Does Student-Led Faculty Development Have A Place in Health Professions Education?

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Background: Instructors at health sciences universities typically transition directly from the clinical to academic setting, limiting their ability to formally develop proficiency in the science of teaching. We assess the effectiveness of a student-led faculty development course and faculty perceptions of the program. Methods: Faculty from a clinical graduate program participated in a longitudinal student-led faculty development course. The course was offered in four separate 90-minute modules led by a student facilitator. Faculty completed course evaluations after each module, a knowledge assessment before and after the course, and a comprehensive evaluation upon completion of the course. Descriptive statistics were used to explore the effectiveness of the course and faculty perceptions. Results: Faculty (N=5) exhibited increased knowledge in teaching and learning principles after the course (p < 0.01). The highest-rated area on the module evaluations was the relevance of the topics to the participants' roles as instructors (4.31 ± 0.22). The lowest-rated area was pace of the modules (3.55 ± 0.62). The final course evaluation results showed that faculty rated the overall curriculum delivery very high (4.20 ± 0.46). Overall, faculty rated the student's instructional quality at or above what they would expect from a peer faculty member (3.80 ± 0.72). Faculty expressed that the most valuable parts of the curriculum were applicable content, the introduction to evidence-based learning and teaching concepts, and the group discussions. Conclusions: A student-led faculty development course improved faculty knowledge of learning, teaching, and assessment principles.