Conferences & Events

Planning is key for effective facilitation that engages students in active and collaborative learning. Regardless of class size and student location, many barriers to collaborative learning can be overcome through an intentional planning process that includes the use of technology and facilitator training. ,Planned facilitation can guide the full group of learners to be engaged and rely on one another to achieve a common goal. During the session, we will guide attendees through planning for facilitation that predicts and manages the various facets of active and collaborative learning. Attendees will work in small groups to create a facilitation guide for a collaborative learning session. A worksheet that attendees can take with them will be used as a template to guide this process.

Integrating technology into collaborative learning sessions has become necessary to allow students to engage regardless of class size or student location. We will discuss and demonstrate how we have embraced technology as part of our planning process to guide facilitation that engages students in collaborative learning regardless of class size or student location. As we return from the small group activity, we will engage attendees in polls to share their experience and to also demonstrate how technology has been used to enhance all learning modalities. used. This will be followed by a discussion of how we planned virtual engagement for off-campus students and clinical site teams and how we used the virtual platform to connect in-person small groups.

With the need for multiple interprofessional learner groups, multiple facilitators are required, and faculty development is key to ensure fidelity to the learning outcomes and goals of the IPE curriculum. Faculty development includes the technology and the logistics for each session. During this workshop, we will walk through our approach to faculty development and training that contains interactive lectures, experiential learning activities, and reflective discussions. Attendees will participate in a brief activity to demonstrate a part of this process that will also serve as another example of technology aiding engagement.

In closing, we will share results from student and faculty evaluations to show the effectiveness of our facilitation planning process. In year 1, student evaluations indicated that faculty appeared prepared, and students found the materials and activities engaging. In year 1, faculty evaluation responses indicated faculty felt they had ample support and training to facilitate each IPE day’s activities. The Year 2 student and faculty evaluation responses showed even higher ratings. Students found the curriculum even more engaging, and faculty had ample support and training. Results suggest our process of developing planned facilitation prepares our faculty facilitators to engage interprofessional students in active and collaborative learning environments.