Coaching for Teaching Excellence

When you identify a faculty member who needs to improve their teaching, you should meet to develop a plan to coach and remediate teaching. You are not responsible for doing the actual coaching. Use this Education Officer Toolbox to identify and recommend options.

Use the PSOM Teaching Development and Coaching Program to create a coaching plan. The course of action will differ depending upon the nature of the teaching issue. As you will note from the algorithm, the course of action is different if the teaching issue is a matter of health, safety, or wellness of faculty members, trainees/learners, or patients.

Teaching Development Program Stages and Coaching for Teaching Program

Participant Selection Mechanism

• Teaching Evaluations
• Referral (Safety Net, COAP Advisory Letter, Course Director, ..)
• Self Identity

Evaluation

• Faculty Guided Self Evaluation
• EO Evaluation

Identification

• Issues of Safety, Wellbeing

  • Chair or Designee Creates and Oversees Development Plan

• Issues of Instructional Effectiveness

  • EO Creates and Oversees Development Plan

Actions

• The Professionalism Program at Penn Medicine and/or EAP
• Remediations and Coaching Program

Re-Evaluation

• Chair & Faculty Re-Evaluation
• EO & Faculty Re-Evaluation

Actions

• Development Plan Update

Print the Coaching Algorithm

Prior to meeting with the faculty member:

Both you and the faculty member should prepare for the meeting.

EO Meeting Preparation

• Review the faculty member's teaching evaluations to identify issues/concerns. If teaching evaluation data is not available, consider reaching out to educational leaders, as appropriate, for insight (e.g., course directors, program directors)
• Review the Initial Meeting with Faculty document, which provides specific goals and tasks you should consider covering during the actual meeting. You do not need to share this document with the faculty member.
• Send the faculty member the Faculty Self Assessment.
• Arrange a meeting for after the Faculty Self Assessment has been completed by the faculty member. 

Faculty Member Meeting Preparation 

• Complete the Faculty Self Assessment.
• Send the completed assessment to the EO.

During your meeting with the faculty:

Consider using the Initial Meeting with Faculty document to structure your meeting.

Considerations

• What is the specific teaching issue?
  • If trainee evaluations do not reveal the specific teaching issue, ask the faculty member if you can contact learners to get additional information. Use the Getting Learner Input on How to Improve Faculty Teaching for suggestions on how to do this.
• Is the faculty member interested in coaching?
• Is the faculty member interested in being observed by a master teacher?
  • Explain the Peer Observation Program.
• Is the faculty member disinterested in coaching for teaching?
  • Use the EO Tool for Faculty Evaluation to  identify strategies that might to engage them.

You and the faculty should document the plan together.

• Use the Faculty Development Plan. to document your meeting and the agreed upon coaching plan.
  • You should each sign the document and receive a copy.   
• Arrange a follow-up meeting.

Explain how teaching data is incorporated into reappointment or promotion evaluations.

It is recommended that you follow up with the faculty member with at least a phone call within a few months of your initial meeting.

• Need help with how to approach a follow-up meeting? Review the Initial Meeting with Faculty Form.

At the next release of teaching evaluation scores, re-evalaute the faculty member.

Considerations

• Reach out
  • If improvement is evident, remind the faculty member to check their evaluations, and positively reinforce this achievement.
  • If improvement is not evident, consider restarting the process, or depending upon the specific teaching issue, reaching out to division or department leadership.

Provide an opportunity for the faculty member to debrief and reflect on the process.

Teaching Tools

• Best Practices Tip Sheet: Clinical Teaching
• Best Practices Tip Sheet: Facilitating Small Groups
• Best Practices Tip Sheet: Learning Environments
• Best Practices Tip Sheet: Learner-Focused Lectures
• Best Practices Tip Sheet: Lectures Delivered Online
• Best Practices Tip Sheet: Integrating Poll Everywhere for Online Presentations
• Best Practices Tip Sheet: Professionalism in Teaching
• Best Practices Tip Sheet: Supervision

EO Tools

Information Gathering

• Faculty Self-Assessment
• EO Tool for Faculty Evaluation
• Getting Learner Input

Observation Forms

• Clinical Observation Form
• Lecture Observation Form
• Instrument for Peer Assessment of Medical Lecturing
• Small Group Observation Form
• Surgical Observation Form

Plan Development

• Faculty Development Plan

Contact

Jennifer Kogan, MD
Associate Dean of Student Success and Professional Development
Professor of Medicine
jennifer.kogan@uphs.upenn.edu