3.1. Results
A total of thirty-eight residents participated in the RTLCP over the two years surveyed. For academic year 2012–2013, ten participants completed the pre-survey and all ten participants completed the post-survey for a response rate of 100%. For the academic year 2013–2014 twenty-eight participants completed the program, twenty-five of which completed the pre-survey and sixteen completed the post-survey representing a response rate of 89% and 57%, respectively. The average response rate over both years was 92% for the pre-survey and 68% for the post-survey.
Table 1 summarizes the change in pre and post survey scores for all participants. For all but one question a statistically significant improvement was noted, showing a shift from disagreeing or being neutral with each statement on the pre-survey to agreeing or strongly agreeing on the post-survey (
p < 0.05). The only question that did not show improvement after use of the tool was question five which pertained to the ability to describe characteristics of outstanding educators (
p = 0.5027). Most participants already felt strongly that this was something they were able to do prior to using the tool. However, the median score for this question did increase from a four to a five after use of the tool indicating the ability did increase slightly. For the pooled data set, mean response scores increased for all questions, and median scores increased for all except three questions, which did not change between the pre and post surveys. Means and medians are displayed in
Table 2.
Table 2.
Pre and post survey mean and medians.
Table 2.
Pre and post survey mean and medians.
Question Text | Pre-survey (n = 35) | Post-survey (n = 26) |
---|
Mean a | Median a | Mean a | Median a |
---|
- Q1:
I understand the purpose of a teaching philosophy.
| 3.3 | 4 | 4.3 | 4 |
- Q2:
I can write an effective teaching philosophy statement.
| 2.5 | 2 | 4.1 | 4 |
- Q3:
I know the main categories or elements that should go into a teaching philosophy statement.
| 2.3 | 2 | 4.0 | 4 |
- Q4:
I know the questions I need to ask myself to get started in writing and developing a teaching philosophy statement.
| 2.4 | 2 | 4.3 | 4 |
- Q5:
I can identify characteristics of outstanding teachers I have had in the past.
| 4.3 | 4 | 4.6 | 5 |
- Q6:
I can identify beliefs about adult learners whom I have taught in the past.
| 3.3 | 3 | 4.2 | 4 |
- Q7:
I can identify strategies or techniques that I can use to best teach adult learners.
| 3.1 | 3 | 4.3 | 4 |
- Q8:
I can clearly describe my role as a teacher.
| 3.3 | 3 | 4.2 | 4 |
- Q9:
I can identify assessment methods to know that my teaching is effective.
| 3.0 | 3 | 4.1 | 4 |
- Q10:
I can describe the responsibilities I will hold myself accountable for as a teacher.
| 3.7 | 4 | 4.4 | 4 |
- Q11:
I can describe the responsibilities I will hold my students accountable for.
| 3.7 | 4 | 4.4 | 4 |
Post surveys across both years included three additional questions, the responses to which are summarized in
Table 3. Overall, 81% of surveyed residents answered that they agreed or strongly agreed that the teaching philosophy tool helped them write an effective teaching philosophy statement. Additionally, 96% of residents surveyed believed that the teaching philosophy statement they created using the tool fully reflected their views of teaching and learning, while 92% indicated that providing examples of teaching philosophies was helpful while drafting their own teaching philosophy.
Table 3.
Additional questions included only on post survey—% response by category.
Table 3.
Additional questions included only on post survey—% response by category.
Question Text | SD/D/N a (%) | A/SA b (%) |
---|
- Q12:
My current teaching philosophy statement fully reflects my personal view of teaching and learning.
| 4 | 96 |
- Q13:
It was useful to have examples of teaching philosophy statements when writing my teaching philosophy statement.
| 8 | 92 |
- Q14:
The teaching philosophy tool/worksheet helped me write an effective teaching philosophy statement.
| 19 | 81 |
3.2. Discussion
This study sought to describe a teaching philosophy tool developed and used by the RTLCP at Shenandoah University. Additionally, the effectiveness of the tool was assessed using a pre-post survey design. The study included thirty-eight pharmacy residents over two years, and overall survey response rate was good at 92% and 68% for the pre and post surveys respectively. Results were largely positive, with increased mean response scores for all questions, and significantly increased agreement between pre and post survey statements across all questions except one, which asked residents to assess their ability to recall outstanding characteristics of past educators. This ability was assessed to be strong even before using the tool, and reflects residents having the ability to recall outstanding teachers in their educational history independent of the reflection tool. Furthermore, the tool did not specifically guide residents through the process of defining outstanding characteristics, but only asked the residents to list these qualities subjectively. The large proportion of participants who agreed that the tool helped them develop a comprehensive teaching philosophy suggests that although the reflection tool may not have enhanced residents’ ability to list outstanding teaching qualities, the tool did help residents integrate these qualities into their teaching philosophy statements. Using reflection on past educators as a first step in teaching philosophy development, as was facilitated in the present study, has been recommended in other studies [
1,
18].
In addition, median scores increased for all except three questions surveyed. Participants felt they were able to successfully complete these three skills even before using the tool. Therefore, median scores for questions one, ten and eleven remained unchanged between pre and post survey responses, and may be related to question format. Question one asked if residents understood the purpose of a teaching philosophy. However, understanding the purpose of a teaching philosophy does not necessarily imply understanding the process of developing a teaching philosophy. As such, this item may not clearly assess the influence of the reflection tool on teaching philosophy development. Questions ten and eleven ask residents to identify the responsibilities they will hold themselves and their students accountable for. As residents may define “responsibility” as something independent of a teaching philosophy, these questions may not have effectively measured the desired outcome. It is noteworthy that median scores for questions directly related to the process of teaching philosophy development (questions two through four), and which contained the text “teaching philosophy”, increased from 2 to 4 on the pre and post surveys respectively.
In regards to the solely post survey questions, question number thirteen showed that a majority of participants found having examples of teaching philosophies to be helpful. However, the program did not provide completed examples so as to ensure original work, but participants did have the ability to research completed examples during their own preparation. After reviewing the results of this study the authors have since started providing example teaching philosophies to ensure the examples reviewed by participants are of high quality.
Development of a teaching philosophy is a key element in pedagogy and learning training. This foundational statement may be especially important for pharmacy residents who have little to no formal teaching experience, but will be increasingly asked to take on faculty and preceptor positions. A well-developed teaching philosophy is recommended by AACP as a crucial factor in pharmacy faculty evaluation, and current models of teaching training recommended by ASHP consider the teaching philosophy statement to be a prerequisite for advanced teaching practice. The search of relevant literature revealed that although teaching philosophy development is generally included in pharmacy residency teaching certificate programs, there are few studies describing the outcomes of the various methods employed.
Sylvia and colleagues described the approach to teaching philosophy development for pharmacy residents at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy in 2003 [
8]. In their program, residents attended up to eight 2-h seminars, one of which involved teaching philosophy statements and portfolio development. In the teaching philosophy seminar, residents read three papers describing different perspectives on teaching, and responded with a critique stating whether or not they agreed with the perspective and why or why not. This program used the tutorial approach, described by Smallwood, which focuses on equipping participants to formulate and critique arguments in a small-group discussion format [
16]. Although most of the participants reported increased knowledge about teaching philosophy development by the end of the program, residents were not required to complete a teaching philosophy statement for successful completion. Also, in a paper by Medina and Draugalis they describe a 9-step approach to writing a teaching philosophy [
19]. They describe the order and sections that should be included in a philosophy, but do not provide interactive and reflective activities for writers to complete. Our tool would be a highly pertinent activity to complete prior to following the advice provided in the paper by Medina and Draugalis [
19]. In the RTLCP program at Shenandoah University, participants are required to develop a teaching philosophy to successfully complete from the program. In order to accomplish this, residents are provided with the reflection tool as well as one-on-one feedback, and a majority of the residents surveyed in the present study (81%) believed that the reflection tool was helpful to the process. Other programs described in the literature have required the completion of a teaching philosophy statement to earn a teaching certificate, but have not reported in detail how their programs facilitate its development.
Limitations of the present study include being conducted in a single center, surveying a relatively small sample size, and the subjective nature of self-response surveys. Since participants were provided one on one feedback on their philosophies, in addition to being provided the reflection tool, survey responses could have theoretically been affected. However, given that the nature of the comments provided are requests to expand the scope of their philosophy to include learners outside of pharmacy, or related to grammatical changes the effect on the survey responses is thought to be minimal. As noted above, some questions may have suffered from limited internal validity. Additionally, for the second year of the program, the survey response rate was markedly decreased at 57%, so the perceived utility of the tool for non-responders cannot be assessed. In addition, the present study used pooled, unpaired data, so it is not possible to ascertain individual improvement in scores from the study results; only that as a group. In the future, participants can be asked to enter a study number so pre and post responses can be matched and additional statistical tests could be run. Finally, the present study is unable to draw any conclusions about how the reflection tool impacted quality of teaching, teaching positions, or promotions obtained after completing the RTLCP.
Future studies could seek to discover which components of a reflection tool, such as the one used in this study, are most helpful. Also, additional characteristics of the user should be gathered to assess baseline ability to construct a teaching philosophy, such as level of previous teaching experience, pre-professional undergraduate or graduate degree earned, age, and work experience. Since the present study assessed experience with a single tool, other studies could seek to develop modified tools or methods for comparison. Ratnapradipa and Abrams have suggested viewing the teaching philosophy statement as a fluid document, able to be re-shaped over time by the teaching experiences. In addition, Wahl
et al. found that the perceived importance of teaching philosophy development and reflection on teaching effectiveness is maintained after completion of a RTLCP and entrance into the work force [
7]. Therefore, additional studies should examine the evolution of the teaching philosophy over time, surveying educators early in their career and re-visiting their perspectives after gaining experience.