This web-based resource was designed to be a one-stop shop for instructors interested in converting U-M courses to IPE.
As the University of Michigan is adding more interprofessional education (IPE) opportunities for students across the health professions, some faculty are choosing to “convert” existing courses to IPE. A new resource came online in spring 2017 to facilitate the process–the IPE Course Adapter Toolkit.
The toolkit was created and is being piloted by three U-M faculty members: Melissa Gross of Kinesiology, Debra Mattison of Social Work, and Minal Patel of Public Health. All three were part of the 2016-17 inaugural class of Interprofessional Leadership Fellows, which is a project-based U-M program that develops faculty champions and change agents to advance IPE and collaborative practice.
During their 18 months as fellows, these faculty members leveraged their expertise and furthered a vision on how to streamline IPE course conversion. Specifically, they want to help instructors “obtain the skills and information to develop and effectively roll out IPE courses” and build confidence about meeting IPE competencies.
The IPE Course Adapter Toolkit is structured and populated with content for users at various levels. For example:
- Faculty who are new to IPE can begin by watching an intro video on the website’s landing page, and then grounding themselves in IPE definitions and background.
- Those ready to get going on a course conversion can work through a timeline with links to resources, IPE course elements, and the Michigan Center for IPE’s opportunity proposal form.
- For IPE course implementation phases, the Course Adapter offers tools to help instructors “jump through administrative hoops with ease.”
According to its creators, the IPE Course Adapter Toolkit was “designed to mirror the IPE process of exposure, immersion, and mastery by providing relevant resources and information in a stepwise structure to instructors in the course conversion process.”
They are welcoming feedback from users of the IPE Course Adapter Toolkit throughout the current pilot phase of the resource’s launch.
One of the IPE Course Elements features in the IPE Course Adapter Toolkit website.