Presented By: Nancy Moreno, Baylor College of Medicine
Co-Authors: Sherita Love, Baylor College of Medicine
Alana Newell, Baylor College of Medicine
Tyson Pillow, Baylor College of Medicine

Purpose 
Use of active learning pedagogies is becoming ubiquitous in health professions education. These approaches, however, require educators to develop new skills as planners and facilitators, so that sessions flow smoothly, and every learner attains the intended knowledge and skills. Importantly, students who are less engaged tend to learn less during active learning sessions than those who participate fully. Thus, we have developed a framework for organizing one's teaching to ensure that learners have equitable opportunities to be involved, and develop knowledge and skills during active learning classes.

Methods 
The Rethinking Your Teaching approach has been delivered in faculty development sessions during the past 18 months. Participants include course directors, content creators and other instructors responsible for planning and delivering a new active learning curriculum for undergraduate medical education. The interactive workshop is supported by planning tools for envisioning what will happen before, during and after a class session, including strategies to engage every learner. Use of the 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) model of instruction is incorporated into the planning tools. The two-hour session serves as the gateway to a series of additional workshops related to active learning and technology integration.

Results 
One hundred and five (105) faculty members have participated in Rethinking Your Teaching workshops. Session evaluations are uniformly high, with overall ratings of 4.69 on a 5-point scale (5 = excellent; N=34). The planning tools and teaching strategies have been incorporated by individual instructors in the design and delivery of large group interactive sessions.

Conclusion 
Short-term faculty development opportunities can support active learning initiatives and encourage educators to expand their teaching repertoire to include strategies that engage every learner, instead of just a few class participants. Based on educator feedback, professional development supported by explicit planning tools enhances the design and delivery of active learning sessions.