation process.

Peer-Consultation Training

To be an effective Peer-Consultant, training in observation and feedback skills and techniques is provided through a structured and standardized program.

If you are a teacher wishing to have your teaching observed or interested in becoming a Peer-Consultant, please contact

Additional Resources

Additional resources are available at the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL).

Manjula Gowrishankar, MD
Director, Peer-Consultation Program
manjula@ualberta.ca