Using educational design research to inform teaching and learning in the health professions

Teaching has always been at the core of what it means to practice in the health professions. Health professionals generally accept that as part of their role they will be involved in educating future generations in their discipline. However, whilst health professional educators typically have extensive knowledge and skills in their discipline areas, the art and science of teaching, particularly in the clinical setting, is often overlooked in the context of competing priorities. Currently, there is no formal requirement in Australia that health professional educators demonstrate teaching competency. Indeed, teaching pre and post qualification students often goes unrewarded and unsupported, thus suggesting that it is an undervalued element of the health professional educator's role. Furthermore, time-poor health professionals have limited opportunities to attend educational courses and workshops away from their workplaces. This paper discusses how educational design research influenced a hybrid mobile-web learning solution for providing educational professional development to health professional educators. It is argued that educational design research provides a rigorous framework in which to ground educational design and development processes, particularly when dealing with embryonic and unproven learning technologies.