2021 Conference Overview

The 2021 Summer Conference hosted by the Teaching Academy of the Consortium of West Region Colleges of Veterinary Medicine is packed with exceptional opportunities and experiences. Outlined below are the details and schedule of the conference.

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Keynote Workshops (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday)

Competency-Based Education – Assessment Matters!

Speakers: Karen Hauer (UCSF), Kathy Salisbury (Purdue), Kristin Chaney (Texas A&M), Jennie Hodgson (Virginia-Maryland), Susan Matthew (WSU), and Jared Danielson (Iowa State)

Tuesday, July 13th 11:30 – 12:30 pm PST	Competency-Based Medical Education: A Focus on Outcomes to Improve Health Care Session Objectives: To define key terms and concepts in competency-based medical education (CBME) To explain how to use an outcomes-based approach to curricular and assessment design To demonstrate how CBME supports learner-centeredness in education
	CBVE Workshops and Competency Assessment Global Objectives: Over two sessions participants will be able to: Describe and provide the rationale for EPAs, milestones, and programmatic assessment. Describe principles of effective written and verbal feedback. Given an assessment task, select the appropriate instrument. Compare and contrast several instruments in a simulated workplace-based setting.
Wednesday, July  14th 10:00 – 12:00 pm PST	Session #1 Presenters: Jared Danielson & Jennie Hodgson Facilitators: Kathy Salisbury, Kristin Chaney & Susan Matthew The first 2-hour workshop will discuss entrustment and entrustable professional activities (EPAs), scales that measure entrustment, and programmatic assessment, including how to find your own discipline (including pre-clinical disciplines) in the CBVE framework.

Thursday, July 15th 10:00 – 12:00 pm PST

Session #2 – Documenting Learner Progression Presenters: Kathy Salisbury, Kristin Chaney & Susan Matthew Facilitators: Jared Danielson & Jennie Hodgson The second 2-hour workshop will expand on the prior workshop by discussing the principles of effective written and verbal feedback, as well as the use of milestones to guide feedback in competency-based assessments. Participants will practice with video examples of student performance. The objectives of this workshop are for participants to: Describe principles of effective written and verbal feedback Describe and provide the rationale for milestones in competency-based assessment Apply the principles of effective feedback and CBVE Milestones to guide learners towards competence

RTA Initiatives – Reports

Session Chair – Maria Fahie (WU)

Tuesday, July 13th 9:00 – 10:00 am PST

20 minutes each: Updates and progress reports from the four major Initiatives within the RTA and membership committee. The Initiatives are: Faculty Development, External Peer Review of Teaching, Quantification of Teaching Effort and Effectiveness, and Local Peer Review of Teaching.

RTA Initiative Workshops

Clinical Teaching – Wednesday, July 14th 3:00 pm PST

Workshop – RTA Clinical Teaching – Faculty Development: Session Chairs – Paul Gordon-Ross (WU) & Tandi Ngwenyama (OSU) Workshop: Meeting the Learner – Setting the Stage for Learning Activities – Setting the stage for learning is important for every learning activity. In an unpredictable clinical rotation setting the stage and orienting the learner as well as yourself is essential. This session will explore the preparation steps that can be taken to enhance the learning experience. The focus will be on the clinical setting, but many concepts are transferable to any educational environment. The workshop will engage participants in small group discussion and large group topic coverage where ideas and concepts are related to educational theory and best practice based on educational research

Teaching Innovations

Session Co-Chair – Barbara Byrne (UCD), Andrew West (CSU) Laurie Fonken (CSU), Karen Boudreaux (UCD)

Tuesday, July 13th 1:00 – 2:00 pm PST Thursday, July 15th 1:00 – 3:00 pm PST

Teaching Innovations are 10-minute informal, interactive sessions presenting ideas for innovation and best practices in veterinary medical and biomedical teaching. These sessions are ideal for offering successful solutions to challenges teachers face, as well as approaches that were not as successful since these are wonderful learning opportunities. These sessions could include tips and tricks, clinical teaching strategies and ideas, as well as other topics such as technology and meeting the challenges of virtual teaching. Presentations under this heading should NOT reflect active scholarship/education research. Join us at the Teaching Innovations sessions! Please complete submission forms via qualtrics survey by due May 10th.

Scholarship/Educational Research Podium and Poster Sessions

Session Co-Chairs – Maria Fahie (WUHS), Jillian Haines (WSU), Andrew West (CSU), & Karen Boudreaux (UCD)

Wednesday, July 14th & Thursday, July 15th 8:30 – 9:30 am PST

Scholarship/Educational Research Podium: Teaching Scholarship/Educational Research are 15-minute podium sessions designed to present educational research to peers, facilitating our mission, and fostering potential collaborative research interests. Priority is given to completed studies not previously published and/or presented elsewhere, preferably including objective measures and statistical analysis. Proposals will be reviewed and scored using a rubric with feedback supplied and returned to all submissions. This is a great opportunity to foster collaborative research interests as you share your work! We can’t wait to learn about what you’re trying! SUBMIT A MEETING PROPOSAL HERE If you have any questions or experience any issues with submitting your proposal, please contact Karen Boudreaux at kaboudreaux@ucdavis.edu.

Tuesday, July 13th 4:00 – 5:00 pm PST

Poster Session: The primary goal of the poster session is to give as many members as possible the chance to present their work while also preserving time for scientific discussion during abstract presentations. A decision on which abstracts will be presented in traditional podium style and which will be assigned to the poster session will be made following abstract evaluation. Participants selected for a poster presentation will be expected to present a podium talk up to two minutes long. This is intended as an opportunity to promote and enhance the visibility of participants’ work. Summaries may choose to utilize PowerPoint slides (no more than two total) that illustrate key elements of the poster. Poster Sessions are informal times where conference participants peruse posters on a variety of topics by their colleagues. Posters can focus on teaching techniques, budding or developed educational research, and other topics. All submissions will be reviewed using a rubric. SUBMIT A MEETING PROPOSAL HERE If you have any questions or experience any issues with submitting your proposal, please contact Karen Boudreaux at kaboudreaux@ucdavis.edu.

Assessing and Supporting Veterinary Educator Wellbeing

Session Chair – Laurie Fonken (CSU)

Tuesday, July 13th 2:00 pm PST

“How Are You Doing?” Presenters: Dr. Karen Boudreaux (UCD) and Dr. Laurie Fonken (CSU)This session will provide an opportunity for RTA educators to answer the question “How Are You Doing?”. As educators we focus much of our attention on the learners. Not only do we educate, but we also tune into the health and wellbeing of the students we interact with. Part of the work of the Educator Wellbeing Committee is to assess and address the wellbeing of our RTA members. How do we take care of our own health and wellbeing so we can serve as educators, mentors and role models for students? We will take a look at surveys including participants ProQOL results, explore their meaning both personally and professionally, and identify areas of need as well as places of strength. Participants should have their ProQOL results handy as we will use them in the session.

Wednesday, July 14th 1:30 pm  PST

Conquer your Stress: Go from worrier to warrior Guest Speaker: Kathy Gruver, PhD, CHt, LMTIt’s estimated that stress is responsible for 60-90% of doctor’s visits and one million workers miss work each day because of stress, costing companies $602 per employee per year, according to the American Institute of Stress. It is imperative that we recognize that stress is not the problem – it’s our reaction to our stress and we can learn to control it. Acquire cutting edge self-care techniques – affirmations, visualization, breathwork, mindfulness and mini-meditations – that you and your staff can do for better health. Master a mini meditation that anyone can do anytime. Learn how we can use visualization to improve our leadership and work performance outcomes. Additionally you’ll explore how our words and thoughts can make a difference in our daily lives. Also covered will be how we can incorporate all of our senses in daily mindfulness to decrease the stress response and gain control over our reactions, bringing us to greater peace and productivity. Attendees will walk away with an increased sense of control over stress, and practical tools that can be immediately put to use in their everyday lives. Recognize the emotional, physical and behavioral signs of stress. Examine current research on meditation, positive self-talk and visualization and how it can be incorporated into your workday. Learn a simple technique, known as a mini-meditation, to stop the stress response in its tracks. Understand how you can use your daydreams to boost immune function and increase relaxation. Discover how to incorporate mindfulness into your day even if you think you don’t have time.

New RTA Fellow Orientation

Session Co-Chairs – Phil Mixter (WSU) 

Monday, July 12th 3:30 – 5 pm PST

WELCOME new Regional Teaching Academy fellows! Every other year we welcome a group new fellows. Our 2021 New Fellow Session will be Monday July 12th starting at 3:30 pm PT (just before our opening reception). This session will give you context and do what the RTA does best: connect new fellows with other RTA fellows, forming relationships that support you in your instruction while helping you fully participate in the RTA’s array of professional development activities. Plan to attend and connect with a new regional colleague!