Evaluation of Training Strategy Employed During Cascadia Medical Anthropology Workshop Symposium

Grant program: Teaching and Learning Development Grant (TLDG)

Grant recipient: Susan Erikson, Faculty of Health Sciences

Project team: Naima Osman, research assistant, Janelle Taylor, Jenna Grant, Marieke van Eijk, University of Washington-Seattle (UW) Dept of Anthropology collaborators

Timeframe: January 2019 to August 2019

Funding: $6000

Final report: View Susan Erikson's final report (PDF)

Description: This evaluation project is in support of a 3-day training workshop symposium that is part of a larger multi-faceted institutional relationship initiated in 2011 between SFU and the University of Washington (the workshop symposium primaries) and other universities in the Cascadia region (e.g., University of British Columbia; University of Victoria; University of Manitoba; University of Western Washington; Seattle University; University of Oregon and others). This phase adds workshop training to our established biennial colloquium series (the Cascadia Seminar for Medical Anthropology).

The short-term goal of the workshop is graduate student training. The longer-term goal of the workshop symposium is to support and further strengthen emergent international scholarly networks inclusive of graduate students. We aim to support the training of the next generation of medical anthropologists in the Cascadia region and with European counterparts.

In this grant we invite faculty experts and their students, and explore the role of students as learning partners. Invited faculty and students attend all sessions over the three days. Mentoring is both intentional and opportunistic.

Questions addressed:

• Did student participants learn what they need to learn at their respective stages (MSc = content breadth + methodology; Year of PhD = 1^st year = content breadth + methodology; 3^rd year = content depth + methodology; 5^th year = tools and networking for dissertation)?
• How did students experience cross-institutional mentoring?
• How did students experience their own research presentations and feedback?
• What gaps remain in graduate student training in medical anthropology?
• What gaps remain in graduate student mentoring?

Knowledge sharing: Continuing workshop training in medical anthropology methods for Canadian students in collaboration with networks in Germany, Denmark, and the UK. Publications are planned for blog spots, but nothing has been completed to date.

Keywords: Medical Anthropology; Graduate Training; International Collaborative Training; Methodology Training; Cross-border Methodology Training for Canadian, European, and Canadian Students