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Distinction in Medical Education Program

DIME- Graduation with Distinction in Medical Education

This prestigious and rigorous program is intended to support and recognize Robert Wood Johnson Medical School students who have shown exceptional involvement, accomplishment, and scholarship in medical education. These students must have distinguished themselves by assuming a significant level of responsibility in planning, carrying out and completing a scholarly educational activity. Students who are accepted into this program and who fulfill all requirements as certified by the DIME committee will receive diplomas at Commencement stating that they have graduated with “Distinction in Medical Education.”

The DIME program is designed for students who are interested in teaching, educational scholarship, and a possible career in academic medicine. The opportunities for training, teaching, and participation in a scholarly education project have implications for contributing to the improvement of resident and physician teaching skills. The commitment to and involvement in medical education must be intensive. Students are encouraged to express interest in the program by the spring semester of their first year or during the summer between their first and second year.

→ Download the DIME Application Form

→ DIME Non-Credit Elective

Goals of DIME

The goals of the DIME program are to recognize students who have demonstrated exceptional and sustained commitment to scholarship in medical education. The program affords the opportunity to train students in teaching and scholarship in medical education, and to offer recognition for completed projects, while adding to an important body of knowledge.

Objectives

All three of the following objectives must be achieved.

  1. Students will plan and complete a scholarly project in medical education, including, but not limited to, traditional educational research, or an educational resource/instructional material appropriate for adoption in a course, clerkship or elective.
  2. Students will demonstrate effective instructional strategies, which may include planning and implementing a presentation (lecture), facilitating small group instruction, teaching in a clinical setting, and mentoring others.
  3. Students will construct effective instructional materials, e.g., online modules, clinical cases, simulated patient scenarios, evaluations, and written materials to complement their teaching.

Timeline/Guidelines for Achieving Distinction in Medical Education

  • Students should show interest in academic medicine by seeking leadership positions, e.g. serving as student curriculum committee members and as course representatives, and engaging in volunteer or other teaching activities (service learning, PASS teaching, etc.) in the first two years of medical school.
  • Students must complete the DIME Non-Credit Elective* during M1 and M2 years by attending a minimum of 10 sessions over a two year period.
  • Students must select a mentor/collaborator, formulate a scholarly project in education, and submit the DIME application no later than July 15 of the M3 year.
  • Students must participate in an M3-M4 Academic Medicine Elective.
  • All educational scholarly projects must be submitted with a summary statement by December 15 of the student's graduation year.
  • Students satisfactorily completing the DIME Program are required to present their work at a symposium in the spring of their M4 year.

Guidelines for Scholarship in Education

Project proposals must be approved by a faculty mentor/collaborator and by 3 members of the DIME committee. Traditional research, as well as other forms of scholarship, are encouraged. Projects will be evaluated using the standards defined by Glassick* for assessing educational scholarship.

*Glassick, C.E. , Boyer's Expanded Definitions of Scholarship, the Standards for Assessing Scholarship, and the Elusiveness of the Scholarship of Teaching, Academic Medicine, v75 n9 p877-80 Sep 2000w

Timeline

M1

*Participate in DIME Non-Credit Elective

M2

* Complete DIME Non-Credit Elective
* Complete DIME Application

M3

* Continue work on approved DIME project
* Schedule Medical Education Elective (M3 or M4)

M4

* Complete Medical Education Elective
* Complete DIME Project and submit to mentor for approval by DIME committee
* Disseminate project (paper, conference submission, presentations, etc.)

* Present at DIME symposium

For additional information, contact:

Robert Lebeau, EdD

Director, Cognitive Skills Program
Phone: (732) 235-4129
robert.lebeau@rwjms.rutgers.edu