Many of us use quizzes in some form or another. We use them for different reasons as well, some better than others. Some of the challenges with quizzes are that they tend to be lower-level questions that reflect more memorization of information rather than actual learning (Weimer, 2016). Then there ...

When ChatGPT launched in late 2022, much of the focus and concern was students misusing it to write admission essays, papers, or assignments. Faculty worried about how we would know if the student actually did the work or if AI produced it. Attention then focused on products that could help us tell ...

Recently, I spoke with two programs trying to figure out and create a plan to address issues due to things not going how they intended, namely student outcomes and falling board scores.

In this newsletter, I decided to share my thoughts and experiences working with programs when things go wrong. Al...

As someone who spends a lot of time ensuring that curriculum, teaching, and assessment are aligned so we can confidently conclude and provide evidence that our students learned what they needed to know, a question posed by a colleague gave me pause. Though his question focused more on grading consis...

With the pandemic behind us, one positive outcome of that experience is that we now have more options for delivering material to students. Although using videos isn't new, my experience in PA education is that we prefer in-person live lectures because most programs are campus-based. Overall, we are ...

Lately, there have been some interesting musings in the educational literature about lectures. One article suggested ways of keeping students' attention during lectures is through incorporating active learning, which is supported by research (Hoekstra, 2025). Numerous studies place student attention...

Extra credit can be a divisive issue among faculty. Despite this ongoing disagreement, the literature suggests that the use of extra credit in higher education is more popular these days than in the past (Izienicki & Setchfield, 2019; Norcross et al., 1989; Norcross et al., 1993; Weimer, 2020).

Let...

Although there is a plethora of evidence-based information about the importance of engaging students in active learning, many of us still use lectures as a major method of teaching. Lecture is still an acceptable, useful, and effective teaching method if you include active and engaging components (W...

Academic integrity has always been an interest of mine. Over the years, I have come to appreciate the challenges it creates for us as faculty and trying to understand why students don't seem to value it. I, for one, continue to believe that honesty and integrity are important, especially for future ...

I would venture to guess that most of us are very familiar, if not most comfortable with, single-answer, multiple-choice exams to evaluate student knowledge. However, we need a different type of assessment when assessing performance, either on a skills type exam such as a simulated patient encounter...