An innovative clerkship in pharmacy education

The objective was to offer a comprehensive, elective, six-week clerkship ex perience in pharmacy education for PharmD students to develop their skills and stimulate their interest in the teaching and service aspects of academi c life. The methods used included students participating in this rotation t o meet the following outcomes through a wide variety of activities. These w ere: (i) creating and delivering an instructional module; (ii) assessing th e learning value of that module or other instructional activity; (iii) part icipating in school committees and describing the committees' impact on the educational process; (iv) analyzing a variety of instructional methodologi es and assessments used by faculty members; (v) discussing changes in pharm aceutical education over the last three decades; (vi) identifing, evaluatin g and discussing references and resources for pharmacy faculty to aid in th eir teaching; (vii) evaluating and discussing specific education journal ar ticles of interest to the student; (viii) analyzing the role of specific na tional associations that impact pharmacy education; (ix) completing and pre senting an education-related project; and (x) creating a portfolio to demon strate achievement of rotation outcomes. Participant feed-back and evaluati ons of the rotation were very positive. Student portfolios reflected their understanding of pharmacy education and the challenges and rewards of facul ty life. Undergraduate students value the instructional activities of and i nteraction with these clerkship students. With continued success of this mo del, the rotation may become required for all students, as well as stimulat e more of them to pursue academic careers.