InnovatED Symposium

Self-reflection allows for personal growth and the development of new knowledge, without direct faculty support. A team of nursing faculty set out to determine if allowing for self-guided reflection would help students develop their knowledge and skills for the observed structured clinical examination (OSCE). Students were allowed to self-evaluate a recording of their simulation performance, identify needed remediation, and modify their skills and approach. Join experts for an insightful presentation that explores how self-reflection and peer debriefing can significantly enhance the learning experience and prepare nursing students (and beyond) for successful clinical practice.

Presenters

• Emily Coffey, MSN, RN, MHA, Nurse Specialist and Instructor, College of Nursing
• Elizabeth Bockoven, MSN, RN, Instructor, College of Nursing
• Sandra Sasse, MSN, RN, Clinical Instructor, College of Nursing

Location & Time

Main Event Hall at 10:30 a.m.

Suicide is far too common, and mental health professionals are far too few. As trusted health care professionals, pharmacists are a valuable resource to identify and help patients in a mental health crisis, including those with suicidal thoughts. However, this isn’t always included in curricula and creating activities to practice these skills can be challenging. Hear how faculty partnered with UNMC Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) experts to create a skills training session and simulation for students to develop skills in suicide prevention.

Presenters

• Kristen Cook, PharmD, BCACP, Clinical Associate Professor & Director of Equity and Inclusion, College of Pharmacy
• Jeff Knapp, LICSW, Director of Counseling and Psychological Services, Division of Student Success
• Linda M. Sobeski, PharmD, BCPS, Clinical Associate Professor, College of Pharmacy  

Location & Time

Main Event Hall at 10:30 a.m.

How do you increase experiential learning and provide realistic activities for students without spending a lot of money? Ask a colleague to participate! Like patients, colleague volunteers have varied knowledge of their family history and little or no previous interaction with the specific student, offering a more realistic experience than working with faculty or classmates. Discover how one program recruited employees to provide a low-stakes opportunity for students to practice clinical skills — and how you can use this approach too.

Presenter

Holly Zimmerman, MS, CGC, Program Director for Genetic Counseling & Associate Professor, College of Allied Health Professions

Location & Time

Main Event Hall at 10:30 a.m.

Get ready to dive into the world of gamification to supercharge student engagement and motivation, sharpen critical thinking and master problem-solving skills. Instructional design experts will share lessons learned and best practices to effectively implement gamification in your courses, along with various tools and technologies — including digital escape rooms. You'll learn how to engage your learners, dodge common mistakes, and strike the perfect balance between fun and educational value.

Presenters

• Zach Slocum, MAEd, Instructional Designer, College of Medicine
• Steph Langel, MA, MSEd, Instructional Designer, Interactive E-Learning

Location & Time

Room B at 10:30 a.m.

In the evolving landscape of health professions education, mentoring clinical students engaged in research activities poses unique challenges and opportunities. This presentation aims to empower faculty members with effective strategies for mentoring students undertaking research rotations or projects. In this session, you’ll gain a toolkit of strategies tailored to the needs of clinical students, common challenges faced by mentors, best practices for effective research mentorship, and actionable ways to enhance the mentoring experience for you and your mentees.

Presenter

Priscila Rodrigues Armijo, MD, Assistant Professor, College of Medicine

Location & Time

Room C at 10:30 a.m.

AI has a large role in our everyday lives — and now faculty are finding new ways to use it to teach biomedical research. Join faculty from the Interdisciplinary Program in Biomedical Sciences (IGPBS) to learn how they use AI in asynchronous workshop-style learning with simulated experiments. You’ll discover techniques on using flipped classroom activities to break away from traditional lectures or memorization-based material and focus on critically evaluating, integrating and expanding concepts to accelerate biomedical research using AI.

Presenters

• Jordan Rowley, PhD, Associate Professor, College of Medicine; Director, Bioinformatics & Systems Biology PhD Program
• Andrew Dudley, PhD, Associate Professor, College of Medicine; Co-Director, Anatomy Teaching Track PhD Program; Co-Director, T32 Training Grant Program

LOCATION & TIME

Room D at 10:30 a.m.

Mentoring relationships can have great influence in the lives and career progression of graduate students. Now, you can enhance your mentoring with coaching, a methodology for meeting students where they are and helping them carve their own career paths. Hear viewpoints from a faculty member and a graduate student on their experience with coaching, and what they both learned along the way. Using the International Coaching Federation (ICF) Core Competencies as a framework, the presenters will give you tips and tricks for your own mentoring relationships.

Presenters

• Michelle Strong, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor, College of Public Health
• Natalia Santos, MPH, Doctoral Candidate & Graduate Research Assistant, College of Public Health

LOCATION & TIME

Main Event Hall at 11:30 a.m.

Microcredentialling and digital badges have come to UNMC! But don’t worry — experts have created frameworks to help you decide if the program is right for you, and several individuals have already implemented strategies. Join this UNMC panel for unique perspectives on different UNMC implementations, including their successes, challenges, and fee structure considerations for repeatability and sustainability. Come with your questions about UNMC digital badges for internal and external learners.

Panelists

• Peggy Moore, MSEd, Director, E-Learning and Noncredit Learning; Assistant Professor, College of Allied Health Professions
• Karen Gould, PhD, MA, Interim Executive Associate Dean, Graduate Studies; Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
• Tuggen Even, MSEd, Instructional Technologist II, NU Advance, E-Learning
• Zuzi Greiner, MSEd, uBEATS Instructional Technologist II, Interactive E-Learning
• Kendra K. Schmid, PhD, MA, Interim Dean, Graduate Studies; Interim Associate Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs

LOCATION & TIME

Room B at 11:30 a.m.

Teaching students how to have tough conversations is challenging. There are many observable behaviors in a difficult conversation, and even more invisible emotions, assumptions, and attitudes that inform both a physician’s and patient’s responses. As physicians, we tend to put our own feelings aside in these conversations — or at least we think we do. Discover a “Difficult Conversations” curriculum created by experts to help you teach learners how to understand their internal emotions ... and pick up a few pointers about addressing your own thoughts, ideas and emotions.

Presenters

• Regan Taylor, MD, Assistant Professor, College of Medicine
• Melissa Teply, MD, Associate Professor, College of Medicine

LOCATION & TIME

Room C at 11:30 a.m.

Overwhelmed with creating a simulation that meets the Healthcare Education Standards of Best Practice for Simulation Design? Experienced simulationists will share examples to guide participants through a streamlined approach to meet design standards. You will learn how to use data to guide scenario development, explore ways to creatively design cases with elevated levels of fidelity, examine evaluation methods and more. Though this session is presented through a nursing lens, it applies to all disciplines.

Presenters

• Jenna Dubas, EdD, RN, Assistant Professor, College of Nursing – Lincoln Division
• Tiffany Hunt, EdD, RN, Assistant Professor, College of Nursing – Lincoln Division

LOCATION & TIME

Room D at 11:30 a.m.

Residents must develop an understanding of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion issues to provide optimal care. Unfortunately, common teaching techniques may lack the individuality and nuance of real-life scenarios. A far more impactful technique is centering the topic around realistic patient encounters, allowing for candid discussions while drawing comparisons to broader medical or societal issues. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to facilitate these discussions, how to delve into challenging and often uncomfortable topics, and how to assess preexisting beliefs. 

Presenters

• Jasmine R. Marcelin, MD, FACP, FIDSA, Associate Professor & Vice Chair of Equity and Inclusive Excellence, College of Medicine; Associate Medical Director, Nebraska Medicine Antimicrobial Stewardship Program
• Debra Wekesa, MD, Chief Resident for Scholarship and Patient Safety, College of Medicine
• Garima Bhandari, DO, House Officer II, College of Medicine
• Sandra Frimpong, MD, House Officer II, College of Medicine
• Nora M. Kovar, MD, Assistant Professor, College of Medicine
• Precious Davis, EdD, Assistant Professor, College of Medicine; Director, Community Collaborative Academy
• Steven D. Ebers, MD, Assistant Professor, College of Medicine

Location & Time

Main Event Hall at 1:15 p.m.

While medical school and residency teach how to diagnose and manage medical conditions and communicate with patients, there is little focus on training learners on how to teach. One solution: use video-based coaching sessions to bring residents together for peer and faculty feedback on their past teaching sessions. Discover how educators in the Health Educators and Academic Leaders (HEAL) Track are using video-based coaching to train residents how to be better teachers, and learn ways this technique can be explored in graduate medical education.

Presenters

• Amy Dreessen, MD, Assistant Professor, College of Medicine
• Ryan Mullane, DO, Assistant Professor, College of Medicine

Location & Time

Room B at 1:15 p.m.

A swift and collaborative response during an emergency is a tough skill that is best learned by hands-on practice, and one that has become a key focus in competency-based nursing curriculum. However, the skill is highly necessary for students across all UNMC colleges. Learn how graduate nursing faculty and UNMC Heroes staff are working together to create an interprofessional eight-hour, in-person simulation event that concentrates on advanced preparedness during a natural disaster and public health emergency, namely a tornado scenario that affects a rural critical access hospital.

Presenter

• Rebecca Swanson, DNP, APRN, CPNP-AC/PC, Clinical Assistant Professor, College of Nursing — Omaha Division
• Jennifer Cera, DNP, APRN-NP, WHNP-BC, FAUNA, Clinical Associate Professor, College of Nursing — Omaha Division

Location & Time

Room C at 1:15 p.m.

Minecraft. Fortnite. Grand Theft Auto. Hospital medical education? Gaming is everywhere, and more and more faculty are powering up their courses with games — and you can, too! Discover what happens when gamification meets adult learning theory. You’ll experience an in-person escape room and see how students can embark on a choose-your-own-adventure triage activity, both crafted to turbocharge learner engagement. Presenters will also share common pitfalls and challenges in gamifying medical education and reveal how they conquered them — and how you can use their tips and tricks to start your own quest.

Presenters

• Evan Symons, DO, Fellow, College of Medicine
• Whitney Bossert, MD, Assistant Professor, College of Medicine

Location & Time

Room D at 1:15 p.m.

Discover how to unlock the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in inclusive education. This session will explore when Universal Design for Learning (UDL) meets AI, showcasing how AI can be used to address the needs of learners. Experts will demonstrate practical applications of AI in designing learning tasks that cater to diverse learning skills and abilities while enhancing accessibility, engagement and learning outcomes. You’ll also engage in interactive polling and case study discussions highlighting UDL principles and discover ways to solve them with AI tools.

Presenters

• Tanya Custer, PhD, MS, RT(R)(T)ARRT, Director of Distance Education & Associate Professor, College of Allied Health Professions
• Analisa McMillan, PhD, MSEd, Director, Distance Education; Assistant Professor & Director of Teaching and Learning, College of Public Health
• Peggy Moore, MSEd, Director, E-Learning; Assistant Professor, College of Allied Health Professions
• Kim Michael, EdD, MA, RT(R), RDMS, RVT, FSDMS, Director, Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Anderson Distinguished Professor , Professor, College of Allied Health Professions

Location & Time

Main Hall at 2:15 p.m.

Red Rover, Red Rover, send a UNMC faculty right over! Embrace the joy of learning through play in higher education as presenters explore the transformative power of incorporating playful moments into instructional practices, whether in the physical or virtual classroom. Through a dynamic blend of interactive games and playful interactions, experts will unveil practical strategies honed through 22 years of collective teaching experience. By the session’s conclusion, you will be equipped with evidence-based techniques and resources to incorporate into your teaching.

Presenters

• Zuzi Greiner, MSEd, uBEATS Instructional Technologist II, Interactive E-Learning
• Steph Langel, MA, MSEd, Instructional Designer, Interactive E-Learning
• Deanna Ingram, MA, uBEATS Curriculum & Education Specialist, Interactive E-Learning

Location & Time

Room B at 2:15 p.m.

Effective preparation is crucial for medical students and trainees gearing up to assist in surgical procedures. The Surgical Prep Buddy, an interactive smart bot, is designed specifically to enhance the readiness and confidence of students before they step into the operating room. The AI and machine learning technology allow the bot to understand context and tailor responses that cater to the user’s needs. Find out how faculty are embracing smart bot technology to train better physicians and how you can apply it to teach students from other disciplines.

Presenter

Ashok Puri, MD, Instructor, College of Medicine

LOCATION & TIME

Room C at 2:15 p.m.

Are you transforming your teaching methods to be more engaging and innovative? Discover how you can share your newfound insights with others in this informal session focused on transforming your innovative teaching into scholarship. You’ll hear stories from local experts before breaking into small groups to brainstorm and connect. Get ready to leave inspired and equipped with new ideas and strategies to get a jumpstart on your scholarly projects.

Presenters

• Michelle C. Howell, PhD, Education Researcher, Interprofessional Academy of Educators; Assistant Professor, Department of Health Promotion, College of Public Health
• Elizabeth Beam, PhD, RN, Education Researcher, Interprofessional Academy of Educators; Director, Global Health; NSRI Fellow & Affiliate Faculty in the Global Center for Health Security; Associate Professor & HEROES Program Director, College of Nursing

LOCATION & TIME

Room D at 2:15 p.m.

KEYNOTE

Generative AI: Technology's Swiss Army Knife presented by Victor Winter, PhD, Professor of Computer Science, University of Nebraska Omaha

RESOURCES

• Symposium agenda and presentation descriptions
• PowerPoints for the additional sessions (requires UNMC login)