LAUSR

After a recent faculty development workshop, a participant emailed me this message: “Thank you for setting this up. It helped open my mind.” While the comment may be vague, the faculty developer in me probably wants to celebrate the success of the workshop. Yet, as a researcher, I immediately begin to ponder many questions raised by this comment, such as, What in the workshop opened the individual’s mind, what does it mean to have a mind open, will it stay open, and what will the faculty member do with this open mind to enhance learning? Medical education research has a rich history that has helped us understand the role of faculty development from providing skills to enhancing work satisfaction to meeting the demands of ever-changing pedagogy and assessment approaches. When speaking of faculty development, we draw from Steinert, who defines faculty development to include all the activities faculty members pursue to improve their knowledge, skills, and behaviors as teachers and educators, leaders and managers, and researchers and scholars, in both individual and group settings. Literature exists reporting characteristics of workshops and facilitators, the type of faculty who participate, etc. One might surmise that there is little left to study except to tweak these opportunities to better engage more faculty members and to make sure the newly learned skills stick. Yet, new questions arise, requiring study to aid faculty to face the many challenges that exist in teaching today. Faculty are at the heart of medical education, and we owe them the necessary research to ensure that they are appropriately supported for their continuous growth and for meeting the needs of our learners and educational programs.