Let’s
Think
About It
VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 1 • FALL 2011
Let’s Think About It is published three times a year by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATAL) in Mercer University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. The purpose of CATAL is to support and promote effective and innovative teaching that enhances learning at the College. CATAL’s vision is to create a learningcentered community that promotes a culture of excellence in teaching and learning.
Let’s Think About It has been the newsletter for the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATAL) since February 1997 when Issue 1, Volume 1 was published. For the last several years, Dr. Grady Strom has edited the newsletter. Dr. Strom has personally contributed numerous articles to the newsletter and shared his perspectives and vision of innovations in teaching. We are grateful to him for his able guidance for many years to bring this newsletter to you. Starting with this issue of the newsletter, Dr. Leisa Marshall will serve as the new editor, and I will assist Dr. Marshall as the associate editor. Dr. Strom will still continue to provide guidance to the newsletter, as part of his overall championship of CATAL activities and events, and as chair of CATAL. The newsletter will continue to provide a forum for faculty to share their experiences in teaching, and we will bring information from the literature to enhance teaching at the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. We encourage our College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences faculty to write for the newsletter and send your submissions to Dr. Marshall. Your submissions can include, but are not limited to, short reflective essays about your first one or two years teaching in the academy, reports of your pedagogical research, innovative techniques and approaches that facilitate learning, what works in your class, or summaries of educational books or articles. Each submission will be reviewed by the editors and selected members of CATAL. Please consult the CATAL website at mercer.edu/catal for previous issues of Let’s Think About It and for information about programs offered by CATAL, such as the Journal Club and colloquy meetings. This issue of the newsletter features two projects highlighting teaching and learning in the classroom in the pharmacy program. The first article, authored by Drs. Lisa Lundquist, Angela Shogbon and Kathryn Momary, provides a comparison of students’ perceptions and faculty evaluation of students’ communication skills during an oral examination in a therapeutics module. The second article, authored by Drs. Diane Nykamp and Leisa Marshall, provides an example of using an existing electronic case study program on pain management as the basis of an active learning activity in a therapeutics module. Thank you and I hope you enjoy this issue of Let’s Think About It. Ajay K. Banga, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences Mercer University COPHS Associate Editor
INSIDE THIS ISSUE Communication Skills Comparison, P.2 A Pain Management Assignment, P.5