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May 31, 2012

College of Pharmacy faculty selected for AACP Innovations in Teaching Award

Two faculty members of the University of Louisiana at Monroe’s College of Pharmacy were recently selected to present at the annual American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy meeting in Kissimmee, Fla. this summer.

A portfolio created by Dr. David Caldwell and Dr. Laurel Andrews, both Clinical Assistant Professors in Clinical and Administrative Sciences, was one of three winners selected by the AACP.

The AACP Annual meeting is the largest gathering of pharmacy administrators, faculty, and staff.

Representatives from ULM’s College of Pharmacy will present their portfolio at the Innovations in Teaching Special Session as a creative way to student engagement for an actual hands-on activity. 

“This project was started by Dr. Laurel Andrews and myself in the course that we co-coordinate, PHRD5051 Self-Care II. The course deals with nonprescription medicine and basic physical assessment techniques. The ZAPA (Zombie Apocalypse Practical Activity) was created to serve as a review of most of the semester's material and is given at the end of October,” said Caldwell.

The core innovation of the ZAPA was the use of a themed video which sets up each clinical scenario with which the students were presented. The video flowed directly into the practical itself, adding a sense of realism to the activity.

Caldwell continues that despite the zombie theme, students took the practical very seriously and performed extremely well, successfully triaging, treating, and educating all of the patients they were presented.

According to Caldwell, over ten faculty members were involved in approximately 11 hours of filming.  In fact, College of Pharmacy Dean Benny Blaylock participated in running from zombies until after midnight.

“It gave us an opportunity to get out of the office and work as a team on a logistically complicated, but very rewarding project, and its success was due to the great help of many members of our department and community,” said Caldwell. 

About the Innovations in Teaching Competition

The purposes of the Innovations in Teaching Competition are to identify innovative teaching and learning strategies and assessment methods, provide an opportunity to engage faculty in a process of documenting their scholarly approach to teaching and learning, and provide an opportunity for selected faculty to present their work during a special session at the AACP Annual Meeting in July of each year.

Click here for more information about the Innovations in Teaching Competition.

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