Graduates of the Teaching and Learning Certificate Program, 2009 Annual Meeting

The ACCP Academy Teaching and Learning Certificate Program is an effort to assist in the recruitment, motivation, and preparation of clinical educators who can inspire students to advance the profession of pharmacy. Such an effort is now critical with the adoption of the all-Pharm.D. degree requirement; rapid changes in technology and society; a perhaps short-term window of opportunity to create new roles for pharmacy practitioners; and market forces militating against education as a profession. Innovative leadership is necessary to ensure there are sufficient and well-educated pharmacy educators to motivate and prepare students to perform current and emerging roles that pharmacists have assumed within health-care teams.

• Offers live, interactive workshops presented by nationally-known faculty and preceptors.
• Focuses on clinical education in both the didactic and experiential setting.
• Provides a systematic/foundational core of educational principles and practices.
• Incorporates opportunities for self-assessment, peer assessment, and feedback from a mentor.
• Develops an online formative portfolio that enhances and documents each participant's progress during the program.
• Provides a convenient and cost-efficient delivery of program courses by offering them during ACCP's spring and fall meetings on a recurring basis.
• Allows participants to elect additional areas of study tailored to their specific instructional needs.
• Awards a Certificate of Completion and official ACCP recognition once the participant completes the program requirements.

The Academy curriculum consists of 18 hours of required modules and 10 hours of curricular track elective modules. Required modules are 1) a day-long basic training workshop, and 2) three 4-hour academic symposia that focus on a) planning for effective teaching, b) implementing teaching and learning strategies, and c) assessing student learning. To complete the 10 hours of curricular track electives, participants can choose modules that examine in more detail such topics as interprofessional education, student peer assessment, designing elective courses, and exam construction. Some modules, such as professionalsim and case writing, may be developed and held in conjunction with other Academy certificate programs and offer elective credit for more than one Academy certificate program. All of these interactive sessions are conducted at the spring and fall ACCP meetings. Throughout the curriculum, participants will develop and receive feedback on the teaching portfolios they develop. It is anticipated that most individuals will complete the curriculum in 2 years.

Textbooks

(Titles available from the ACCP Bookstore at http://www.accp.com/bookstore/teachingAndLearning.aspx)

Required

• Re-visioning Professional Education: An Orientation to Teaching. Thomas D. Zlatic. American College of Clinical Pharmacy. Member Price $32.95

Recommended

• The Joy of Teaching: A Practical Guide for New College Instructors. Peter G. Filene. Member Price $15.95
• Mastering the Techniques of Teaching, Second Edition. Joseph Lowman. Member Price $36.95
• Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, Second Edition. Thomas A. Angelo; and K. Patricia Cross. Member Price $44.95

NOTE: Purchase all three recommended books from the ACCP Bookstore and save up to $25 off the total list prices!

Course Work

Prerequisite Module: Basic Training
This introductory workshop is designed to introduce new clinical faculty and preceptors to the basic "essentials" of teaching. "Basic" here refers not to elementary materials and methods but to foundational principles that undergird teaching in classroom and clinical settings. The program begins with an investigation of the professional nature of teaching and an overview of teaching and learning paradigms; these serve as a rationale for the rest of the program. Participants will be engaged in creating learning outcomes, designing teaching strategies to achieve the outcomes, and employing criteria-referenced, evidence-based assessment feedback to improve student mastery of outcomes. Teaching and learning strategies will focus on both classroom instruction and clinical precepting. In these workshop activities, participants will integrate concepts of critical thinking, active learning, ability-based education, and assessment-as-learning. At the end of the session, participants will be encouraged to explore their own philosophies of teaching and to use teaching portfolios as a method for directing their growth as clinical pharmacy educators.

• Describe basic concepts related to current teaching theory and practice as they pertain to pharmacy education and practice.
• Develop basic strategies for planning, implementing, and assessing educational experiences structured to achieve clearly defined student outcomes within didactic and clinical settings.
• Clarify one's own purposes, goals, and philosophy for teaching, and identify strategies for continued self-learning.

The basic training module is a prerequisite for the three required academic modules described below. Basic training will be offered annually in the fall on the day prior to the ACCP Annual Meeting.

Required Modules

The required modules are opportunities for participants to achieve more in-depth learning of the topics presented in the basic training module. Offered on a rotating basis in the spring and fall, these half-day sessions are interactive, and participants will be encouraged to share ideas as a part of the learning experience. The focus of each module is described below.

Required Module No. 1: Planning for Effective Teaching

• Develop learning objectives/outcomes for didactic and clinical settings.
• Create learning activities to achieve objectives/outcomes.
• Develop strategies that promote higher and more sustained levels of learning.

Required Module No. 2: Implementing Teaching and Learning Strategies

• Implement active learning in both the classroom and clinic.
• Conduct discussions that achieve objectives/outcomes.
• Present interactive lectures.
• Employ precepting skills that motivate students toward life long learning.

Required Module No. 3: Assessing Student Learning

• Develop assessment-as-learning strategies to enhance student learning in didactic and clinical settings.
• Design a course formulated on ability-based educational principles and strategies.

Elective Modules

The purpose of the elective modules is to allow participants to address specific teaching issues and challenges, and to apply them to their own educational environment. Examples are: How to lead discussions; How to create a portfolio assessment system; How to provide feedback in a clinical setting; How to develop complex cases; How to create and use criteria for assessment; How to handle disruptive students; How to motivate students for self-learning; How to develop professional attitudes in students; How to create and use grading templates. The Teaching and Learning Certificate Program requires completion of 10 hours of elective modules.

• To address instructional needs associated with specific teaching environments.
• To develop teaching skills and strategies that can be incorporated directly into particular experiential or didactic instructional settings.

Portfolio

In addition to completing the 18 hours of required modules and 10 hours of elective modules, each participant must assemble a formative portfolio containing teaching philosophy, teaching products, self-assessments, and peer or mentor assessments. Portfolio development will be initiated following completion of the basic training module. Each of the three academic symposia will help participants further develop future teaching materials for the portfolio.

Participants are required to recruit a mentor, preferably from their own institutions, to provide guidance and feedback for the portfolio. Each participant will maintain the portfolio via an online system developed and maintained by ACCP.

ACCP Academy
Teaching and Learning Certificate Program
2008-2011 Curricular Schedules

1. The prerequisite basic training module will be offered every fall on the day before the ACCP Annual Meeting.
2. One required 4-hour academic module will be offered every fall, embedded in regular meeting programming.
3. Two required 4-hour academic modules will be offered every spring: one on the day before the Spring Forum, and one embedded in regular programming.
4. Curricular track electives (2 offerings, each 2 hours in length) will be offered every spring and fall, embedded in regular meeting programming.

Enrollees in the Teaching and Learning Certificate Program must complete the prerequisite module, Basic Training, prior to receiving credit for any other required modules. However, Academy enrollees may receive credit for electives prior to completing Basic Training.

Basic Training and required modules 1-3 must be taken in sequential order, as programming is designed to build upon knowledge gained from the previous module.*

Online portfolio assignments must be completed 1) within 6 months of taking a module and 2) prior to participating in the next module. Enrollees in the Teaching and Learning Certificate Program who will be eligible for graduation at the next Fall meeting must complete online portfolio assignments by August 1.

* THIS SEQUENCING REQUIREMENT DOES NOT APPLY TO THOSE ENROLLED PRIOR TO OCTOBER 1, 2008.

The program application form can be downloaded as a PDF file from the ACCP Web site at Academy Program Application Other than the regular meeting registration fees for the ACCP spring/fall meetings or selected premeeting symposia, there are no added costs for obtaining the program's required or elective modules. A one-time application fee of $150 (to offset expenses for online portfolio maintenance) will be charged upon enrollment in the certificate program.

Questions? Visit the FAQs page or contact Amy Gaier.

To download the teaching and learning application, click here.