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UAMS Program Design Workshop
Summary: The Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Arkansas Medical School was in the beginning stages of designing a graduate-level program in Biomedical Informatics. At the time, there were less than five of these graduate programs across the United States. They needed to understand how to build a program entirely from scratch.
Audience: Department of Biomedical Informatics which included the chairperson, the assistant chairperson, and five of the faculty members of the department.
Responsibilities: Design the 1-day workshop, the PowerPoint presentation, and the workshop documents.
Tools Used: Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint.
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Problem & Solution
Problem:
The faculty members of the UAMS Department of Biomedical Informatics were charged with designing an entirely new graduate program in Biomedical informatics. The issue was that none of the members of the faculty had ever built a program from scratch.
Solution:
I created and administered a 1-day, 2-hour workshop on curriculum design. I offered a backwards design methodology that I have used in curriculum design in my career as a teacher.
The backwards design method that I employed is a variation of the original method identified by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe in their book Understanding By Design.
Process
List of Requirements
1. 1-day only
2. Maximum of 2 hours
3. Small group- about 8 people
4. Focused on a framework for designing a curriculum
Overview of Training
1. Meeting Agenda
2. PowerPoint Presentation and Speaker Notes
3. Notes Sheet for Participants.
Workshop Agenda
Participant Notes Sheet- click here to be taken to the notes sheet pdf.
Take Aways
I was familiar with the individuals in the department as well as the process for curriculum design, because I have used it personally, which is why there is not a great deal of background preparation or research.
The first takeaway from this project is the importance of fitting the learning needs of the client within the time frame and other requirements. The second takeaway is the fact that impactful learning does not always need bells and whistles, sometimes a simple PowerPoint, notes sheet, and group brainstorming session are all that is needed to make a big impact.
The UAMS Department of Biomedical Informatics went from nothing to now having four Graduate-Level strands to their program. For each strand and course within each strand, the faculty used the same backward framework that I went over with them in the workshop.
Click on the UAMS logo to be taken to the current version of the Graduate Programs.
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