Clinical Faculty Share Insight at Spring OCEF 2021: An Intercampus Conversation...Post Pandemic Teaching and Clinical Performance

Clinical Faculty Share Insight at Spring OCEF 2021: An Intercampus Conversation…Post Pandemic Teaching and Clinical Performance

The ASCO Online Clinical Educators Forum (OCEF), now in its seventh year, took place June 4. New this time was a format change from a formal presentation-focused event to a less formal discussion-centered event built around several questions of focus. The event had its highest registration number to date – 243. The first OCEF, held in 2015, had 144 registrants. The purpose of the Forum is to allow clinical faculty from ASCO institutions to meet in a virtual environment and share best practices, exchange clinical teaching philosophies, and strategize around their similar clinic-related interests and challenges.

Discussants representing eight ASCO institutions: Dr. Raymond Chu – SCCOMBKU; Dr. Valerie Kattouf – ICO; Dr. Alia Khalaf – MCPHS; Dr. Bhawan K. Minhas – PCO; Dr. Matthew Roe – AZCOPT; Dr. Diane Russo – NECO; Dr. Daniel Taylor – MCO; Dr. Sarah Zuckerman – SUNY participated in the conversation. Dr. Michael McGovern (SUNY) and Dr. Greg Waldorf (MCPHS) again served as co-chairs for program planning, and also co-moderated the event. A welcome was given by Dr. Alicia Feis, Dean of Midwestern University, Arizona College of Optometry and Chair of the ASCO Clinical Affairs Committee, which is responsible for the event.

Discussants shared their thoughts on the following during the two-hour-long event:

• How have our novel ways of didactic and clinical education impacted student learning and clinical performance? We’ll talk shared experiences and assess changes in the level of supervision required.
• What are the negative and positive outcomes stemming from changes in the way we have been educating throughout the course of the pandemic? We’ll discuss what we learned and what changes we see being carried forward.
• How do we meet the expectations of students who’ve adapted to recorded and virtual learning presentations, and what happens now for students who prefer learning this way -- and how do we navigate the road ahead?
• What are the adaptations made for assessing students, and will we continue to use some of these adaptations moving forward?

After the event co-chair Dr. Michael McGovern commented, “I thought the eight panelists did an excellent job of explaining how their institutions pivoted in response to the pandemic; how they developed novel ways of teaching didactic, laboratory and clinical material; and which of these changes they believe may be adopted for the long term.” He added, “We wanted to try something new with the format of this OCEF. Past programs consisted of formal presentations followed by Q&A sessions. For this OCEF, we had faculty from eight different campuses talk amongst themselves, and respond to questions and comments from participants. Experiences were shared, including successes as well as hard-learned lessons. I think the intercampus dialogue was tremendously successful and most participants walked away with a couple of new ideas to try at their own campuses."

A second OCEF is being planned for the fall with a tentative date of October 8 or 15. "The planning committee's take away from the past two programs is that both the formal presentations and the conversational format are great options for future OCEFs. Going forward I can see programs being a hybrid, with the format varying based on the topic being covered,” Dr. McGovern added.

OCEF funding has consistently come from one primary source over the years, the ASCO Clinic Directors & Administrators Special Interest Group. The OCEF program helps fulfill one of the charges of the ASCO Clinical Affairs Committee – to identify ways for schools and colleges to informally share expertise and resources in clinical education, services, research and administration.