This fundamentals course provides students with an overview of the program and courses where the over-arching goals, learning outcomes, instructional methods, resources, assessment methods, and faculty of the program are introduced. The interprofessional culture, structure and content will be introduced and examined. Key concepts, such as clinical reasoning, problem solving, assessment principles, and leadership as they pertain to core courses will be introduced. Students reflect upon their goals and learning outcomes for the program, experience small group work, such as PBL tutorials in a face-to-face setting in preparation for online learning groups, and explore library resources and online learning tools (such as Avenue to Learn) and video conferencing. This is a face-to-face course offered in an intensive summer schedule. Students have the opportunity to engage with faculty and other students in both a formal (e.g. classroom) and a social (e.g. Wine & Cheese, Dinner) setting. Invited speakers are spaced throughout the week during both classroom and social meetings.

Students are expected to attend all 5 days, including the annual Norman Education Research Day. Students are required to complete this residency period in the June before beginning any of their course work. Clinical duty does not excuse students from residency week.

In this intensive five-day period, students are required to attend this mandatory session at McMaster where they are given another chance to meet in person with faculty and other students in the program, including the first-year cohorts. Students are able to engage with faculty and other students in both a formal (e.g. classroom) and an informal (e.g. Wine & Cheese, Dinner) setting. Furthermore, students are provided the opportunity to present their progress on their theses or capstone portfolios to the faculty and to their peers. Invited speakers are spaced throughout the week during both classroom and social meetings.

Students are expected to attend all 5 days, including the annual Norman Education Research Day. Students complete this second residency week after finishing all of their course work, in the June prior to completing either their capstone portfolio or thesis. Clinical duty does not excuse students from residency week.

This course explores the science of memory, thinking, learning and its application to teaching and curriculum design in health science education. Students will relate and apply epistemologies and theoretical frameworks from cognitive and educational psychology, teaching strategies and methods, such as PBL, concept-based learning, simulation-based learning, etc. to their teaching practice area. This course is offered online.

Students will explore theories and concepts of underlying assessment, assessment strategies and evaluation planning for Health Sciences Education at the course and program level. Characteristics of clinical performance assessment (including cognitive and motor skills) as well as professionalism and interprofessional assessment will be explored in both written examination formats, such as multiple choice and performance measures (i.e. the Objective Structured Clinical Exam). Students will develop a basic knowledge of the conceptual frameworks, instrumentation, data collection and data sources, and reporting results of program evaluation. Students will learn the skills needed to critically appraise assessment measures. This course is offered online.

This course explores the basic theories of motor, procedural, and team-based learning and their application to simulation-based learning and assessment. Students will apply these frameworks in a way that promotes an evidence-based approach to the many questions that surround clinical skill learning including: appropriate assessment, the role of the instructor in self-directed pedagogy, and choosing the right simulator, among others; and the implications for simulation-based teaching. This course is offered online.

In this course students will explore pedagogical approaches and considerations for using educational technologies in higher education learning environments. Students will also explore course design and development as well as select topics relating to the use of educational technologies for teaching and learning (e.g. evaluating learners, facilitation). Students will learn to critically appraise the use of technology in an educational context. Students will also have hands-on experience with technologies used in higher education. This course is designed for graduate students from a wide range of health science disciplines and is offered as an online course.

In this course, an inter-professional team facilitates discussions as Students relate the theoretical and conceptual fundamentals of educational leadership in academic health sciences and community practice contexts to their own current or desired practice environments. Leadership, planning, mentorship, communication and safety, motivation, and the change process are highlighted through online asynchronous learning, discussions, and student assessment. Synchronous course orientation will provide an opportunity for students to immerse themselves in the course requirements.

This course will provide an introduction to program evaluation methods for health sciences education.  Students will learn about relevant theories that can guide the evaluation of programs in education and health care, and the practical steps in creating a program evaluation. The course will progress through examining current theories, followed by instrumental steps and practical processes of evaluation including logic models, study designs, measurement and data sources, commonly used statistics and ethical considerations.  Students will apply learning by developing a program evaluation plan on health sciences education topic of their choice.

This course will examine critical scholarship and its application to teaching and learning in health professions education. In this course, critical scholarship will broadly refer to three connected bodies of literature: critical theory, critical literacy, and critical pedagogy. The course is designed to help students place themselves in relation to the contradictions that arise in the practice of social justice within education; asking the central questions: how can we as individuals promote freedom and justice within an educational context that reproduces social stratification? How do we challenge systems of domination through our teaching, learning, and respective professional practices? Students will have the opportunity to engage with texts from a variety of disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, history, and education (health professional and otherwise) to become familiar with the practice of engaged pedagogy that promotes freedom, social justice, and community. Recognizing that the classroom does not operate outside of the social hierarchies that impact our everyday lives, this course will prepare and encourage students to critically interrogate their teaching practices in order to contest the unequal power relations that exist both inside and outside of the formal contexts of education.

This course covers principles and methods for qualitative and conceptual analyses relevant to the fields of health policy and health professional education (HPE). Qualitative methods include descriptive or interpretive empirical investigation of social and personal phenomena such as events, experiences, meanings, culture, social dynamics, etc. Conceptual methods explore, analyze and develop concepts and ideas, including understanding their genesis and meanings, tracing their uses and effects in policy, and cultivating their further development in policy discourse. Conceptual work is inherent to most empirical qualitative methods, but is also used in non-empirical scholarly research in health policy and HPE.

This elective course requires interested students to develop and complete a framework for study that fosters exploration of a special topic of relevance to Health Professions Education in collaboration with a mutually-interested HSED faculty member (with supervisory status). The framework must describe the intended learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities, and assessments as well as the alignment between these components, and be presented to the HSED Program for approval prior to the course being offered. It is anticipated that these frameworks will typically include the development of a comprehensive reading list, literature review activities, a schedule of facilitated discussions, and the completion of a major term paper and/or series of smaller assignments. However, the specific objectives, activities, and assessments will vary depending on student interest, faculty guidance, and the nature of the agreed upon topic.
* please ensure you contact hsed@mcmaster.ca for faculty approval

Prerequisite(s): enrolment in HRM MSc or MPH, or by permission of the instructor Basic statistical concepts and techniques as they apply to analysis and presentation of data in biostatistical and epidemiology practice.

The course covers graphical presentation of data, elementary probability, descriptive statistics, probability distributions, and introduces hypothesis testing using parametric and non-parametric methods. Specific techniques covered include z-tests, t-tests, ANOVA, contingency tables, regression and correlation.

Department Contact Info: https://hrm.healthsci.mcmaster.ca/contact-us/

Principles of subjective assessment in topic areas ranging from educational evaluation to patient-based measurement of health attitudes or health status. Discussion includes: principles and methods of constructing rating scales and approaches to assessing the measurement properties of such scales. Special emphasis on assessment of reliability and validity-various forms of reliability (test-re-test, interobserver, split-halves), distinction between reliability and agreement, and indirect methods to assess validity of an instrument in the absence of a “gold standard.” Advanced topics in generalizability theory will be introduced. Format is that of lecture, plus small group discussion.

Department Contact Info: https://hrm.healthsci.mcmaster.ca/contact-us/

The course is designed to introduce students to the basic concepts and methods used in observational (non-experimental) studies to conduct needs assessments (e.g., prevalence of disease or order), to understand the determinants of health (e.g., association between independent/exposure variables and dependent/outcome variables in analytic research) and to emphasize concepts that are essential to the conduct of epidemiologic studies including internal and external validity, random variability, bias, effect modification, causality, and generalisibility. The topics will focus on three broad areas: i) the formulation of research questions and use of theory to explicate the relationships among key variables; ii) study design options, sampling, measurement and analysis; and iii) the control of error.

Department Contact Info: https://hrm.healthsci.mcmaster.ca/contact-us/

This course will introduce students to the major concepts and methods involved in program evaluation and will examine different methodologist’s approaches to evaluation of programs. A framework for thinking about evaluation theory will be developed that allows students to explore how different theorists attempt to tackle fundamental problems in the field. A wide range of quantitative and qualitative design options will be discussed. The course will provide students with knowledge of the current controversies and major challenges facing this field.

Department Contact Info: https://hrm.healthsci.mcmaster.ca/contact-us/

This course introduces learners to theoretical traditions and corresponding methods of qualitative research using health and health care research as examples. Specific topics covered include: theoretical paradigms of qualitative research, types of research questions best answered by qualitative methods, sampling objectives and procedures, methods of data collection, methods of analysis and interpretation, and ethical issues and responsibilities of qualitative researchers. Criteria for evaluating qualitative research will be discussed and applied to specific research studies. Learners will gain “hands on” experience using qualitative methods through in-class and take-home exercises.

Department Contact Info: https://nursing.mcmaster.ca/contact

Prerequisite(s): HRM 721 or771 (or equivalents) AND NURSING/HRM 745 or HTHPOL747 (or equivalents) (or permission of the instructor)

This course introduces students to the major concepts and issues involved in mixed methods approaches to tackle important questions in the field of health services and policy. LearnLink is used as the mode of instruction. A framework for thinking about mixed methods will be developed that provides guidance to decision-making about when and how to use mixed methods and models to study health services and policy problems. The course will provide students with knowledge of the current controversies and major challenges in the use of mixed methods and models of research. Students are expected to design a mixed method study as part of the course and critically evaluate the design options chosen by a classmate.

Department Contact Info: https://nursing.mcmaster.ca/contact

This course provides learners with an introduction to quantitative research methods commonly used in rehabilitation practice. It is intended to prepare learners to understand the foundations of clinical research, engage in critical evaluation of research, explore opportunities for research in their clinical practice, and enhance their skills as research collaborators. The course emphasizes the development of knowledge related to the formulation of research questions; design types, variable types and scales; reporting guidelines; specific observational designs (e.g. cohort, case series, case control and cross-sectional) as well as randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, along with their corresponding methods and major research design issues (sampling, measurement, hypothesis testing and making inferences). This course is offered online.

Department Contact Info: https://srs-rehabsci.healthsci.mcmaster.ca/contact-us/

Department Contact Info: https://srs-rehabsci.healthsci.mcmaster.ca/contact-us/

*Thesis students should only register in “HSED 709 Thesis” in the term that they plan to defend. Terms where a student is actively working on their thesis, but not enrolled in an academic course, must be registered in the Academic Placeholder SGS 700.

For the thesis option, students will complete a formal written research proposal that outlines their project plan prior to commencing research and submit it for approval to their Supervisory Committee within six months of entry into the program for full-time students and within one year of entry for part-time students. The thesis will demonstrate integrative thinking, understanding and reviewing the relevant literature and involve conducting original research, and will focus on a health science education topic that is selected by the student in consultation with their Thesis Supervisor.

THESIS PROCESS
A candidate must present a thesis which embodies the results of original research and mature scholarship. In the case of sandwich theses, mature scholarship specifically includes substantial and significant contributions to the composition of text in papers with multiple authors. The student must have approval from their supervisory committee before producing the final version of the thesis for oral defence. Normally the thesis will be distributed to committee members and examiners in an electronic format.

A thesis may be submitted at any time but a thesis defence may not be initiated until all other degree requirements are complete. The final date for submitting a thesis to the department for Fall or Spring Convocation is found in the Sessional Dates Section. The thesis will be examined by a committee of not fewer than three members (including the supervisor and an examiner external to the supervisory committee) who will be appointed by the department/program chair; the thesis will be defended by the candidate in an oral examination before this committee. The Vice-Provost & Dean of Graduate Studies may appoint members to these committees. The time of the defence will be set by the department/program chair; normally this will be about two weeks after the completed thesis (as an electronic file) has been submitted to the department for examination.

After a discussion of the examination, the Chair will ask for a vote on the success or failure of the defence. If the examiners approve the defence, the Chair will ask the examiners to complete the Examination Report by initialing appropriately. The student will be invited back to the examination room for congratulations by the committee. In the event that minor revisions are required to the thesis, the Chair of the examination committee is responsible for ensuring that (1) the candidate is advised of the revisions, (2) the candidate receives and understands the ‘Final Thesis Submission form’ to be used by the Supervisor to confirm that the revisions have been made, and (3) the supervisor is also aware of the form. The Chair will complete and sign the Examination Report and return it to the School of Graduate Studies.

However, if there are two or more negative or abstaining votes, with at least one of these votes being from a member of the supervisory committee, the candidate will be deemed to have failed the defence, and a reconvened oral defence must be held at a later date. The candidate should be told as clearly as possible by the Chair and the examining committee what he/she must do to improve the defence. The reconvened defence is the candidate’s final opportunity to complete the degree. Membership on the reconvened examining committee should be the same as that for the original defense, except that one or two substitutions are permitted in order to expedite scheduling of the reconvened defence. If the defense fails a second time, that decision is final, and is not open to appeal.

After a successful examination and all requested changes have been made, the student will upload the final e-thesis to MacSphere. Students are normally expected to submit their final thesis within four weeks of a successful defence.The student may wish to have printed copies of the final thesis suitably bound for personal use or for presentation. The student will be responsible for the cost and distribution of any bound copies.

Tuition fees continue to be assessed until all degree requirements are met, including the successful submission of the final approved thesis to MacSphere.

Please note: when a thesis is submitted and published to MacSphere students must be aware that their name will appear as author of the document. In exceptional circumstances a pen name may be used subject to written approval of the Vice-Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies.

Chair Procedures Guide – Online Examination

Chair Procedures Guide – Defence Scenarios

The Capstone Portfolio allows for the integration of knowledge attained throughout HSED courses and the application of education research principles. It exposes students to a wide variety of current health professions education scholarship, techniques, and methodologies, and considers several approaches to advancements in the field. The Capstone Portfolio will also allow students to demonstrate their commitment to the exercise of initiative and of personal responsibility and accountability within their learning plan.

As the name suggests, the Capstone Portfolio consists of an assemblage of curricular activities and outputs that will be presented by the student at the end of the Program for final assessment. The Portfolio will contain several practical and applied elements:

• The final assignments associated with each of the students’ five (5) completed courses.
• A record of engagement in 10 HSED seminars.
• An education research or education innovation proposal.
• A statement of education philosophy.

For full information about the Capstone Portfolio, please refer to the HSED Student Handbook.

SEMINAR SERIES
The HSED Program is closely aligned with the McMaster Health Education Research, Innovation, and Theory (MERIT) Centre, which hosts between 7-10 Education Research Rounds throughout the year. These events happen at regular intervals and invite McMaster faculty and external scholars to present programs of research, study findings, and novel perspectives on health professions education and health professions education scholarship. Each presentation event is accompanied by a set of learning objectives that are specific to the topic being presented within that session.

Synchronous Viewing
Registration is required for these sessions. The schedule is available on the Events Page. They will be updated as information becomes available so please continue to check the Events Page regularly!

Asynchronous Viewing

Students that choose to view the seminar in an asynchronous online fashion are to do so via Avenue to Learn, where direct links to the recordings of the relevant suite of seminars on the MERIT Centre YouTube Channel can be found, and a continuous discussion forum.