Teaching is an expectation of clinicians joining the University of Toronto. Most teachers within the Faculty of Medicine receive little to no training in educational methodology. Most clinicians feel they can teach, simply because they went through the educational system to receive their training. When I started this Masters I had little appreciation for educational theory or scholarship. I did not understand how theory could be used to guide individual teaching and curriculum development. Part of the power of this masters was observing how my teachers used a variety of educational theories to challenge students’ assumptions about learning by using innovative teaching methods. Now whenever I develop curriculum I ensure to ground my ideas in educational theory.

The use of theory has caused a major improvement in my teaching methods. An example of this is in the 3rd and 4th year portfolio groups I oversee. My first iteration of this activity was unstructured. I provided students with no direction on what constitutes a critical reflection. After students shared their reflections I would ask them a few what if questions or I would relate their experience to one of my own. Looking back on the experience, the students were reflecting very shallowly, and I did not greatly contribute to their professional identity development. Some of my students felt similarly by giving me a TES score of 3.7. My concept of reflection was challenged by Dr. Karen Leslie and Dr. Jana Lazor during their faculty development course. After they failed me on my first two reflections, I came to appreciate and understand the value the constituent parts of a structured reflection. Reflecting requires identifying concepts, applying these concepts to experiences and to oneself, and growing as an individual through developing a deeper appreciation of the concept. I struggled with these ideas for about a year, but ultimately came up with a customized method of teaching students how to appreciate CanMEDS roles that forces them to identify key concepts and project these concepts into their future roles. The impact of this was profound. By increasing the expectations, my students began attending sessions with reflections prewritten instead of making up stories on the spot. The quality of reflections was far deeper, and students were able to provide superior feedback to one another. Students also told me they used this structure for their CaRMS interviews with great success. In the nomination letter for the Aikins award, one of my students wrote, “This approach was also incredibly beneficial for all of us when we had our CaRMS interviews. In my interviews, I used Dr. Biro’s approach to reflections for the majority of my answers, and I credit him and his teaching methods for my ability to tell a story and highlight its important features in a clear and succinct way.”

Educational theory and structure is now instinctively ingrained in every teaching session I lead and curricular project I develop. I reflectively include Schwabb’s common places or Knowle’s Adult Learning into every teaching session I design. Looking back and comparing how I taught before this pursuing this degree and now, my teaching irrespective of subject matter is far more impactful.