Abstract:

As medical education continues to evolve in response to global challenges leading to development of increasing international partnerships, the need for developing a shared understanding of curriculum and pedagogical approaches becomes increasingly imperative. This paper describes a faculty development program that was designed to foster understanding and a collaborative approach to support the success of an international partnership in medical education between the University of Alberta (UofA) and Wenzhou Medical University (WMU), known as the Alberta Institute Wenzhou Medical University (AIWMU).

The online Teaching Scholars Program-Alberta Institute (TSP-AI), comprised of three sequential courses—Introduction to Medical Education Theory & Practice (TSP-AI 01), Improving Classroom Teaching (TSP-AI 02), Introduction to Assessment & Program Evaluation (TSP-AI 03)—was launched as a leadership development initiative in the Fall of 2021. Two dual aims guided the development and introduction of this international faculty development program: 1) ensuring the cultural relevance of UofA curriculum materials, and 2) preparing WMU faculty to partner with UofA faculty and support student learning. Through TSP-AI, WMU faculty progressively review UofA curricular materials to Identify deficiencies and potential unintended redundancies, provide context and culturally relevant suggestions, work on developing new curriculum, and review and develop new assessment approaches. To date, two cohorts of WMU faculty have completed the certificate program.

In addition to describing learning platforms, course objectives, content and learning activities, reflective commentary on the impact of the TSP-AI faculty development program on the success of the AIWMU medical education program will be shared, including contributions of participants learning projects that have helped ensure a culturally relevant AIWMU curriculum. Participant satisfaction levels will also be summarized. Potential approaches for further optimizing the faculty development program, such as introducing a train-the-trainer approach, ongoing support mechanisms, introducing a virtual communities of practice to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration, and advanced courses on education scholarship and humanism and professionalism, etc., will be outlined.

Keywords:

Medical education, Transnational medical education, Faculty development, Intercultural.