Fundamentals of Education: "Edu-Mentals"

Abstract

As new accreditation standards for health professions education increasingly require end-of-life (EOL) curriculum and performance-based assessment, health professions educators struggle to shift through the educational literature to find core principles, practical strategies, emerging trends, and on-line resources to advance as educators. A new kind of resource is needed for educators in today's health care environment. Emerging literature in the field of faculty development and continuing education in health professions highlight key features of resources for health professionals. To be effective, this faculty development resource must be: timely, problem focused, practical, and easily accessible. Based on these principles, the Medical College of Wisconsin initiated a series of short, focused fact sheets for educators. Dubbed, "Edu-Mentals" to represent the fundamentals of education, the series was launched in late spring 2001 and consists of short, focused fact sheets for health care professionals based on the parts of a systematic instructional design process.