Dr. Patrick Chadd, the director of technology services at Rowan University’s Stratford campus, delivered a keynote presentation at the 2017 Osteopathic Medical Educators and Leaders Conference in Tampa, Fla., on Friday that explored how digital advancements have changed the learning styles of medical students and how educational institutions must adapt to meet the demands of that new reality.
Dr. Chadd, who oversees technology services at the School of Osteopathic Medicine and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, called on medical schools to embrace innovation in order to engage students whose lives are intimately connected with technology. When designing educational experiences for today’s medical students, Dr. Chadd said schools should create diverse and interactive environments that foster the development of critical thinking skills.
Urging educators to walk away from the podium, Dr. Chadd noted that the average attention span to listen to a message is between 10 to 15 minutes and suggested trading the traditional lecture-based format of medical education for a flipped classroom. This model transforms the material typically delivered in a lecture into short, online videos and gives students the opportunity to work together on problem-solving exercises and real-world applications of material during classroom time.
“Through real-world applications, students make meaningful connections between what they are learning and its relevance to clinical medicine,” Dr. Chadd said. Interactive learning, Dr. Chadd noted, also helps students develop essential skills, like the ability to work collaboratively and think critically.
Amid the rapid growth in medical knowledge and the changing technology ecosystem, Dr. Chadd said medical schools will have to continue to evolve to prepare medical students to become successful clinicians.
Dr. Chadd concluded by saying: “Innovative minds are needed in every industry and, perhaps most of all, in medicine. Just as there continues to be a need for innovation to help solve the ailments in healthcare, there continues to be a need for innovation and creativity in shaping the medical leaders of tomorrow.”
View Dr. Chadd’s full presentation: “ Learning Styles and Creativity in Instructional Design.”