Academic Primer Series: Key Papers About Teaching with Technology

INTRODUCTION: Modern learners have immediate, unlimited access to a wide variety of online resources. To appeal to this current generation of learners, educators must embrace the use of technology. However, educators must balance newer, novel technologies with traditional methods to achieve the best learning outcomes. Therefore, we aimed to review several papers useful for faculty members wishing to incorporate technology into instructional design. METHODS: We identified a broad list of papers relevant to teaching and learning with technology within the online discussions of the Academic Life in Emergency Medicine (ALiEM) Faculty Incubator. This list was augmented with suggestions by a guest expert (BT) and an open call on Twitter (tagged with the #meded and #FOAMed hashtags) yielding 24 papers. We then conducted a modified three-round Delphi process within the authorship group, including junior and senior faculty members, to identify the most impactful papers. RESULTS: We pared the list of 24 papers to five that were most highly rated. Two were research papers and three were commentaries or editorials. The authorship group reviewed and summarized these papers with specific consideration to their value to junior educators and faculty developers. CONCLUSION: This is a key reading list for junior faculty members and faculty developers interested in teaching with technology. The commentary contextualizes the importance of these papers for medical educators, to optimize use of technology in their teaching or incorporate into faculty development.