Mastering Didactic Design: Unlocking the Secrets to Engaging Education (Education Committee-Sponsored)

In today’s fast-paced educational landscape, traditional lectures often struggle to engage learners and ensure long-term knowledge retention. Drawing on the cutting-edge recommendations from the AEM Education & Training Blueprint (Gottlieb et al., 2024), this session equips educators with the tools to transform their teaching practices into dynamic, learner-centered experiences. The session will explore best practices for didactic design, focusing on creating engaging, impactful presentations. Participants will examine audience-centered strategies, then delve into insights from Gottlieb’s 2024 blueprint to enhance content delivery, structure, and interaction. Through a hands-on group activity, attendees will redesign a didactic session in real time, applying principles and receiving live feedback. By the end, participants will have practical strategies to elevate their teaching and make a lasting impact on learners. 

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:
  • Analyze current didactic practices to identify areas for improvement based on the AEM Education & Training Blueprint
  • Design engaging presentations that incorporate best practices for enhanced learner retention and engagement
  • Evaluate peer-designed didactics, providing constructive feedback to promote continuous improvement in teaching methodologies

Presenters:

  • Sree Natesan, MD, FACEP
  • Michael Gottlieb, MD
  • Katarzyna M. Gore, MD, FACEP
Authors
  • Sree Natesan, MD, FACEP

    Duke University School of Medicine

    Dr. Sree Natesan is an Associate Professor and Associate Program Director in the Duke University Department of Emergency Medicine. She is committed to the advancement of education, clinical teaching/feedback, and diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI).


    Regarding advancing medical education and fostering inclusive learning environments: She had had a broad clinical and research training including ACEP Teaching Fellowship, Academic Life in Emergency Medicine Faculty Incubator Program, AAMC Medical Education Research Certificate Program, Duke Educational Skills Longitudinal Mentorship Program, and Duke Academy for Health Professions Education and Academic Development (AHEAD) Certificate Program, among others. She has shown herself a leader in medical education, having been awarded the CORD Junior Faculty Award, ACEP Junior Faculty Teacher Award, CORD Academy Scholar Award for Teaching and Evaluation. She is a leader on various committees including Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Director (CORD) Education Committee, co-Chair of the CORD Best Practices Subcommittee, Chair of CORD Academy for Scholarship. Dr. Sree Natesan serves as Chief Academic Officer for Academic Life in EM (ALiEM) Faculty Incubator Program, an international faculty development program. She is co-founder and director of the Duke GME Medical Education Leadership Track (MELT), a longitudinal resident/fellow-as-teachers program across all GME specialties, which has graduated over 170 trainees and fellows since 2018 and the Duke GME Faculty Academy for Clinical Teaching Program that was started in 2023 due to the success of the MELT program.

    Regarding advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within MedEd: She serves as co-founder and co-chair of Duke EM Justice Equity Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) as well as on national committees for advancing Medical Education and DEI. She is Chair for the CORD DEI committee and is the President Elect for 2024 for ADIEM. She is actively involved in community outreach, mentorship, and pipeline/pathline programs. She has helped lead institutional and national conferences on holistic review for resident recruitment, implicit bias, and upstander training against microaggression. She has helped to create the CORD DEI track for the CORD Academic Assembly and has served as the track chair since 2021, as well as the founder and chair for the CORD DEI virtual conference to help EM programs grow the diversity of their programs and create inclusive training spaces.

    Her primary research interest and expertise is in clinical teaching and feedback by incorporating innovative novel strategies in the Emergency Department (ED) as well as advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.


  • Michael Gottlieb, MD

    Michael Gottlieb, MD

    Rush University Medical Center

    Michael Gottlieb, MD is the Vice Chair of Research and Director of the Emergency Ultrasound Division at Rush University Medical Center. He is Past-Chair of the ACEP Ultrasound Section and Past-Chair of the AAEM Ultrasound Section. He has authored over 500 peer-reviewed publications and is an Editor for Academic Medicine, The Annals of Emergency Medicine, The Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, and Academic Emergency Medicine Education and Training, as well as the Social Media Editor for Academic Emergency Medicine. He is Past-Chair of the CORD Academy for Scholarship, Past-Chair of the SAEM Education Summit, Past-Chair of the CORD Education Committee, Past-Chair of the CORD Best Practices Subcommittee, and a nationally-recognized speaker and educator. His academic interests include medical education, ultrasound, infectious diseases, heart failure, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

  • Katarzyna M. Gore, MD

    Rush University

    Dr Gore is an Associate Program Director for Rush University Emergency Medicine. She has published and spoken national on Feedback at national conferences such as CORD and SAEM. Dr. Katarzyna Gore completed residency training at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Chicago in 2015 after which she started her career at Rush University Medical Center. She was instrumental to the creation of the Emergency Medicine Residency at Rush who's inaugural class started in 2017. Given her dedication to and passion for resident teaching she became the Associate Program Director of the EM residency. She has also become very involved in undergraduate medical education and acts as a clinician educator for the pre-clinical curriculum in the Rush Medical College.

    Dr. Gore is particularly interested in faculty development and residency administration and completed the Residency Admin Fellowship through CORD and finished a two year course through the Rush University Interprofessional Leadership Program. She hopes to use these skills to better serve her residents and in particular focus on sponsorship of future female leaders.