The IDEA Lab
The Innovative Design for Education and Assessment (IDEA) Lab is a primary driver of innovation at the ICRE. The IDEA Lab team includes a video producer/multimedia designer, a graphic designer, and two instructional designers, and has the use of a video recording studio. They work closely with faculty to develop engaging instructional materials. The IDEA Lab has developed a wide range of online and hybrid programs and courses, incorporated digital tools that leverage gamification and interactivity, and used sophisticated motion graphics and video production to develop engaging didactic content.
HCD for Researchers
Human Centered Design (HCD) is a creative, visually engaging, and inclusive approach to problem-solving that can help researchers pursue more innovative research. The ICRE collaborates with Pitt’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute and the renowned LUMA Institute to provide HCD training to members of research teams and is tailoring combinations of HCD methods (called “recipes”) specifically to the needs of researchers. After participating in training, researchers have reported using HCD to accomplish a range of goals, including refining study aims, writing discussion sections, understanding barriers to implementation, and soliciting input from team members.
Customized Career Development Platform
The ICRE is developing a repository of digital tools—including authorship agreements and mentoring contracts —to help researchers plan their careers and collaborate more effectively. One of these tools is the Customized Career Development Platform (CCDP), a sleek, web-based career planning platform which enables trainees to strategically plan their careers, link their career goals with competencies, interact with their mentors while planning their career goals, adjust the timeline for their milestones as needed, and track their success.
Med Ed Faculty Development Program
In 2021, the ICRE launched this exciting new program, featuring 4-week, small-enrollment, online "mini-courses" focused on timely topics in medical education, including curriculum development, remediating gaps in medical knowledge, developing clinical reasoning, and giving effective feedback. Learners in these courses gain critical knowledge, hands-on practice, expert feedback, and the opportunity to network with colleagues. FAST FOWARD YOUR TEACHING with Med Ed FDP.
M.O.S.T Seminar
ICRE instructors successfully moved their courses online during the pandemic, yet the transition was so sudden that few had the opportunity to learn the finer points of online education. To give instructors the opportunity to expand their online teaching skills and confidence, the ICRE launched its Maximizing Online Success for Teaching (M.O.S.T.) program in 2021. M.O.S.T. offers peer-to-peer instructor training via short, practical workshops on synchronous and asynchronous online teaching skills. Topics included how to run successful breakout rooms, use chat to best effect, establish netiquette, utilize TAs in online courses, and incorporate asynchronous learning.
Previous Seminar Speakers
Robert M. Arnold, MD
Engaging Learners Virtually: Core Strategies: Cold Call and Chat
Marie K. Norman, PhD
Teaching Asynchronously: Tips and Strategies for Creating Effective Lecture Videos and Online Discussions
Thomas R. Radomski, MD, MS
Facilitating Small Groups Virtually
Teaching Tips Library
There are hundreds of tools to enhance teaching online, but faculty rarely have the time to go out and find them. To address this problem, the IDEA Lab has produced a Teaching Tips Library. Every month, a new educational technology tool used by ICRE faculty or staff is featured with a testimonial by the user, a brief explanation and demonstration of the tool’s capabilities, and a comparison with similar tools. The continually expanding Teaching Tools Library is built in Rise 360, an interactive platform that demonstrates yet another tool faculty can use to create engaging content.
