Flipping Med Ed

To help medical students progress faster and find their calling in the field, two educators suggest moving content delivery out of the classroom may be the way to bring the students back in.

The plan, featured in the October edition of Academic Medicine, comes from Charles G. Prober, senior associate dean of medical education of the Stanford University School of Medicine, and Salman Khan, founder of the Khan Academy.

Khan and Prober present a three-step road map: First, identifying a core curriculum with concepts and lessons that can be taught through the kinds of short, focused video clips pioneered by the Khan Academy; then, changing static and poorly attended lectures into interactive sessions where students can practice that curriculum; and finally, letting students explore their passion -- from bioengineering to public health -- early on in their med school careers.

“I think the notion of meeting the learner where they are is really important,” said Prober, noting “the writing is on the wall” about the flipped classroom model -- assigning recorded lectures and reserving classroom time for hands-on activities -- in K-12 education. “I do believe that’s the future model."