Program Description
Effective teaching is crucial in conveying the depth, complexity, fascination, creativity and generativity of the field of child and adolescent psychiatry to students, trainees, and the public at large. There is both a science and art to teaching, learning, and education that enhances effective communication in all spheres: from one-on-one supervision to parent education to media bites and telecommunications. Our hope is that the AACAP membership benefits from this intensive “Teach the Teachers” enterprise through an ongoing sharing of expertise and collaborative educational initiatives.

This year’s presentation builds on the success of the program presented at the 55th Annual Meeting in Chicago. It is an interactive four-hour experience presenting the scientific background and best practices for teaching effective communication and leadership skills, and academic writing and reviewing skills. The program begins with a one-hour plenary address followed by breakouts to more intensively focus on specific skills in each of these areas. The design is consistent with the literature that learning occurs best when information and knowledge is accompanied by practice and active involvement of the learners in the educational activity.

The plenary address is by an internationally known leader in the field of medical education, Dr. Maxine Papadakis, from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Papadakis presents her research on medical professionalism, and reviews the data that support the enhanced emphasis on professionalism as a core competence. There is a discussion of contemporary challenges, such as the impact of the behavior of faculty on the current generation of learners, and how to address them.

Following the plenary, there are two breakouts to allow members to discuss in more depth and gain skills in the two areas of effective communication, and teaching and supervision.

Breakout #1
Towards Best Practices in Supervision in Contemporary Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Training: Opportunities, Challenges, and Controversies
The breakout is an interactive, participatory, skills-building session. One goal is to practically review the advantages and challenges of clinical supervision using videotaping of clinical encounters where supervisors are forced to modify their usual teaching strategies to incorporate the power of the recorded session. The second focus is to discuss the challenges and opportunities the Internet poses in child psychiatry supervision. Participants discuss actual case examples of the types of problems that have arisen as the World Wide Web has become further embedded in the professional and personal experiences of faculty and trainees.

Breakout #2
Learner-Centered Teaching in Adult Education: Effective and Innovative Strategies The breakout focuses on the most effective methods of transmitting information with a particular focus on the media available from the internet, e.g., YouTube, and assisting the adult learner in skills-building using these techniques. Lectures to larger groups, case-based and problem-based learning in smaller groups, “bedside” teaching, discussion sections, interactive opportunities, and video “sound bites” as modalities for teaching are be reviewed. Participants actively engage in the learning enterprise through an open discussion of different teaching formats and the challenges of teaching in a variety of different venues.