Interview with Transforming Your Teaching Using Technology Scholar Stef Keator

Transforming your Teaching using Technology brings together scholars from across the globe annually. To better highlight our vibrant community, we are profiling several of our recent scholars and asking them about their experience in the program. In this blog post, we interview Stef Keator, BS, a child/adolescent psychiatry fellowship coordinator at Creighton University School of Medicine. 

Harvard Macy Institute: How would you describe your personal and professional background? 

I am currently a psychiatry residency program coordinator at Creighton University School of Medicine. My journey in the medical realm has been a winding road. I served as an office manager in a neurosurgery department and later moved into a position in Creighton’s Simulation Center at the School of Medicine. I eventually moved from an undergraduate medical education position to graduate medical education. In my current role, I support the psychiatry residency, the child/adolescent psychiatry fellowship, and the psychiatry rural track. I am involved in the development and scheduling of our didactic modules for residency. 

Harvard Macy Institute: What led you to apply to our Transforming your Teaching using Technology program? 

Our residency program has expanded to include two campuses that are separated by 190 miles. This has encouraged us to reconsider the way our didactic content is delivered to residents. Our department wanted to ensure that we were exploring all current options as we look ahead to connecting learners from two different clinical settings into one virtual classroom. 

Harvard Macy Institute: How would you describe your overall experience in this program? 

The course was immersive and fast-paced. I certainly had some initial apprehension as I was one of only a few people in the class who were not physicians. However, every single participant was extremely inclusive and supportive of my presence. I was able to learn a large amount of information in a very short period. My fellow scholars shared so many helpful insights, and I enjoyed the feeling that we were all exploring the vast and evolving world of technology together. In the end, I felt like a valuable member of the group. 

Harvard Macy Institute: How do you think this program is applicable to your profession? 

This program offers the opportunity to explore many different tools and technologies that can enhance live and virtual classroom experiences. I felt the course had significant depth and breadth. It was truly a comprehensive introduction to the current technological trends in health professions education. I noted multiple takeaways for our residency program. I wish everyone in my position could experience the impact of this course. Learning in a virtual setting, we were able to simultaneously gain knowledge about an array of technology platforms, while also experiencing and exploring the technology in action. 

Harvard Macy Institute: What were the two most important takeaways that you gained from the program? 

The first takeaway was a sage piece of advice from Ezra Schwartz, Harvard Macy Institute faculty member, “The best way to bring a hybrid classroom together is to draw the in-person learners into the virtual platform, rather than trying to draw the virtual learners into the in-person platform.” That was a paradigm shift for me. We had been trying to figure out how we could get our in-person learners to acknowledge the virtual learners. Instead, we learned to draw the in-person learners into the virtual experience with those who are joining the class virtually into a shared space virtually, so no one feels excluded. The other encouragement that I received from our Harvard Macy Institute small group faculty leader, Wendy Stewart, was to focus on maybe one or two types of technology at a time. Let your learners become comfortable using the new technology. Only move ahead when you feel that it would enrich the learning experience. 

Harvard Macy Institute: How has this program impacted your behavior within your professional work? Can you provide an example? 

As a result of this program, I shared several ideas with our residency teaching faculty. I was met with a fair amount of resistance. For example, I used Chat GPT to write a few psychiatric case scenarios with follow-up questions that could be used in didactics. Because I am not a physician, my cases and questions would need to be reviewed by expert faculty and refined with more nuanced prompt engineering. This required me to work with our teaching faculty. While they were intrigued by the cases and questions I developed, their knee-jerk reaction was to keep buying question banks for them to use. 

I could have stopped at that reaction and become disappointed, but I did not. I decided to work with a colleague at Creighton University School of Medicine who also took the Transforming your Teaching using Technology program. We have scheduled some time with our primary teaching faculty to walk them through the process of writing cases and questions with Chat GPT. I am hopeful that our next presentation will be inspirational and lead our faculty toward time-saving tools. 

Harvard Macy Institute: If applicable, how do you feel this program is different than other continuing medical education or professional development programs you have taken? 

This course is not just a workshop. It is extremely interactive and engaging, with 20% listening and 80% interaction. This is what makes it so valuable. Scholars are given material to read and learn from before course sessions. If you have not prepared in advance, you might struggle to engage in the discussions and activities. If you have done your prep work, you can experience what you learned along with your fellow scholars. 

Harvard Macy Institute: Would you recommend the Transforming your Teaching using Technology program to a colleague? If so, why? 

I would recommend this program to faculty and administrative staff alike. There is so much to learn. There is so much community and support in this group of learners. After the program was finished, my colleague and I set up time to meet with our small group faculty leader. She took an hour of her own time to meet with us and brainstorm solutions for some departmental issues we were facing. It was remarkable. I would recommend this course to anyone who wants to integrate technology more successfully in their work life.

Stephanie (Stef) Keator, BS - is the child/adolescent psychiatry fellowship coordinator at Creighton University School of Medicine. Stef's areas of professional interest include hybrid teaching models, residency coordinator development, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Stef can be contacted via email.