Faculty development in teaching skills: an intensive longitudinal model

Although reflection contributes to the personal growth of clinician-educators and is important for effective teaching, few teaching skills programs report its use. The Johns Hopkins Faculty Development Program in Teaching Skills, first implemented in 1987 as a theoretically grounded, longitudinal model for faculty development of clinician-educators, comprises a set of conditions intended to promote reflective learning. This paper describes the program and reports evaluation results for 98 participants and a comparison group of 112 nonparticipants between 1988 and 1996. Participants met with facilitators weekly for nine months for 3.5 hours, in stable groups of four to six individuals. Educational methods used across seven content areas emphasized relationships and collaboration, and included information provision, experiential learning with reflection, and personal awareness sessions. A pre-post evaluation design with comparison group measured changes in self-assessed teaching and professional skills, teaching enjoyment, and learning effectiveness. A post-only evaluation design appraised overall program quality, educational methods, facilitation, learning environment, and perceived impact of participation. Program participants had significantly greater pre-post-change scores than nonparticipants for all 14 outcomes (p