Ed Vandenberg, M.D., associate professor in the department of internal medicine, division of geriatrics and gerontology, has been honored with the 2013 University of Nebraska Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award (OTICA).
- Name: Ed Vandenberg, M.D.
- Title: Associate professor in the department of internal medicine, division of geriatrics and gerontology, College of Medicine
- Joined UNMC: 1998
- Hometown: David City, Neb.
Dr. Vandenberg has earned a reputation for his commitment to working across disciplines to improve curricula, particularly in the area of geriatrics. Dr. Vandenberg is known for incorporating humor into his lectures.
Video tribute to OTICA winner Ed Vandenberg, M.D.
Below, Dr. Vandenberg discusses his teaching style:
My philosophy of teaching is based upon the following principles:
- I strive to always be student centered.
- I model my enthusiasm to provide high-quality care.
- I provide information that is condensed, clear and immediately usable.
- I use any informational medium that allows easy accessibility to learn and that is easy to review later. I feel the medium is most effective if it provides a condensed visual outline of the information.
- I will frequently use an innovative medium and at times use entertaining approaches to sustain attention for weary, stimulus-overloaded learners.
- Constantly assess the learner’s knowledge and then challenge them to increase or extrapolate from present knowledge and skills.
- I give both immediate and scheduled feedback and encouragement to the learner.
- I never allow the student to accept mediocrity.
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Dr. Vandenberg, making it rain knowledge |
What do you do to stay current in your field and how do you incorporate that into the curriculum you teach?
How do I stay current? I read journals in my field, follow a number of online resources that provide condensed information of current literature, thoroughly review current texts in my field as they come out, constantly read the literature on my patient’s problems.
How do I incorporate that into the curriculum?
I regularly update our geriatric student curriculum. I update the Geriatric Pearl Cards and website annually. I provide references to students and residents of key articles supporting my recommendations (demonstrating evidence-based). We provide laminated summary cards called “Pearl Cards” to all learners and then we refer to them as we teach. I regularly hand out to my learners key chapters or articles for them to expand on their knowledge base.
Congratulations, Ed. Hope IPE thrives.
John Benson