Author biographies

Chapter 1

Associate Professor Robyn Smyth is the director of learning and teaching support at the University of Southern Queensland, where she supervises teams providing professional development and student support for online, face-to-face, and blended curricula.

She has completed a doctorate investigating large-scale educational change and has leveraged that work in her practice as an academic developer working in the higher education sector for almost two decades. Her practice specialises in curriculum design in the distance and online modes, including rich media technology in higher education for student-centred pedagogies.

Robyn is an active researcher using and investigating practice, theory, and pedagogy in higher education. Her interests lie in rich media, including practice and pedagogy of m-learning, higher degree supervision, and professional development. Core research interests include using technology to support curriculum design in complex contexts, and the potential for rich media and synchronous communication tools to support student learning. Principally, her research is focussed on innovative pedagogy and managing educational change which supports innovation.

Ian Symonds is dean of the Joint Medical Program (NSW) and head of the School of Medicine and Public Health at Newcastle University. He graduated from Nottingham University in the UK and completed his postgraduate training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Nottingham and Birmingham. After moving to Newcastle in 2004 to take up the chair of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, he became co-chair of the curriculum implementation committee that established the JMP with the UNE. He is the censor for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of OBGYN as well as working for the AMC in the assessment of international medical graduates.

He has edited or co-authored three undergraduate textbooks on obstetrics and gynaecology, researched and published on medical education, and holds a master's degree in clinical education.

Cathryn McCormack is a lecturer (teaching and learning) at Southern Cross University, where she supports staff in applying for teaching awards and grants, and developing their scholarship of teaching and learning.

She has been central to projects to develop student surveys at two different universities, and through these projects has developed skills and experience in qualitative and quantitative survey validation processes. Her passion lies in qualitative survey validation processes, and in particular how undertaking cognitive interviews can lead to better understanding of the basis for variation in student responses.

Her research interests are in evidence of teaching performance, situating student feedback within a larger portfolio of evidence, and how academic developers can best assist academics to reflect on the portfolio in order to improve teaching. She is currently undertaking a Ph.D investigating how academics learn to teach.

Chapter 2

Dr Julie Chen BSc, MD, FCFPC graduated from Dalhousie University, Canada, and completed her postgraduate training at the University of Toronto before becoming a fellow of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. She is currently head of undergraduate education in the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care at the University of Hong Kong, with a joint appointment at the Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education. In addition to teaching, she has played a leading role in the development, implementation, and evaluation of new initiatives in the medical curriculum. These include: an expanded family medicine curriculum; the 'Professionalism in Practice' programme to encourage early learning of professionalism, and a compulsory medical humanities programme which extends through all years of medical school. In recognition of her work in medical education, she was the recipient of a faculty teaching award in 2012.

Dr Weng-Yee Chin MBBS, FRACGP is a graduate of the University of Western Australia and a fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. She worked as a private general practitioner in Sydney prior to relocating to Hong Kong in 2005. She initially joined the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong as an honorary family medicine teacher in 2006, and now holds joint appointments with the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care and the Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Education, where she is primarily involved in undergraduate family medicine teaching, curriculum development, and quality assurance of the undergraduate medical curriculum. Her main research focus is in primary care mental health and in medical education.

Chapter 3

Gominda Ponnamperuma, MBBS (Colombo), Dip. Psychology (Colombo), MMEd (Dundee), Ph.D (Dundee), is a senior lecturer in medical education at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. He has published several journal articles and books, and has presented at and organised many international symposia, workshops, and conferences. He is a member of the editorial boards of two international medical education journals and has been a peer reviewer for many international journals. Gominda has been an advisor, visiting professor, and fellow of several leading academic institutes, and has also carried out consultations on educational projects in many countries around the world. He is a postgraduate tutor, examiner, and resource material developer for national and international medical education courses. His research interests include assessment (including selection for training), curriculum development, and evaluation.

Chapter 4

Cherdsak Iramaneerat is a surgeon and medical educator in Thailand. He received an MD from the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, in 1997. He enrolled in the residency training programme at the Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, and received Thai Board of Surgery in 2001. He received a scholarship from Ananda Mahidol Foundation to study medical education in the United States. He earned a master's degree in health professions education in 2004, and a Ph.D in educational psychology from the University of Illinois in Chicago in 2007. He currently works as an associate professor in the Division of General Surgery, Department of Surgery, and an associate dean in postgraduate education at the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University. His work focuses on peri-operative care of surgical patients, psychology of learning, Rasch measurement, and assessment of medical students and residents.

Chapter 5

Rita Sood, MD, MMEd, FAMS, FRCP is a professor of medicine and practicing internist at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. She has taught undergraduate and postgraduate students for more than 30 years. She has been an adjunct faculty member at the Centre for Medical Education and Technology at her institute since 1990, and headed the centre from 2005 to 2009. She has been actively involved in the faculty development programmes in medical education for the last two decades and has worked with national bodies in her country and with the WHO and UNICEF on issues concerning medical education. She has edited two books in medical education, written book chapters, published about 80 papers, and is on the review boards of many national and international journals. She was a fellow of FAIMER (Foundation for Advancement of Medical Education and Research) Institute, Philadelphia (2005-2007), and is an associate of the three regional FAIMER institutes in India. She is the President of the South-East Asian Regional Association for Medical Education (SEARAME) and the Indian Academy of Health Professions Education.

Dr Tejinder Singh MD, DNB, FIAP, MNAMS, M.Sc. HPE (Hons.) has worked at the Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, since 1986. He was appointed chair and head of paediatrics in 2006. He has been awarded fellowship by the Swedish International Development Agency, the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research, and the Indian Academy of Paediatrics and International Medical Sciences Academy. Dr Singh has been a member of various national committees formed by the Medical Council of India and MOHFW to develop curricula for both undergraduate and postgraduate education in paediatrics. He has also contributed to the curriculum for academic development in India. Dr Tejinder Singh is the founding course director of CMCL-FAIMER Regional Institute and Medical Council of India Regional Centre for Faculty Development at Christian Medical College, Ludhiana. He has produced more than 200 other publications, including 2 books and 30 chapters.

Chapter 6

Monica van de Ridder studied educational sciences at Utrecht University and has worked in the field of medical education since 2000. Her current role is that of senior advisor for graduate, postgraduate, and continuing medical education at the Albert Schweitzer hospital (ASz) in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. The main focus of her work is quality assurance of residency training programmes, academic development (leadership in education, feedback, workplace teaching/learning, and assessment) and supervising master's degree students in educational sciences. Her special area of interest is in research on feedback in medical education, and, in particular, the link between trainees' feedback perceptions and their subsequent performance, the...