Our association is a robust and diverse set of educators, students, researchers, medical professionals, volunteers and academics that come from all walks of life and from around the globe. Each month we choose a member to highlight their academic and professional career and see how they are making the best of their membership in IAMSE. This month’s Featured Member is the winner of the 2021 Best Poster Award, Jody Takemoto.
Jody K. Takemoto
Education and Assessment Professional
ScientifiCation
Congratulations on recently winning an award for your presentation at the annual meeting! What led you to submit your abstract to IAMSE this year?
Thank you and many thanks to IAMSE for welcoming the opportunity to share this information with the IAMSE membership. The literature is void of quantitative studies demonstrating the impact of TBL on critical thinking skills. Being data-driven educators, (my team and I) conducted a study to learn more about this. We found that proper implementation of TBL had a positive quantifiable effect on critical thinking.
Looking at your time with the Association, what have you most enjoyed doing? What are you looking forward to? Committee involvement, conference attendance, WAS series, manuals, etc.?
There are quite a number of things about IAMSE that I enjoy. I had really enjoyable moments getting to know folks from across the globe who are passionate about medical science education through various outlets like the web seminars, professional development opportunities including the Medical Science Educator reviewer workshop, and conferencing of course! The friendly climate of IAMSE where we are colleagues, using first names, and in support of one another is energizing!!!! I am excited to attend the 2022 conference in Denver and build on these relationships.
What interesting things are you working on outside the Association right now?
My interests focus on building assessment experience through various freelancing avenues, diversifying my research techniques to include more social science methods, and building my own business. Most importantly, doing my part to help the COIVD-19 vaccination efforts by dispelling media rumors and being an advocate for underrepresented peoples.
Tell me a little bit about the research of your winning presentation? What really excites you about this topic?
My team and I are passionate about team-based learning (TBL) and its soft skill benefits. The impact of TBL on soft skills exists as a plethora of anecdotal qualitative evidence, namely surveys on student and educator perceptions and student achievement. In this study, we used a validated tool to quantitatively characterize the impact of TBL on critical thinking skills. It was quite interesting to have the various critical thinking skill dimensions broken down to see changes. I was particularly interested in looking at the improvement in the numeracy dimension because I teach pharmacokinetics, everyone’s favorite subject…
Anything else that you would like to add?
When not focusing on research, scholarship, and assessment, my favorite pastime includes cuddling with my fur baby, volunteering for professional organization committees, learning more about assessment, and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
I’m looking forward to growing with IAMSE personally and professionally. I’m also excited to meet more members of the IAMSE and staying connected virtually until we meet again!