Teaching: A Vital Component of Preparation for Promotion andor Tenure

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TeachingA Vital Componentof Preparation for
Promotion and/or Tenure

• Ruth-Marie E. Fincher, MD
• Vice Dean for Academic Affairs
• MCG School of Medicine
• New Faculty Orientation
• September 2002

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Be Proactive

• Promotion/tenure expectations
• Read and understand
• Ensure you are on the right track for your
  responsibilities
• Play an active role in your professional
  development as an educator/teacher

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MCG Academic Tracks

• Regular (full-time) Faculty
• Tenure and Non-tenure
• Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate
  Professor, and Professor
• Non-tenure
• Research Scientist
• Clinical (volunteer) Faculty
• Clinical modifier (e.g., Clinical Assistant
  Professor)

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Criteria for Promotion

• Tenure track or tenured faculty
• Outstanding in 2 areas (incl. Research)
• Competent in others
• Basic Science Fact of Life Must be Outstanding
  in Teaching and Research
• Non-tenure track faculty
• Outstanding in 1 area
• Competent in others

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Developing the Education Piece of Your Career

• One Way (Arguably optimal!)
• Identify your educator-related goals
• Acquire necessary qualifications
• Apply for appropriate positions
• My Way (Not necessarily right)
• Keep your eyes open for opportunities
• Seize them even if premature
• Be voracious for on-the-job training

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Consider Your Goals

• How important is teaching to your career?
• How much time do you (want to) invest?
• What are you trying to accomplish in teaching?
  Have you and your chair agreed on goals? How
  will you know you have met them?
• Is there a conflict between personal desires and
  department or school needs?
• Are committee responsibilities congruent?

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Planning and Documenting Professional Development
in Teaching

• Educators Portfolios
• A Required Component of Promotion/Tenure Packets

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Educators Portfolios at MCG

• Overall Goal
• Improve teaching by emphasizing the value placed
  on it
• Specific Goals
• Document teaching contributions
• Provide evidence of quality/impact of teaching
  for promotion or tenure
• Guide to reflective development as an educator

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Education-related Activities and Products

• Direct teaching (of course)
• Program development, implementation, assessment
• Curriculum development
• CME presentations
• Educational leadership
• Instructional material development
• Advising/Mentoring

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Developing Your Portfolio

• Keep a list of your teaching responsibilities
  (Start today)
• Write your short/long-term goals related to
  teaching
• What are/will be your highlights? What
  Evidence of impact and/or quality do you have
  or should you collect?

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Educators Portfoliofor Promotion/Tenure

• Introduction
• Do you want (need) to be assessed as
  Outstanding or Competent in teaching?
• Percent of professional time in teaching
• Section 1
• Summary of teaching activities and approximate
  time involved

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Section 1 Teaching Responsibilities

• Medical Students
• Medicine Core Clerkship
• Noon conference (35 students) 4 hr, 4/yr, 1996-
• Essentials of Clinical Medicine
• Small group facilitator 10 1-hr sessions/yr,
  2000-
• Lecturer (180 students)
• How to Make Case Presentations 1 hr. annually,
  2000-
• Lung Cancer 2 hrs. annually, 1997-
• Colon Cancer 1 hr. annually, 1997-
• Clinical Problem Solving Anemia, 1997-2000
• Clinical preceptor (6 students) 54 hrs./yr.,
  1999-

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Teaching Responsibilities, cont.

• Residents
• Ambulatory Lecture Series
• Breast disease 1 hr, 4 times/yr, 1996-
• Graduate Students
• Allied Health Students
• MCG Faculty
• Grand Rounds
• 2 1-hr lectures/yr, 1992-
• Continuing Medical Education

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Section 2 Most Important Teaching Contributions

• Highlights not comprehensive list
• Organize by categories
• Describe your role briefly
• Include evidence of quality/impact of your
  educational activities
• Be an inveterate collector!

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Sample Categories

• Direct Teaching (Most common highlight)
• Curriculum Design or Development
• Instructional Materials
• Educational Administration/Service
• Educational Scholarship
• Professional Development in Education
• Advising/Mentoring
• Teaching Awards

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Curriculum Development

• 1999-00 Steering Committee for development of
  Essentials of Clinical Medicine course
• Briefly describe your role
• Evidence of Quality/Impact Might include
• Summary of student evaluations
• Excerpts from CD/peer/chair evaluation
• How does this change mesh with national trends?
  Adopted elsewhere?
• Standard exam scores Dont over-interpret

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What Is Evidence?

• Peer evaluation Formative and Summative
• sine qua non of academic scholarship
• Request (demand?) whenever you teach (If its
  worth doing, its worth getting feedback.)
• External review of course/lecture content
• Publication? Presentation? Workshop?
• Student evaluation
• Structured interviews with groups End of course
  and 1-2 years later
• Summary by impartial observer
• Teaching Awards Criteria?

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Caveats

• Keep track of activities collect evidence of
  quality and impact continuously
• All portfolios are different reflect individual
  responsibilities
• Mentor and working with peers helpful
• Mark Twain Principle Bigger isnt better
• Standard evaluations peer comparison
• No national consensus may be emerging

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Evolving Scope of Scholarship
Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered, 1990

• Traditional
• Scholarship of discovery research
• No argument here!
• Broader Definition Endorsed by MCG
• Scholarship is demonstrated when knowledge is
  advanced or transformed by application of
  intellect in an informed, disciplined, and
  creative manner.

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What Constitutes Scholarship?

• All scholarly products must be
• assessed for quality by peers
• disseminated into public domain for others to
  build upon and learn from

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Products of Traditional Scholarship

• Grants
• Peer-reviewed publications
• Peer-reviewed presentations

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Additional Products of Scholarship

• Curriculum Design, Development, or Assessment
• Instructional Materials
• Cases
• Syllabi
• Web-based
• Educational Administration/Service

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Criteria to Assess Scholarship
Glassick, Scholarship Assessed, 1997

• Research, Educational, or Teaching
• Clear goals
• Adequate preparation
• Appropriate methods
• Significant results
• Effective presentation
• Reflective critique