Documentation of Educational Activities

All applicants for the  Academy of Educators must have a faculty appointment in one of Augusta University's nine colleges.  The Academy application should be no more than 10 pages, consisting of: 1) A one-page Personal Statement, and 2) An Educator’s Portfolio no longer than 9 pages  containing documentation for each category of educational activity supporting the applicant's nomination.  The EP should be submitted in accordance with published guidelines.

All applicants should be recognized as outstanding teachers of students, residents, fellows, and masters or doctoral students.Additionally, candidates should demonstrate excellence in 1 or 2 of the educational activities described below.  The EP should contain supporting documentation to substantiate the quality or impact of the applicant’s contributions in each educational activity over the past 5 years:

■ Documentation of the applicant’s direct teaching activities (required of all applicants).

■ Documentation of the applicant’s contributions in 1 or 2 of the four additional categories of educational activity listed below.  Even if an applicant feels he/she is outstanding in all four areas, it is recommended that only 1 or 2 categories be chosen to highlight in the application.  Candidates are not expected to demonstrate document outstanding performance in all four categories.

■ Curriculum Development

■ Evaluation of Learner Performance

■ Mentoring/Advising

■ Educational Administration/Leadership

■ Examples of each of these 5 categories are shown below.

DIRECT TEACHING : (required of all applicants)
Application should provide documentation of the following: 

■ Description of  your role, your philosophy about teaching; strategies you use; how you teach in various settings; how you strive to improve your teaching and student's learning (“reflective” teaching)

■ Evidence of Quantity: 

■ Statement of all major teaching activities at Augusta University within the past one to five years (should include venue, who, what, when how much and how many)

■ Tabular and/or graphic displays are encouraged

■ Please include actual teaching contact hours and number of students taught

■ Evidence of Quality:

■ For each activity, show teaching effectiveness scores from One45 or other sources, with the course mean and number of ratings (Provided by Andria Thomas, PhD; Associate Dean for Evaluation, MCG; available for MCG required courses).  Student and course director comments may be included if there is enough space.  Documentation should be summarized rather than included as a separate attachment.  Note:  Comparative ratings for each year should be given, and compared to peer group if possible.

■ Peer evaluations

■ Teaching awards or honors (with selection criteria)

■ Short excerpts from supporting letters (complete letters should NOT be included, but should be available upon request)

■ Invitations to teach in an outside department or another school or institution

■ Repeat invitations to teach to the same group or in the same course

■ Evidence of Scholarship (if available):

■ Product: Evidence of a tangible product developed related to your direct teaching

■ Public dissemination: The product has been disseminated and used outside of MCG

■ Peer review: The product has been reviewed by peers through a formal (MedEdPORTAL, for example) or other mechanism (letters from other institutions who have adopted your product with evidence documenting the impact at their institution).

Examples:

Table:

table

Graphic:

graph

Applicants for the  Academy of Educators should also include documentation of 1 or 2 of the following educational activities:

INSTRUCTIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND CURRICULAR DESIGN:  

      • Applicants with outstanding accomplishments in this activity typically serve as course, module or clerkship directors who have made major revisions to existing courses or developed new courses. Documentation should not only show what was accomplished, but also evaluation measures to show the impact of their innovation(s).  Accomplishments should only reflect activities over the past 5 years, although in some cases historical information may be helpful to demonstrate a thread of professional development.
      • Application should document the following:
        • Evidence of Quantity:
          • The name of each instructional development or curriculum design
          • Describe your role in each activity (director, consultant, collaborator, etc)
          • A description of what was done, rationale for change, and how the effectiveness of the change was evaluated
        • Evidence of Quality:
          • Educational objectives for the course/activity
          • Teaching methods employed (with rationale)
          • Description of instructional materials and resources used
          • Evaluation measures (i.e. written exams, oral exams, OSCE, ratings of performance, etc).
          • For each activity, provide course evaluation data with comparative data from One45 or other metric.
        • Evidence of Scholarship (if available):
          • Product: Evidence that your course or curriculum has been developed into a tangible product (print, computer, Internet-based, etc)
          • Public dissemination: Evidence that your course or curriculum development product has been disseminated and used outside of Augusta University
          • Peer review: The product has reviewed by peers through a formal (MedEdPORTAL, for example) or other mechanism (letters from other institutions who have adopted your curriculum with evidence documenting the impact at their institution).

  ASSESSMENT OF LEARNER PERFORMANCE:  

      • Applicants with outstanding accomplishments in this activity often serve as evaluation specialists, although any educator who has developed an innovation in learner assessment could use this category to support their Academy application.  Documentation should describe the assessment and the impact of that innovation at Augusta University or elsewhere.  Accomplishments should only reflect activities at Augusta University for the past 5 years, although in some cases historical information may be helpful to demonstrate a thread of professional development.
      • Application should document the following:
        • Evidence of Quantity:
          • A description of each assessment activity or innovation
          • Describe your role in each activity (developer, consultant, collaborator, etc)
          • A description of what was done, rationale for change, and how the effectiveness of the assessment measure/program was evaluated
        • Evidence of Quality:
          • Description of methods chosen with rationale
          • Evidence of adherence to best practices or support from medical education literature
          • Evidence of the quality of results (i.e. measures of reliability and validity appropriate to the type of assessment)
          • Evidence of impact on the curriculum at Augusta University (may include letters from course, module directors, objective measures of learner performance resulting from your innovation, etc.).
        • Evidence of Scholarship (if available):
          • Product: Evidence that your assessment measure has been developed into a tangible product
          • Public dissemination: Evidence that your assessment measure has been disseminated and used outside of Augusta University
          • Peer review: The product has been reviewed by peers through a formal (MedEdPORTAL, for example) or other mechanism (letters from other institutions who have adopted your assessment measure with evidence documenting the impact at their institution).

  
ADVISING AND MENTORING:  

      • Applicants with outstanding accomplishments in this activity are sought out as advisors and mentors for students, residents and faculty. The impact of their advising and mentoring efforts are manifested by the performance and accomplishments of their protégés. Documentation should focus on mentoring activities for the past 5 years although in some cases historical information may be helpful to demonstrate a thread of professional development.
      • Application should document the following:
        • Evidence of Quantity:
          • A description of mentoring activities at each level (student, resident, faculty)
          • Describe your role in each level of activity including duration, how many, how often, how much
        • Evidence of Quality:
          • Name 3 or 4 students, residents or faculty on whom you feel you have had the greatest impact.  Describe your activities with them, and evidence showing the impact of your mentoring on their career.
          • Do not solicit letters from these individuals; however you should notify them that their input may be requested by the selection committee. Please provide contact information for each protégé.
          • If possible, show impact of your efforts at Augusta University.
        • Evidence of Scholarship (if applicable):
          • Product: Provide evidence that your mentoring activities have resulted in scholarship in the careers of your protégés. This may be either traditional scholarship (publications, abstracts, etc) or non-traditional scholarship (MedEdPORTAL, etc).

EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND LEADERSHIP:  

      • Applicants with outstanding accomplishments in this activity often serve as course or module directors, educational leaders in their departments, or leaders on educationally-relevant committees. Documentation should focus not on the educational materials developed (see Instructional Development and Curricular Design above), but on the process of developing, implementing or coordinating an educational activity.  Accomplishments should only reflect activities over the past 5 years although in some cases historical information may be helpful to demonstrate a thread of professional development.
      • Application should document the following:
        • Evidence of Quantity:
          • A description of each leadership or administrative position held
          • Describe your role in each activity
          • A description of the problem that needed to be addressed, what you did to address the problem, and what was accomplished.
        • Evidence of Quality:
          • Description of methods you chose to address the problem with rationale
          • Evidence of adherence to best practices or support from medical education literature
          • Evidence of the quality of results obtained (whatever measures you feel are appropriate to measure the impact).
          • Evidence of the quality of your leadership and/or administrative skills. Name 3 or 4 faculty who you feel can provide the best evidence of your leadership or administrative skills in the activities listed above. Do not solicit letters from these individuals; however you should notify them that their input may be requested by the selection committee. Please provide contact information for each faculty member.
        • Evidence of Scholarship (if available):
          • Product: Describe a product developed as a result of your leadership or administrative accomplishments,
          • Public dissemination: Provide evidence that your product has been disseminated and used outside of Augusta University
          • Peer review: The product has reviewed by peers through a formal (MedEdPORTAL, for example) or other mechanism (letters from other institutions who have adopted your product with evidence documenting the impact at their institution).

**These criteria are taken from " The Summary Report and Findings from the AAMC Group on Educational Affairs Consensus Conference on Educational Scholarship"
Rev 9-21-09, 09-02-10, 08-15-11