Take one minute to think about the first time you realized you mattered as an educator. What happened? How did you feel?
Whether it was an action from organizational leadership taken in your favor, an encouraging word spoken over you by a student, or an object that represented deep meaning to efforts, you experienced the power of mattering: you felt valued and knew you added value.
The Harvard Macy Institute Podcast aims to connect our Harvard Macy Institute community and to develop our interest in health professions education topics and literature. Our podcast is hosted by our Program for Educators in the Health Professions course faculty Victoria Brazil, and will feature interviews with health professions education authors and their research papers.
Season 2, Episode 3 features health professions educators Lisa Jane Jacobsen and Jennifer Meka from the Jacobs School of Medicine and biomedical Sciences at the University of Buffalo, talking about leading curricular change at their institution.
Virtual conferences appear to be the new reality. Although this format offers a number of advantages such as better accessibility for learners and the possibility to have speakers from all over the world without the need to travel, the main difficulty lies in creating “real” connections and networking opportunities. This is paramount for a conference such as the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators in the Health Professions, which offers a number of small group activities where interaction and connection amongst scholars is essential to have fruitful discussions. In this blog we offer our tips for co-facilitating in virtual environments.
In February of 2021, our monthly Harvard Macy Twitter Chat (#HMIChat) celebrated 5 wonderful years of engagement, learning, and building community worldwide. The aim has always been to connect Harvard Macy Institute scholars around the world, to continue the conversations, and learn from and with each other. The result is more than 62 chats and over 40,000 tweets. Since 2016, #HMIChat has been curated by Elissa Hall, EdD, Justin Kreuter, MD, and Teresa Soro, MS and under their leadership our chat has grown into a known and respected learning experience in the health professions education social media space.
One year ago, I contributed a MedEdPearl titled "Mastering Adaptive Teaching in the Midst of COVID-19" that offered strategies for maintaining teacher, social and cognitive presence during our rapid transition to remote online learning. And now, I consider our needs as educators as we prepare for the possible transition back to the classroom this fall. Unlike last year, though, this possibility is conflated by more issues than merely the learning environment. As I write this blog, I reflect on a recent opinion article titled "America Isn't Ready for the Coming Wave of Grief." In addition to the direct human cost and long-haul effects of the pandemic, delayed mourning, physical isolation, economic burden, and exaggerated inequalities have compounded the toll on our collective mental health. So once again, I find myself asking how we as medical and health professions educators can prepare, stay resilient and step courageously into this unfamiliar territory?
