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Confronting Contexts

Professor Rachel Ellaway
University of Calgary, Canada

Dr. Ellaway will guide a reflective inquiry session exploring key concerns in thinking about context in health professional education. Context is always with us; we are never not in context. Context is also a polysemic concept that both unites and divides us. If contexts are all unique then how can we talk systematically about context in health professional education? Pattern and pattern language theory can help with this. For some, education contexts are simply the background, the passive setting for active health professional education. For others, the contexts of training are selected to afford certain educational advantages. And for others, contexts are carefully designed and configured to optimize learning outcomes. How can we reconcile these different perspectives? Learning happens in many different contexts; learners move between contexts all the time. To what extent and in what ways does the ability to adapt to new contexts and make the most of them play a role in health professional education?

Dr. Rachel Ellaway is a professor of medical education in community health sciences and co-director of the Office of Health and Medical Education Scholarship at the Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary. An internationally renowned scholar and leader in medical education, her substantial contribution is reflected in 328 presentations, 201 publications and 24 book chapters.

This interactive session on ‘Confronting Contexts’ will stimulate you think about the impact that contexts have on health professional education.

Rachel was awarded the 2019 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Duncan Graham Award for Outstanding Contribution to Medical Education.

Sponsored by:

Further information:

Quality Supervision in Health and Human Services here

Introduction to Health Education Research: Online Course here

Introduction to Health Education Research: Intensive Online Course  here