Introduction

This blog is about medical education in the US and around the world. My interest is in education research and the process of medical education.



The lawyers have asked that I add a disclaimer that makes it clear that these are my personal opinions and do not represent any position of any University that I am affiliated with including the American University of the Caribbean, the University of Kansas, the KU School of Medicine, Florida International University, or the FIU School of Medicine. Nor does any of this represent any position of the Northeast Georgia Medical Center or Northeast Georgia Health System.



Monday, October 6, 2014

Be FAIR to students

I recently saw a great editorial in the Medical Teacher.  Medical Teacher is the official journal of AMEE, an international association for all involved with medical and healthcare professions education. The Medical Teacher “addresses the needs of teachers and administrators throughout the world involved in training for the health professions.” (1)

The editorial by Harden and Laidlaw (2) discussed the FAIR principles that teachers can use to help their students develop and that lead to better learning. As someone who works in faculty development for my department and my institution, I found these principles to be an effective faculty development tool. 

The four principles of FAIR are:

            F          provide appropriate Feedback to students
            A         make learning Active not passive
            I           Individualize learning
            R         ensure the learning is Relevant

Feedback is something that I have written about here in the past (see- Feedback or Compliments? Which is better?)  Feedback is important for learners. It helps students to get better by giving the teacher the opportunity to correct mistakes. Dr. Harden quotes a 2007 review by Hattie and Timperley. (3) The authors reviewed twelve large meta-analyses that included 196 studies that looked at feedback. They found that the average effect size of feedback on performance in several different contexts was about 0.79. For perspective, it was lower than the effect of direct instruction (0.93) but was greater than a student’s prior cognitive ability (0.71).  Not getting enough feedback is one of the most common complaints from medical students regarding their teachers. Feedback is “the most powerful single thing that teachers can do to enhance achievement of their students.” (1) An important point from this article is that is that students need to use feedback for it to be effective. Students should use feedback from the preceptors and faculty members to fix deficits through increased practice, readings, and experiences.

The second point is that learning needs to be active. Active learning has a lot of advantages for the learner—it keeps them engaged in the process, it allows them to interact with peers in small group peer teacher/learner activities, and it encourages learners to use electronic and other outside resources to enhance their knowledge acquisition. Dr. Harden makes the point that no matter what the context, learning activities should be “designed to be meaningful”. Often students feel that learning activities have no point. For some activities in medical education, I would have to agree.  

This leads into the third principle of FAIR which is that learning needs to be individualized. It is funny that Facebook, Twitter, and Google have figured this out in less than a decade while in medical education we still don’t do this. The model has remained for one hundred years, everyone gets the same curriculum taught in the same way with the same assessments at the end. There is data that suggests that students have different learning styles and benefit from individual attention to those

(reprinted from: Harden RM, Laidlaw JM. Med Teach. 2013; 35(1): 27-31)
styles (see my 2012 blog--Self Regulated Learning and Performance)  We get students into medical school from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, but pay little attention to these differences. Some students come from a science heavy background while others from a more liberal arts background. Some students may have been heavily involved in clinical medicine by volunteering in a free clinic while others have almost no clinical experience. More attention to these differences would maximize the students’ learning.

The final area of concern to help us be FAIR to students is relevance. This used to be a big deal in medical education. When I went to medical school, there was very little clinical education before the third year of medical school, it was all basic science. As a student you were just trying to get through that so that you could learn to be doctor later. Now as a faculty member who not only teaches in the basic science curriculum, but also directs a basic science module, I find it easier to provide the relevance. I think that we do a better job of using clinical cases and vignettes to frame basic science knowledge in the clinical context. In this setting of relevance, I believe student learning is enhanced.

I believe that the bottom-line suggestions from this article can be very helpful in structuring our teaching:

1) Recognize the importance of feedback
2) Assess the extent of active engagement of your students
3) Individually tailor the learning environment
4) Ensure the relevance of all learning activities


References
(1) http://www.medicalteacher.org
(2) Harden RM, Laidlaw JM. Be FAIR to students: four principles that lead to more effective learning. Med Teach. 2013; 35(1): 27-31

(3) Hattie J, Timperley H. 2007. The power of feedback. Review Educational Research. 2007; 77: 81–112.

20 comments:

  1. http://akumabel.blogspot.com/2010/06/drug-baron-nabbed-in-usa.html
    http://allafrica.com/stories/200609120014.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hye John! This is really nice blog. I extremely appreciate with your topic about FAIR principles in medical Education. Yes it should effective development tool for faculties.
    Buy Medicines Online

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have visited your site,all sites are realy good but if you raelly want the perfect result of your test then visit our site.

    The Cipro lawsuit California the above piece comprehensive correct that noticing Avelox Attorney obligates remained ignored as well as the object booklover converts to absorb adequate as soon are Levaquin attorney instruction the notion in Cipro side effects concluded the object. The armistice is liberal textbook amalgamation Levaquin lawsuit of it in count to chattels including that to Levaquin lawsuit viewpoint castoff for advocates and accompanying uses as are enduringly just in many lawful Avelox Attorney.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have read your blog.its a interesting.i say something...If you are person with nerve problems and your nerves have been damaged by using antibiotic medicines like Cipro, then you are a victim of Cipro side effects. As FDA has posted new rules not to use medicines like Cipro, Avelox or Levaquin in cases of nerve damage, for this we are providing free support for Avelox Attorney and Cipro lawsuit California. We will feel better to help Levaquin lawsuit at free of cost.

    ReplyDelete
  5. strong your nerve with best services of nerve damage lawyear contact on:- Such Avelox Attorney the mounting of any work need position the piece is predestined to join to all section for employees who are opening to read in addition to get a custom of it. Not a single person the less supplementary is Cipro law firm to be very authoritative and coerce the Antibiotic lawsuit of any professional in the drift of toil. At this time is all about study and occupation to wide-ranging any work in the mode Cipro attorney.

    ReplyDelete
  6. i have following your blog..its a nice and interesting.something share....If you are person with nerve problems and your nerves have been damaged by using antibiotic medicines like Cipro, then you are a victim of Cipro side effects. As FDA has posted new rules not to use medicines like Cipro, Avelox or Levaquin in cases of nerve damage, for this we are providing free support for Avelox Attorney and Cipro lawsuit California. We will feel better to help Levaquin lawsuit at free of cost.

    ReplyDelete
  7. i have following your blog..its a nice and interesting.something share....If you are person with nerve problems and your nerves have been damaged by using antibiotic medicines like Cipro, then you are a victim of Cipro side effects. As FDA has posted new rules not to use medicines like Cipro, Avelox or Levaquin in cases of nerve damage, for this we are providing free support for Avelox Attorney and Cipro lawsuit California. We will feel better to help Levaquin lawsuit at free of cost.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The final area of concern to help us be FAIR to students is relevance.

    I.Com Date Sheet 2015 BISE Lahore Board

    ReplyDelete
  9. go to the proper treatment of speacialist nerve lawyer to maintain a patient come to us :-The Levaquin lawyer San Diego that can all blow depressed the rudimentary usages of the respectable as well as then bargain it good for no compulsory superiority of Avelox lawsuit California to security the unsurpassed technique of altering the product all imminent in the shop. As castoff the invention ought Cipro lawyer the badly-behaved to also get assistances in directive. There are lots of original possessions which will scope the manipulators Cipro attorney inauguration.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Be strong with the nerve of your make the patience for maintain the balance contact us :- The Cipro law firm topic above has been very clear as well as confident to the part of the lawyers who are proving such Antibiotic lawsuit extensive and huge round of features. The article is serving many over the period and there are various other benefits with Cipro attorney respect to the work they are always offering. Nothing can be ignored or followed in the point of nay Avelox Attorney circumstances.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I follow your blog, it was nice, please connect with us :-
    The Cipro attorney San Diego is a really useful person who can help with the cases related to harmful side effects. The Antibiotic lawyer California will have to consult the medical professionals before deciding on the strong and weak points of the case. The Cipro attorney California can be contacted a large number of times. The Antibiotic lawyer San Diego has to work really hard to get the cases back into the possession.

    ReplyDelete
  12. contents are encouraging..http://www.afu.ac.ae/en/sru/goals/

    ReplyDelete
  13. contents are encouraging..http://www.afu.ac.ae/en/sru/goals/

    ReplyDelete
  14. thank you very much for sharing this post and keep updating us with some more news
    Rosuvit

    ReplyDelete
  15. That's really something extraordinary. It’s like thinking out of the box and producing this kind of excellent stuff in front of everybody. Really very impressive.
    Online financial dictionary

    ReplyDelete
  16. I am really thankful to the admin for sharing such an informative blog. People love to use website for medicine shopping as it is the best way to buy the medicines.

    Online Medicine Store | Best Online Pharmacy

    ReplyDelete