Whither the need for faculty development?

摘要

'The students did not receive feedback regarding their clinical performance;' 'the lecture was soul destroying;' 'the assessment strategy did not validly complement the goals of the course.' These criticisms, among others, are prevalent within the medical education community and each is routinely met with the rejoinder, 'It is a faculty development problem.' The implication, which is often more explicit than implied, is that we simply need to do a better job of educating the educators regarding how to best fulfil their teaching responsibilities. Get teachers into workshops and explain how to deliver effective feedback, how to plan entertaining and informative teaching sessions, and how to design assessment strategies that will steer students in the right direction and help students and faculty alike achieve the goals of the course. Provide some practice opportunities and all the educational challenges will be resolved.