My Experience as a First Time Educator

My dream is to become not only a teacher at a PA program but to one day become Program Director.  I thought my dreams were finally coming to fruition when I landed a position as Assistant Professor at a prestigious university.  I was in hog heaven.  However, my dream slowly turned into a nightmare as the weeks and months unfolded.

My first day on the job was not spent in orientation to the medical school or to the hospital, but yet grading first year students performing their first patient encounter.  I was paired with a senior faculty member and told to watch how they “graded” the students; then, I would observe students and grade by myself.   The torment didn’t stop there.  I was then given the  “write-ups” that the students had turned in from their experience to grade.  I asked if there was a guide or some type of rubric to go by and was told to grade it like I would a note.  WHAT!!! You’re telling a PA who had been practicing, at that time, for over 11 years to grade and treat a student‘s note, whom had only been in the program for 8 weeks, like I would a note I would write in a patient’s chart. 

Now, the week that ensued after the students went on break would have been perfect to go to orientation.  No such luck.  I did not receive an orientation to the department nor did I know how or what the students were learning.  I was paired with a “mentor” but she did not tell me much.  She kept stating since I had a doctorate degree, I could figure things out on my own.

I was never taught any basic principles of faculty, scholarship, promotion or tenure, how to teach, put together lectures or design curriculum.  I was not provided with a notebook or guide to help me.  I was instructed by the Program Chair to go to the medical school and watch four different people, whom he identified, lecture and then compare and contrast how they teach.  That was it.

Unfortunately, this tale is more common than people think.  Many clinicians are choosing to pursue a clinical doctorate such as the DHSc degree.  With this terminal degree, they are able to transition to the world of academia.  However, much concern is raised due to the fact that most clinical doctorates do not provide formal education in pedagogy, andragogy or research and development (Kahanov, Eberman, Yoder and Kahanov, 2012).  Most clinicians have no prior education background and are having some difficulty transitioning to education due to this.   Difficulty can be cause due to lack of orientation into academia, lack of mentorship or understanding of classroom management and teaching (Kahanov et al., 2012).

Kahanov et al. (2012) reports that junior faculty, which consists of both traditional and clinical doctorate faculty (CDF), undergo socialization to help with the transition and uses the WISE Principles of Mentorship.  Winning trust, inviting acceptance, support without rescue and embracing growth are the properties used by senior or seasoned faculty members to help transition CDF (Kahanov et al., 2012).

            Virginia Commonwealth University has developed an interdisciplinary Faculty Learning Committee (FLC) to “establish and improve faculty development” at the university (Sicat, Kreutzer, Gary, Ivey, Marlowe, Pellegrini, Shuford and Simons, 2014, p.1).  Several faculty members from the five different health science schools on the campus started the group.  The goals of the FLC is to “(1): share information on expertise and resources available to faculty development programs represented by the FLC members; (2) identify faculty development topics and techniques that the group; (3) choose areas where faculty development professionals might collaborate to design new faculty development programs and/or new methods of delivery based on identified learner needs, evaluate these initiatives and consider ways to improve; (4) create models or modules available to other faculty development providers” (Sicat et al., 2014, p. 2).

My recommendations for new faculty members:

1-    Orientation noted only to the university system but the to the department.

2-    Detailed outline of what the faculty member will be expected to do.

3-    Assign a mentor who will actually work the new faculty on how to teach, curriculum design, promotion, scholarship, etc.  The mentor will have to essentially teach them and if now, enroll the faculty member in some type of class/conference to teach these things.

4-    Do not “throw them to the wolves”.  New faculty should be given sufficient time to acclimate to the new surroundings.  Allow them to sit in the class and take notes and learn.

5-    New faculty goes to Center for Teaching Excellence (CTC). If at a university with separate undergraduate/graduate programs, have a CTC for the graduate/medical school.

6-    Realize that the first year is a transition; mistakes will be made. However, the more the new faculty is exposed to things and learns, the better they will become.

References:
Castiglioni, A., Aagaard, E., Spencer, A., Nicholson, L., Karani, R., Bates, C., Willet, L.,Cheda, S. (2012). Succeeding as a Clinician Educator: Useful Tips and Resources             General   Journal of Internal Medicine. 28:136-140.

Kahanov, L., Eberman, L., Yoder, A., Kahanov, M. (2012). Culture Shock: Transitioning
From Clinical Practice to Educator. The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and               Practices. 10:1-5. 

Sicat, B., Kreutzer, K., Gary, J., Ivey, C., Marlowe, E., Pellegrini, J., Shuford, V.,

    Simons, D. (2014). A Collaboration Among Health Sciences Schools to Enhance Faculty Development in Teaching.  American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 78(1-5).