1.5 Open Mic Sessions

1.5.1 An Interactive Module to Prepare Nursing Students for Their First Clinical Placement: The transformation of an idea
Mary Ann Fegan, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing

Sustaining Resonance: Lessons, Insights, and Impact

Nursing students begin clinical practice within a month of entering the program. With a goal to improve students’ preparation for their first clinical placement and help demystify the clinical learning environment, we reimagined and redesigned our orientation approach. Over the past four years, what was once a large class discussion with PowerPoint slides transformed into an interactive, media-rich online clinical orientation module, with an accompanying student clinical handbook. This new approach is supported by a large group in-person follow-up session.

Designed to accommodate varied learning styles and provide meaningful learning, the module integrates audio, visual, and text-based content. Key documents, policies, and resources are embedded to give students immediate access to essential information. Reflective prompts and knowledge checks encourage active engagement and help validate learning. Short testimonial clips from senior nursing students offer practical insights, including how to prepare for a clinical shift and what they wished they had known before starting their first placement. Longer role play videos illustrate the flow of a clinical shift - from initial patient interaction to end of day debriefing - highlighting the support provided by clinical instructors and opportunities to optimize learning throughout the day.

This open mic session tells a story of teaching innovation, reflection, and adaptation that began with one simple idea. Student feedback, faculty experiences, and lessons learned will be shared. Attendees will be encouraged to consider ways they might use a similar strategy to engage learners and can explore the module using a QR code.

1.5.2 Stop, Breathe, Dwell: Assessment Practices That Cut Through Pedagogical Noise
Shelley O'Brien, Administrative Staff, Centre for the Study of Pain                          

Finding the Frequency: Clarity, Purpose, and What Matters Most   

Teaching today operates in time scarcity: students race toward correct answers, educators rush through packed curricula, and the noise of competing demands often drowns out learning objectives of deep learning, critical reflection, relational engagement. Rather than adding more strategies to an already overwhelming load, what if we could filter noise by attending differently to what's already present?                

I'll share Stop, Breathe, Dwell—three practices that help educators tune in to signal beneath noise, with primary focus on the "Stop/Dwell pop-up evaluation": a high-impact assessment technique that produces measurable transformation in student thinking.

The Technique: During case-based or problem-based learning, at the moment students are moving toward solution/diagnosis, I interrupt with three questions: (1) What assumptions are you making? (2) What tensions do you notice in your thinking? (3) What questions would you now ask? This 5-10 minute disruption forces students to stop (examine their reasoning process), breathe (sit with discomfort), and dwell (stay with complexity instead of rushing to resolution).

The Impact: Results from ~200 interprofessional healthcare students show: 60% demonstrated systems-based thinking (recognizing institutional barriers, time pressure, access issues), 70% showed interprofessional learning (understanding other professions' approaches), and 80% developed new patient-centered clinical questioning strategies. The interruption creates space for critical reflection that doesn't emerge in linear case progression.

The Framework: These results emerge from operationalizing contemplative pedagogy and feminist new materialist theory as assessment practice and act as concrete techniques that work across disciplines. Beyond the pop-up evaluation, I'll share how to use stopping, breathing, and dwelling.

Takeaway: Participants leave understanding how to design strategic interruptions in their own courses.

1.5.3 Optimizing Instruction in the MD Anatomy Curriculum Using Backward-Design and Students-as-Partners to Design a Pilot Dissection Program
Kristina Lisk, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Division of Anatomy, Department of Surgery, TFoM        
Parsa Razeghi, 2nd year medical student, TFoM  

Finding the Frequency: Clarity, Purpose, and What Matters Most               

In an era of increasingly complex curricula and competing educational priorities, it is essential to “tune in” to what most meaningfully supports student learning. This presentation describes how the Surgical Approach to Regional Anatomy (SATRA) program was developed using students-as-partners principles and backward curriculum design to create a focused, high-impact learning experience within constrained curricular space.            

SATRA was introduced in 2025 as a pilot initiative offering medical students the opportunity to perform faculty‑guided surgical dissections and create reusable teaching specimens for the MD program. While cadaveric learning has diminished due to time, cost, and resource limitations, SATRA was intentionally designed — through direct student collaboration — to amplify what students value most: hands-on clinical contextualization, deep learning, and opportunities to meaningfully contribute to their learning community.

Using a backward-design approach, faculty anatomists, surgical residents, and student partners jointly identified key learning outcomes related to clerkship readiness, surgical reasoning, and peer teaching. Design decisions, including one dissection per pair, structuring guided supervision, and producing teaching specimens, reduced curricular “noise” and ensured each component supported learning outcomes.

Findings from the pilot SATRA cohort showed that 82% of participants reported increased interest in musculoskeletal surgery, and all reported improved anatomic understanding and confidence in peer teaching. This Open Mic session will be present faculty and student perspectives, and offer transferable insights into co-designing experiential learning opportunities, optimizing limited resources, and meaningfully engaging students as collaborators in curriculum development.