Meeting the computer technology needs of community faculty: building new models for faculty development

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Educational Technology
• Faculty Development

Background:

• Community faculty's computer technology needs and interests were assessed to inform faculty development.
• The study spanned 1994-2002, focusing on primary care physician-educators in community practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify evolving computer technology needs and interests of community faculty.
• To design an effective faculty development program focused on computer skills: the Teaching and Learning Through Educational Technology (TeLeTET) program.

Main Methods:

• Repeated surveys assessed computer resources and needs among over 800 primary care physician-educators.
• Developed and evaluated models to teach community preceptors about useful computer technologies for education.

Main Results:

• Faculty interest in technology skills grew significantly after 1998, correlating with telecommunications advancements.
• Increased computer and Internet access at teaching sites by 1998-1999 facilitated technology adoption.
• Despite barriers like infrastructure and time, a strong desire for teletechnology skills was evident by 2001.
• The TeLeTET program offered well-attended, positively evaluated workshops, conferences, and online resources to 181 faculty over 3 years.

Conclusions:

• Iterative needs assessments identified evolving community faculty needs in computer technology.
• A flexible faculty development curriculum was created, responsive to the changing educational technology landscape.
• Open-ended evaluation ensured the TeLeTET program remained relevant for community-based computer technology education.