Team Needs Assessments Are the First Step in the Mentoring Programme 31 Mar 2021 The ten Discovery Award winning teams currently competing in the Challenge underwent a process last month to evaluate their needs. The goal of the assessment was to highlight the requirements of the cohort and to inform development of events and tools needed by the team as a whole. This needs assessment was the first step in a comprehensive Mentoring Programme, designed to strengthen the support led by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). The Mentoring Programme will create a learning community, with structured mentorship and opportunities for peer learning. The Programme will continue throughout the Challenge, providing support to Discovery Award winners as well as Finalists in the last phase of the Challenge. It will include team workshops and coaching based on well-established frameworks, and will help prepare the teams for an online event at the end of the summer in which the teams will demonstrate their prototypes. Teams have already begun one to one mentoring sessions with expert Mentor Managers from RCSI. Based on their needs uncovered in the needs analysis, Challenge partners RCSI and MIT Solve will design workshops to support the needs of the cohort as a whole and teams’ Mentor Managers will facilitate one to one sessions with subject matter experts. The group of over 20 subject matter experts have expertise in a variety of subjects, including: Management and leadership Education and assessment, including e-learning methodologies Simulation technology Media, including video, audio, and AI The Discovery Award winners will also have access to a newly curated Toolkit, hosted by Challenge partner Appropedia. The toolkit brings together a range of information resources and training on the necessary skills needed to build the surgical training modules and is open access to all. These resources will address issues such as physical model design, self-assessment best practices and project management.
