In the academic world, summer is winding down, and preparations are in full swing for a new academic year, set to start on August 25 at Ohio State. We’re looking forward to welcoming new students and new faculty, and looking forward to the unveiling of some renovations to the 12th Avenue entrance of Parks Hall.
We’re also initiating new efforts to advance our strategic plan, including our outreach and engagement goal of coordinating efforts for practice change. One of the first steps in this process is to get a better understanding of where we are currently directing our outreach and engagement energies.
In today’s blog, I’ve asked Emily Keeler, Program Manager and Community Builder for our Outreach and Engagement team, to share some details about a project they have been working on in recent months: the creation of an online tool that will enable us to track the great outreach work currently done by faculty, staff and students in the college:
As a pillar of the university’s strategic plan and mission as a land grant university, outreach is an important component of the offerings of our faculty, staff, and students. But how do we quantify and qualify these outreach activities, and how can we identify where we could make the most impact in advancing the pharmacy profession across Ohio and beyond?
The College of Pharmacy Outreach and Engagement team has begun this process by creating an online tool to track outreach and engagement activities. Partnering with an advisory committee and the Experiential Education Program, we developed a new tool that runs on Qualtrics and tracks information such as type of activity, hours, location, and offers a place for feedback.
Designed as a “one-stop-shop,” the tool is designed to be a quick and easy way for participants to tell us about the work they’re doing. Students, especially, now have a way to report outreach and engagement projects as well as Community Health Service hours needed for professional experience program requirements.
Information collected about these activities will provide the Outreach and Engagement Team with real-time feedback on how members of the College of Pharmacy community are making a difference in our local community.
Dr. Jennifer Rodis, Assistant Dean for Outreach and Engagement, notes “By creating one tool to report activities, we can capture data in real-time while making it quick and easy for students. Also, by offering a place for feedback and ratings, we can make sure outreach activities are safe, foster learning, and bring the most benefit to all parties involved.”
The reporting tool was rolled out to upper-level PharmD students this summer. It will be offered to all students at any level this fall, with plans to bring it to all faculty, staff, and students within the year.
For more information on this project, please contact Emily Keeler at keeler.16@osu.edu or Jennifer Rodis at rodis.2@osu.edu.
Thanks to Emily, Dr. Rodis, and the Outreach and Engagement team for their efforts to improve data collection to facilitate data-informed decision making in the College of Pharmacy. We’re looking forward to sharing an update on their efforts on this project in the future, as well as to highlighting additional Outreach and Engagement projects in this blog space.
Starting this month, the Outreach and Engagement office will be a regular contributor to our Knowledge Dispensary posts. Community engagement is not only a top priority for the college, but is also something that we’re very proud of. We hope you will enjoy reading more about the great work being done by this group.
Best regards,
Katherine Kelley