CFE Highlights Key Initiatives for 2019

Patricia O’Sullivan, EdD; Ann Poncelet, MD; and Sandrijn van Schaik, MD, PhD are excited to share with you highlights of 2019 initiatives for the Center for Faculty Educators. A major focus of these initiatives is the learning environment, as the impact of the environments in which we learn and work on educational outcomes and well-being has attracted the attention of educators at UCSF and beyond. 

LACE

LACE stands for “Learning and Caring Environment” and refers to a new program within the Center for Faculty Educators (CFE) which aims to prepare and empower faculty in the clinical settings to provide an optimal learning environment for learners To this end, LACE will collect data about learning environments to inform workplace-based faculty development and make recommendations to departmental, clinical and educational leadership about optimization of learning environments. Following recommendations by a Josiah Macy Jr Foundation report on learning environments in the health professions, LACE is taking a holistic approach to assessment of learning environments, taking into account factors related to learners, faculty, communities, locations and organizational structure. LACE will initially focus on eight core departments that host clerkships and residencies but soon will expand to include all clinical departments. Teams of clinician-educators participate in the assessment work and the development of pilot initiatives. LACE is funded in part by the National Transformation Network, a group for which UCSF is a co-founder. 

Teaching Observation Program (TOP)

A robust expansion of the TOP program is anticipated in 2019 and beyond as a tool to support continuous improvement of the learning environment.TOP will be formally incorporated into the LACE program (see above). TOP is key to expanded faculty development programs at our community-based clinical training sites and the UCSF Fresno branch campus. Increasingly, peer observation will play a role to support faculty and provide evidence of their teaching excellence. Participation in TOP can be highlighted in the educator’s portfolio and included as part of the UCSF promotions process. Learn more about the Teaching Observation Program.

Assessment for Learning

We must prepare our faculty to be able to accurately determine when our learners have mastered the competencies required as health professionals. The CFE embraced this commitment by applying for a UCSF Presidential Chair. Cees van der Vleuten, PhD is just the person to help us have the needed information by shifting from our traditional approach of assessment of learning to assessment for learning where information, collected by faculty, guides learners toward improved performance or enhanced learning. Dr. van der Vleuten is an acclaimed scholar in this area as well as Scientific Director for the Maastricht School of Health Professions. He will kick-off this shift in assessment with a presentation, “Programmatic Assessment for Preparing Better Health Professionals” on February 20 at 4 pm and will sustain our focus with a presentation and workshop at the 2019 Education Showcase. He is working with task forces charged with rethinking assessment in the clinical learning environment. This commitment by the CFE will lead to an enhanced process for learning for our students as well as enriching how we communicate about their performance.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

DEI remains a major focus for the CFE and is a critical element of the learning environment. CFE now runs the full day DEI champion training and the Academy of Medical Educators has committed to having every one of its members participate in this training.  The Academy DEI committee will build on last Fall’s provocative and inspiring panel on equity pedagogy by hosting a workshop at the Academy site-based meetings to help translate these principles into concrete curricula. The Academy member climate survey will inform ongoing changes in our own culture and structures. The CFE faculty development program continues to review each workshop attending to DEI. This year we will offer the first workshops for the newly developed Teach for UCSF DEI Certificate. Kate Lupton, MD is the certificate developer and steward supported by the Academy's Innovations Funding Program.

The CFE faculty and administrative team looks forward to implementing these initiatives and others to meet the needs of UCSF educators. Learn more about recent CFE Scholarship in the OME Annual Report.