Dear to My Heart

I had an experience the other day that was just so incredibly cool that I have to share it. I am the Director of Faculty Development and so my "students", for the most part, are the faculty. I was sitting at an early meeting, half asleep, when I heard one of the faculty raise the issue of "instructional alignment" and the need to align learning objectives, instruction and assessment process for an old course that had received sub-standard reviews. Now my ears always perk up when I hear any of the faculty using educational terminology, but this case was classic. Not only had he used the terms correctly, he was descibing in great detail how and why this was so important. And... in a moment of pure egocentrism I thought... "he learned that from me'!

Well this has certainly happened before, but this was a special case. This particular individual had let me know early in our conversations that he thought "all this education mumbo-jumbo" was just that. He had attended two or three faculty development sessions and seemed to be changing his opinion; then stopped coming. This meeting was the first time I had seen him for a few months, so hearing him describe "instructional alignment" to his peers was one of those "peak moments".

Now, I'm sure my clinical colleagues have those moments all the time as they teach residents, students and patients. You get the chance to see daily the intellectual growth of your learners and the progress that patients make based on your careful management. In my field, however, those moments don't come everyday. I'll bet that if you devote your time to faculty development, you are smiling right now and thinking about a moment like this that you have had. It is great isn't it