Judy Garrett, Ph.D. Professor

Service

Entering UAMS students are often surprised to find three differences between preprofessional and UAMS courses:

1. There is a lot more material, often more in one course than in an entire semester of preprofessional coursework,
2. Tests are different: fewer rote memory and more application and problem solving type questions, and
3. Memorize, regurgitate and forget does work in UAMS courses. Students must remember and use information for certification exams and throughout their professional lives.

These differences, as well as other information processing demands of health professions, require highly specialized types of learning skills such as the ability to recognize key concepts and organize information to facilitate retrieval for clinical decision-making. Dr. Garrett's primary area of responsibility is working with students in applying principles of human learning to improve both academic performance and clinical decision-making skills. Providing this type of assistance requires that Dr. Garrett have a conceptual understanding of the structure of some of the major disciplines in health professions programs and of the nature of the learning tasks involved in each. She works with students in all five UAMS colleges (Health Related Professions, Pharmacy, Public Health, Medicine and Nursing) and the graduate school, to provide the following services:

1. orientation sessions (has provided over 100 such sessions over the past 10 years) on studying and learning in UAMS courses, based on actual course materials,
2. diagnostic testing to identify strengths/weakness in cognitive skills related to metacognition: identifying and condensing relevant material, visualizing and anticipating test questions,
3. workshops (also based on actual course materials) to help students develop more appropriate learning skills, and
4. management for a small peer tutoring program for first-year courses that are traditionally difficult for entering students such as physiology and biochemistry. Dr. Garrett works with faculty to identify qualified tutors.

Other service activities have included membership of UAMS admissions and curriculum committees and a reviewer for the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education in the area of web-based instruction.

Teaching

To make learning skills diagnostic and consultation services available to more students, Dr. Garrett works with course faculty to develop web-based tutorials that provide practice in condensing and organizing information and that help students check their understanding of material. She received a UAMS Medical Research Endowment Award to develop metacognitive skills training materials for students in the College of Pharmacy. Examples of other web-based instruction to teach students 'Learning Skills' for UAMS courses include CON Health Assessment and Foundations, COM Microscopic Anatomy, and the COP Physiology course. These tutorials have provided 1000⁺ hours of instruction.

Research

Major research interests include identifying skills related to metacognition; i.e., skills students need to monitor their learning, and the relationship of these skills to achievement. Results of this research have been published in AJPE and presented at five national meetings. Other research interests include variables influencing the effectiveness of peer tutoring programs, web-based instruction, and variables related to achievement in health professions programs, which have been presented at 10 national and regional meetings.

Background Information

Phone: 501 686-5720; FAX: 501 686-7053
E-mail: GarrettJudithE@Uams.Edu

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