The Professional Development Workshops (PDWS) will replace Pre-Conference Workshops (PCWS) starting with the IAMSE 2025 Annual Conference. Solicited directly from the IAMSE Professional Development Committee (PDC) on behalf of the Board of Directors, PDWSs will be IAMSE’s sanctioned workshops that can lead to certificate of attendance for specific topics related to the society’s faculty development focus areas. We are using the conceptual framework of micro-scholarship: PDWSs serve as stepping stones toward skill attendance certifications in each of the IAMSE faculty development areas. Those areas are:
- Teaching
- Learner Assessment
- Curriculum Development
- Advising and Mentoring
- Educational Leadership and Administration
In preparation for each Annual Conference, the PDC will determine what workshop(s) can be offered. Each certificate will require two PDWSs (some of which can be cross-completed). The PDC would plan the content and timing requirements for each certificate. Ideally, certificates in each of the faculty development areas would cycle regularly. Up-to-date certificates would be added, and out-of-date certificates would be removed as the field of medical science education evolved. The PDC would also decide whether multiple certificates can lead to a “diploma” in a specific topic. For example, members would need to earn 3-5 certificates in a faculty development area to earn an IAMSE diploma in that area (eg. IAMSE Diploma of Educational Leadership and Administration).
Definitions:
Professional Development Workshop (PDWS) - An Annual Conference or Virtual Forum* workshop that serves as a requisite for an IAMSE Certificate of Attendance.
Certification of Attendance - Recognition of a set of skills learned from a series of two PDWSs.
*offerings of these workshops at the Virtual Forum are not confirmed at this time.