The Master of Health Professions Education at the University of Illinois–Chicago

• In Event: 34.039 - Building Research Capacity in Health Professions Education: Practices, Challenges, and Future Directions for Degree Programs

Abstract

The Masters of Health Professions Education (MHPE) Program at the University of Illinois, College of Medicine, initiated in the 1960s in the Center for Educational Development (CED), is one of the oldest of such programs. Since the 1980s, it has been housed in the academic Department of Medical Education. The mission of the program is to produce exemplary leaders and scholars who will advance the field of health professions education (HPE), in order to ultimately improve health care locally, regionally, and internationally. Students in the program are individuals, world-wide, with current or imminent health professions leadership roles: in academia – as faculty, department chairs, deans, curriculum coordinators, clinical training directors, and advanced trainees in leadership roles; in healthcare organizations – as education leaders in hospitals, community health care organizations, and accreditation agencies; and in professional societies.

The rigorous 32 credit hour master’s program focuses on conceptual frameworks and practical applications in the breadth and depth of HPE with requirements of a common required course of coursework, electives (chosen from more than 20 options), and a capstone. The common core is comprised of five courses: (1) Introduction to HPE, (2) Scholarship in HPE, (3) Instruction and Assessment, (4) Curriculum Planning and Program Evaluation, and (5) Leadership and Management of HPE Programs. Electives are offered in the areas of organizational leadership, research methods, curriculum design and implementation, learning theory and instruction, student performance assessment, program and faculty development, and medical humanities. The capstone is defined as a work of scholarship, reported in a potentially publishable paper, as characterized by Boyer (1990) and Glassick (1997), in terms of the scholarship of discovery, the scholarship of integration, and the scholarship of application.

The program can be completed in two nontraditional formats: the on-campus intensive format and the online format. Each format allows education leaders to complete the degree, typically in three years, while keeping their full-time positions. For the on-campus intensive format, students come to Chicago to participate in day-long class sessions during the first two (for a core course) or three (for a core course and an elective) weeks in May and/or August. Students then return home to complete each course's final paper or project. For the online format, students participate in web-based asynchronous, semester-long courses typically organized in weekly modules. Students then come to Chicago for the last week in July to participate in face-to-face synthesis activities. A week-long, introductory, on-campus course, which includes a conference, is required for students in both formats. This course provides orientation to the program – its mission, content and instructional methods – and for becoming part of a learning community of faculty, other students, and alumni. The prototypical instructional methods, for students in both on-site and online formats, require active learning through discussion, peer-teaching, and individual and group projects, using their work in their professional roles as their laboratory. As a result of participation in the program, students enhance their confidence and competence in HPE leadership roles and develop scholarship agendas in HPE, beginning with publication of their MHPE capstone.

Author

• Ilene B. Harris, University of Illinois at Chicago