Session Design Submission Review

Yes

• CoSEF

Target Audience:
This interactive workshop is designed for surgical and clinical educators at all levels—faculty, fellows, residents, and teaching staff—who want to enhance their teaching effectiveness in high-acuity, time-pressured environments such as the operating room, wards, clinic, and simulation centers.

Overview:
Clinical teaching often occurs in fast-paced, unpredictable settings where educators must balance patient care, supervision, and instruction. This workshop poses a guiding question—“Am I an effective educator?”—and provides a structured framework and practical tools for self-assessment, adaptability, and continuous improvement in teaching.

Participants will learn to plan, deliver, and refine their teaching using a structured Entrustable Professional Activity (EPA)-style cycle consisting of three phases: Pre-Teaching (planning with intentionality), Intra-Teaching (real-time adaptation), and Post-Teaching (reflection and refinement). The session integrates adult learning theory, the Kolb experiential learning model, fundamentals of microexpressions and body language, and evidence-based teaching evaluation tools to enhance both awareness and impact.

Phase 1: Pre-Teaching – Planning with Intentionality
Participants will begin by reframing “good teaching” as a deliberate process rather than an intuitive one. Using quick pre-planning frameworks and the System for Evaluation of Teaching Qualities (SETQ), participants will identify clear, measurable objectives for a real clinical encounter. They will then adapt these objectives using multiple strategies (e.g., storytelling, frameworks, problem-solving, or hands-on teaching) to reach diverse learners across settings.

Phase 2: Intra-Teaching – Adaptive Strategies and Cue Recognition
The second phase focuses on real-time adaptability. Participants will learn to detect and interpret non-verbal teaching cues, such as facial microexpressions, posture, tone, and gesture, as indicators of learner engagement, confusion, or stress. Using a practical 3-step “Cue Check” framework (Observe, Validate, Adapt), participants will practice switching teaching strategies in response to learner cues. Through small-group simulations, participants will watch standardized videos with various cues and rotate roles as educators to practice adaptive teaching in real clinical scenarios. Using validated tools such as the FACE (Feedback Assessment for Clinical Education) and Mini-CEX, observers will provide immediate, structured feedback on each educator’s communication, adaptability, and teaching effectiveness.

Phase 3: Post-Teaching – Feedback, Reflection, and Refinement
The final phase emphasizes structured reflection and growth. Participants will apply guided reflection tools such as the “Ask-Tell-Ask” model and the AAMC milestone-based teaching evaluation to assess their effectiveness, close the feedback loop with learners, and identify opportunities for refinement. Through peer coaching and structured worksheets, educators will rewrite and improve their initial teaching plans to better integrate adaptability, feedback, and location-specific strategies.

Take-Home Tools and Skills:
By the end of the session, participants will leave with a comprehensive resource packet and actionable tools to implement immediately at their home institutions, including:

• Quick Pre-Planning Frameworks (Learning Objective Formula + Three-Box Pre-Plan)
• SETQ and FACE Evaluation Tools
• Cue Recognition & Adaptation Worksheet
• Kolb Learning Strategy Grid (applied to OR, ward, clinic, and sim contexts)
• Reflection & Refinement Template for Teaching Growth Portfolios

Learning Outcomes:

By integrating intentional planning, adaptive delivery, and structured reflection, this workshop equips clinical educators to confidently answer the central question: “Am I an effective educator?” and to back that answer with evidence and self-awareness.

90-minute workshop

Yes

Yes

Formulate clear, measurable learning objectives for clinical teaching encounters using an intentional pre-teaching framework.

Recognize verbal and non-verbal learner cues (e.g., microexpressions, tone, posture) to identify engagement or confusion during teaching.

Develop a structured post-teaching reflection using guided templates to assess performance and identify at least two refinements for future teaching.

Use validated assessment tools—such as the SETQ, FACE, and Mini-CEX—to evaluate and improve teaching effectiveness.

Integrate the EPA-style teaching cycle (Pre-, Intra-, Post-teaching) to create a continuous feedback and growth loop in clinical education.