Working Together to Deliver Interprofessional Education to All

CAI partners with faculty to translate successful U-M course into online offerings for key audiences

“Introduction to Interprofessional Education,” an introductory course for health sciences students, teaches the principles of interprofessional education and collaboration to more than 2,000 University of Michigan health sciences students across all campuses each year. The course is well designed, receiving strong positive feedback from students every year. 

When shared within the broader health sciences community at conferences and through other professional networks, there was tremendous interest in the content outside of the University of Michigan community, prompting the lead faculty to explore creating an online version that was more widely available. 

“It became clear that the content had value beyond our institution and could meaningfully contribute to a broader interprofessional learning community,” said Laura Smith, professor of physical therapy and director of interprofessional engagement and development at the U-M Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (CIPE).

Smith, along with Olivia Anderson, clinical associate professor at the School of Public Health, and Hannah Edwards, education and curriculum program manager at CIPE, partnered with the Center for Academic Innovation to redesign the residential course into two online courses that could connect with health sciences students and practitioners around the country. 

Adapting a residential course into online offerings tailored to both students and practitioners is complex, requiring thoughtful collaboration between instructors, learning experience designers, project managers, media designers, marketing specialists, partnership managers, and more. Fortunately, there was a strong foundation on which to build.

A Core Foundation

The original course examines core competencies of effective interprofessional teamwork and dynamics of high-functioning teams. Students deepen their understanding of how to foster collaborative environments that align with the “quintuple aims of health.”

Students learn about each of these, along with social determinants of health, high-performing teams, and leadership. Learners then reflect on case studies with their peers to apply these core competencies. 

The course follows a more traditional learning design and is targeted for a time-bound cohort of students who are taking the majority of their other courses in-person. Assignments are tracked, assessments are graded, and discussion forums are monitored by faculty members. The course also counts as credit toward their degree.

Expanding the Scope

To adapt this course for multiple external audiences and a self-paced delivery, our team at CAI approached it from multiple angles. The overall design goal for the new online course was to make it feel easy to navigate while also representing the University of Michigan’s unique style. As we adapted and shortened the courses, we revised instructions, framing text, reading layouts, and transitions to ensure the content flows seamlessly and maintains a consistent style and learning experience for any student type. 

Our team and the CIPE instructors determined two distinct audiences who could benefit from the content: students at other colleges and universities, and practitioners who are more established in their careers. The team decided the best way to serve both audiences was to design a unique course experience for each.

External College Students

Other colleges and universities that utilize this course for their students will have different motivations and surrounding requirements. For example, there will be varying levels of facilitator involvement, and the course may or may not count as credit toward a degree. The enrollment for the course could be a small cohort, or it could be an open, self-paced, modular experience. 

In order to scale the course for diverse audiences and levels of facilitator involvement, we removed U-M references and content items. We increased the use of auto-graded assessments, reduced reliance on facilitator-dependent discussions, and integrated student perspectives through a pre-recorded podcast.

Healthcare Practitioners

Working professionals will likely be taking the course asynchronously with little oversight, and many are too busy to commit to a semester-long course. Therefore, the faculty and learning experience designers worked closely to design a course that preserved meaningful learning outcomes with a shorter course length, between 90 and 120 minutes, prioritizing the most essential, high-impact content. 

Additionally, we removed any discussion activities, recognizing that healthcare professionals taking this course asynchronously may not have consistent opportunities for peer-to-peer exchange. Rather than include a format that could feel like an impediment, we focused on learning experiences that support self-paced engagement, keeping the course flexible and easy to fit into a full day without compromising the depth of the learning experience.

Partnering for Success

Learners taking this course can feel confident that there was intentionality behind every design choice and that their unique needs were taken into account throughout the process. A major catalyst for our success was the wonderful collaboration between the center and our CIPE faculty partners. We learned that efficient processes and strong partnerships can result in not only a beautifully designed course, but also an opportunity to positively impact and shape healthcare delivery for patients across the globe. 

“Working with the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation was a truly positive experience,” said Smith. “Together, we were able to translate a successful residential learning experience into a scalable, accessible model, extending opportunities for interprofessional education to a much wider audience.”