title: Effectiveness of a weekly faculty conversation forum about teaching.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effectiveness of holding weekly 60-90 minute conversation forums for faculty members to discuss, explore, and reflect on various teaching topics in a relaxed, informal, interactive format.
  
  
  METHODS
  Weekly, 60-90 minute sessions were held for faculty members of the University of Illinois College of Pharmacy. A 15-item retrospective pretest-posttest questionnaire was developed and administered at the end of the first year of implementation to evaluate the participants' perceived knowledge, abilities, and confidence gains relative to becoming effective educators.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eleven faculty members completed the questionnaire. All respondents tended to agree (6/11) or agreed (5/11) that their confidence as educators improved after attending the conversation forums. In addition,7 respondents tended to agree and 4 agreed that their ability to self-assess their teaching had improved.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An ongoing weekly conversations forum provides faculty members opportunities to explore and learn about facets of teaching in a safe, informal environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Administration (MC 871), University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Pharmacy, 833 South Wood Street, Chicago, IL 60612-7231, USA. nickp@uic.edu
authors.forename: Nicholas G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Popovich
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Peverly
authors.forename: Terrence R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Jackson
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D004512:Education, Pharmacy / Q000379:methods*; D005178:Faculty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors