Educational technology use among US colleges and schools of pharmacy.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a searchable database of educational technologies used at schools and colleges of pharmacy. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey design was used to determine what educational technologies were being used and to identify an individual at each institution who could serve as an information resource for peer-to-peer questions. RESULTS: Eighty-nine survey instruments were returned for a response rate of 75.4%. The resulting data illustrated the almost ubiquitous presence of educational technology. The most frequently used technology was course management systems and the least frequently used technology was microblogging. CONCLUSIONS: Educational technology use is trending toward fee-based products for enterprise-level applications and free, open-source products for collaboration and presentation. Educational technology is allowing educators to restructure classroom time for something other than simple transmission of factual information and to adopt an evidence-based approach to instructional innovation and reform.

Is interprofessionality a threshold concept for education and health care practice?

Advocated for over the last decade, only recently has interprofessional education and practice been front and center in conversations in allied health. The wide acceptance of interprofessional education and practice, however, comes with its own set of unique issues. In fact, many people may purport to be interprofessional when they are acting in a manner inconsistent with it. The challenge of learning about and truly understanding interprofessionality is exemplified when pondering what constitutes a threshold concept. A threshold concept is a relatively new term in educational theory and relates to content or conceptual knowledge that can open up new ways of thinking. Collectively, this article presents our thinking on interprofessionlity as a threshold concept for interprofessional education and practice.

Crystallographic B-factors highlight energetic frustration in aldolase folding.

Kinetic simulations of the folding and unfolding of the mammalian TIM barrel protein aldolase were conducted to determine if a minimalist monomeric Go model, using the native structure to determine attractive energies in the protein chain, could capture the experimentally determined folding pathway. The folding order, that is, the order in which different secondary structures fold, between the Go model simulations and that from hydrogen-deuterium exchange experiments, did not agree. To explain this discrepancy, two alternate variant of the basic Go model were simulated: (1) a monomer Go model with native contact energies weighted by a statistical potential (SP model) and (2) a monomer Go model with native contact energies inversely weighted by crystallographic B factors (B model). The B model demonstrated the best agreement between simulation and experiments. The success of the B model is attributed to the ability of B factors to highlight local energetic frustration in the aldolase structure which results in weaker native contacts in these frustrated regions. The predictive success of the B model also reveals the potential use of B factor information for energetic weighting in general protein modeling.

Educational mentor program in a Web-based doctor of pharmacy degree pathway.

OBJECTIVE: To establish a successful educational mentor program for the Web-based doctor of pharmacy pathway at Creighton University, School of Pharmacy and Health Professions. DESIGN: A recruitment process was established and the educational mentor's responsibilities were identified. The roles of faculty instructors, the Office of Information Technology and Learning Resources, the Office of Faculty Development and Assessment, and Web-based Pharmacy Pathway Office as it pertains to the training of educational mentors were clearly delineated. An evaluation process for all key aspects of the program was also put in place. ASSESSMENT: Student, instructor, and mentor evaluations showed overall satisfaction with the program. Persistent areas of concern include the difficulty in motivating students to participate and/or engage in learning with the mentors. Many students remain unclear about mentors' roles and responsibilities. Lastly, in regards to mentors, there is a limited utilization of provided online resources. CONCLUSION: The educational mentor program has become an invaluable component of the Web pathway and has enhanced the interactions of students with the content and mentor.