Publication Type: Invited Paper
Abstract: One outgrowth of communication education scholarship and teaching is communication across the curriculum (CXC) where communication scholar teachers teach disciplinary practices and principles to students not majoring in communication. The CXC movement has spawned unique and innovative partnerships between communication scholars and scholars from other, often technical disciplines. The result is a coming together of two distinct, disciplinary cultures. The purpose of this narrative is to describe the coming together of these cultures during the planning stage of curriculum collaboration. During this situation, both disciplines and individual identities are called into question. Through my story, I highlight how differences in pedagogy are negotiated during curriculum planning meetings between communication and engineering professionals, with profound implications for identity, disciplinary egoism, and CXC in general.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Teachers who maintain learner-centered stances in the face of standardized curricula demonstrate curriculum agency. This paper addresses what it looks like, how it is nurtured and sustained in beginning teachers.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: This poster displays analytic tools for understanding the subtle differences between the intended mathematical goals of reform-based curricular materials and the mathematics that teachers actually draw out and teach in their classrooms. The analysis leads to the concept of possible curriculum — the range of valid mathematical goals that can be addressed and different routes through which the goals can be fulfilled.

Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: Intent: The purpose of the educational innovation was 1) to improve the ability of students to integrate clinical and managerial knowledge, skills and abilities 2) to incorporate current, practice-relevant topics in the pharmacy management course and 3) to improve perceived relevance, student interest and performance in the course. Process: Third-year PharmD student teams in the required pharmacy management course designed a virtual community pharmacy and included a disease management clinic (DSM) for a chronic disease assigned to each team. Teams prepared a report by responding to 10 questions ranging from epidemiology, strategic and financial planning, regulations and clinical management pathways to outcomes measurement and feasibility analysis. Responses required application of therapeutic knowledge and managerial concepts, literature evaluation and focus on patient education and communication. Assessments included grading of team reports, team presentations and of individuals based on questions to each team member by a panel of judges. Results: Evidence of success of the innovation is reflected by student performance, positive comments about the innovation, higher scores on student course evaluations and increased interest in clerkships in the area. Implications: In addition to incorporating an area of high professional relevance (DSM) to the curriculum, the assignment is innovative in design, implementation and assessment of individual and team work. Further, it helps integrate knowledge, skills and abilities learnt through the curriculum, is topical and practical, promotes teamwork and personal responsibility, and helps students better appreciate the value of management and its role in patient care, and is easily workable in any institution.

Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Develop and evaluate a curriculum-spanning, problem-based learning activity which will integrate and strengthen basic and clinical pharmacy sciences knowledge by utilizing a patient-centered, progressive disclosure case study. METHODS: Five 1-hour discussion sessions over a 3-month period were conducted for first- (P1), second- (P2), and third-year (P3) pharmacy students. All sessions were led by two fourth-year (P4) students, and attended by the clinical faculty preceptor and a basic sciences faculty member. The presentation of the patient case was modeled on medical “morning report”, in which pertinent information is progressively disclosed by presenters in response to questions. Throughout the discussion period, the faculty members would ask the P1-P3 students to develop a differential diagnosis and a treatment plan. After the end of the discussion of valid recommendations and pharmacotherapeutic treatment plans, the P4 students concluded with a summary of the patient’s outcome for comparison. A 17-question survey was administered to the P1-P3 students to determine the effectiveness of the learning activity. RESULTS: Seventy-five percent (n=43) of the participants completed the survey. All respondents agreed the activity was a positive learning experience, with 95% and 84% agreeing that the activity helped the students apply basic sciences and clinical pharmacy sciences knowledge, respectively, in a patient case scenario. IMPLICATIONS: Adapting the medical model of “morning report” for use in a professional pharmacy curriculum allows for curriculum-wide integration of basic and clinical sciences in a problem-based learning environment. The success of this pilot program warrants further evaluation and possible integration into the pharmacy curriculum.