In late December, a group of 15 medical education faculty from 13 universities across central and western China arrived to Omaha. Their goal was to observe medical education at UNMC. These faculty had observed classes in the College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, and the College of Public Health.
On Wednesday, June 21, they concluded their training at a ceremony where they gave presentations and received certificates of completion.
Jane Meza, PhD, senior associate dean for the College of Public Health and associate vice chancellor for global and student support, offered opening remarks. She congratulated the faculty on completing their training and commented on the success of the program. "In two years, we have had 59 faculty complete this training. Furthermore, we have seen it expand from 3 months to 6, and it has come to include faculty with a wide range of interests from a large number of institutions in China. We hope that this program has given you many ideas that you can use in your classrooms back home," Meza said.
Yafei Zhu, an OB-GYN physician and instructor from Gannan Medical University, represented faculty who had observed classes in the College of Medicine. Members of his group hoped to integrate competence-based learning and Integrated Clinical Experiences into their courses. Yafei in particular, hoped to link obstetrics to different bodily systems.
Yunqi Zhao, a professor of pharmaceutical sciences at Kunming Medical University, presented for the College of Pharmacy faculty. She highlighted how her group hoped to reformulate the course design for pharmacy labs. She said, "I hope to rewrite my courses’ learning objectives to make them more specific. In particular, I want to give my students a realistic idea of what it is like to be a pharmacist by increasing student responsibilities, having them do role plays and group assignments, completing government compounding regulation paperwork, and so on. I also hope to open an Aseptic Lab elective course."
Dongsheng Rui, an instructor of epidemiology at Shihezi University, presented for the faculty who had observed classes in the College of Public Health. The COPH group hoped to include more student-centered learning in their classes. Key to the success of this, Dongsheng said, is blended learning, where in-person classroom activities are combined with out-of-class learning technologies. "These types of activities are key to student learning," he said, pointing out how "students at UNMC are busy before class preparing, so that in class they can do many activities that help them use and retain knowledge."
Gerald Moore, MD, senior associate Dean for academic affairs in the College of Medicine, said that he was impressed with the faculty members’ presentations. He said, "I hope you can return in three years to see how the new Training the Physician of Tomorrow curriculum is going. We can also discuss how the changes to your courses are going."
Keith Swarts, interim director for the Asia Pacific Rim Development Program, told the faculty "you are all now alumni of UNMC. We hope to see you at alumni events in China in the future."