Evolving from Didactic to Dialogic: How to Improve Faculty Development and Support Faculty Developers by Using Action Research

Abstract

Problem: Since competency-based medical education has gained widespread acceptance to guide curricular reforms, faculty development has been regarded as an indispensable element to make these programs successful. Faculty developers have striven to design and deliver myriad of programs or workshops to better prepare faculty members for fulfilling their teaching roles. However, how faculty developers can improve workshop delivery by researching their teaching practices remains underexplored. Intervention: Action research aims to understand real world practices and advocates for formulation of doable plans through cycles of investigations, and ultimately contributes to claims of knowledge and a progression toward the goal of practice improvement. This methodology aligns with the aim of this study to understand how I could improve a faculty development workshop by researching my teaching practices. Context: In 2016, we conducted four cycles of action research in the context of mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mini-CEX) workshops within a faculty development program aiming for developing teaching and assessment competence in faculty members. We collected multiple sources of qualitative data for thematic analysis, including my reflective journal, field notes taken by a researcher-observer, and post-workshop written reflection and feedback in portfolio from fourteen workshop attendees aiming to develop faculty teaching and assessment competence. Impact: By doing action research, I scrutinized each step as an opportunity for change, enacted adaptive practice and reflection on my teaching practices, and formulated action plans to transform a workshop design through each cycle. In so doing, my workshop evolved from didactic to dialogic with continuous improvement on enhanced engagement, focused discussion and participant empowerment through a collaborative inquiry into feedback practice. Moreover, these processes of action research also supported my growth as a faculty developer. Lessons Learned: The systematic approach of action research serves as a vehicle to enable faculty developers to investigate individual teaching practices as a self-reflective inquiry, to examine, rectify, and transform processes of program delivery, and ultimately introduce themselves as agents for change and improvement.

Keywords:

• Action research
• faculty development
• faculty developer
• reflection

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professor Lynn Monrouxe at University of Sydney and Professor Yvonne Steinert at McGill University for their insightful comments and constructive feedback on this manuscript. The authors also wish to thank the participants of the Mini-CEX workshops for providing their feedback and reflections. Part of the results of this study had been drafted as an oral presentation at the 8th Chang Gung International Medical Education Conference in 2016.

Author’s contributions

KCL and CHP contributed to the conception, design and conduct of this study. KCL drafted this article and revised it critically. CHP provided feedback for revision. All authors approved the final version for publication and undertake to be accountable for all aspects of this work.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Additional information

Funding

During the period of this study, KCL conducted the mini-CEX workshops and received the support from the grant funded by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan (VMRPG3F004).