Janelle Krueger and Colleagues Receive Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Incentive Grant

Janelle Krueger, M.S., R.Ph. clinical assistant professor of Pharmacy Practice

As a way to encourage faculty participation in the scholarship of teaching and learning, UW's Ellbogen Center for Teaching and Learning (ECTL) has created an incentive grants program.  The first grant opportunity sponsored registration fees for UW faculty whose proposals were accepted at the 2007 National Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) Institute, Civic Engagement in the Classroom. Those who were accepted will become part of a work group mentored by Carnegie Scholars.

A proposal submitted by Janelle Krueger, M.S., R.Ph., clinical assistant professor of Pharmacy Practice, Kelly Hubbell, M.S., L.P.C., associate lecturer with the WWAMI Medical Education & Public Health program, and Jessica Latourelle, UW School of Pharmacy Pharm. D. student (Class of 2009), was accepted by the National CASTL Institute.  Acceptance by the CASTL Institute is a prestigious accomplishment -- only 28 proposals were accepted nationwide.

Their proposal, Helping Health Professional Students Become Reflective Practitioners through Interprofessional, Co-Curricular Activities, is to use the existing Community Health Advancement Program (CHAP), as a starting point for developing richer student experiences through service-learning.

CHAP is the only interprofessional student organization within the College of Health Sciences and serves as one vehicle for UW health professions students to engage in community volunteer projects. While all projects fill a need and add to student growth, CHAP could be more meaningful if activities were related, had some continuity and follow-up and were reframed from volunteerism into a service-learning model. Currently, no debriefing takes place following an activity which greatly diminishes the interprofessional, collaborative and personal learning students gain from their experiences.

As part of the proposal and to further the service-learning mission, the group will be partnering with Senior Housing to provide needed services for residents. Krueger and Hubbell will also offer a one-credit service-learning course in the Spring 2008 semester to help students solidify their learning experiences by engaging in meaningful research, discussion, and reflection before, during and after their service opportunities.

The importance of this project is twofold. First, since the medical field is constantly changing, future health professionals need to develop skills relating to self-directed lifelong learning and becoming a reflective practitioner. Second, many Wyoming communities have few health care providers and those that do exist in these communities must work together to optimize resources and the care provided. Therefore, facilitating development of interprofessional respect and collaboration during the training process is essential. The majority of the future Wyoming healthcare workforce is trained at the University of Wyoming. Therefore an opportunity exists to foster a stronger commitment to community activism and to interprofessional collaboration during the short time students are at UW.

CHAP is funded through the Area Health Education Center and is open to all students interested in health careers regardless of major. Anyone interested in learning more about CHAP can contact Cathy at cvalades@uwyo.edu or 766-4908.

For more information, please read about the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Incentive Grants at: 
http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/ctl/Incentive_Grants/index.asp.

Posted on Wednesday, May 09, 2007