The program encourages students to develop and present innovative school initiatives to a panel of senior educator as an alternative to the traditional grant application process.
This article was originally published in Residency Program Insider, December 8, 2017.
Eager to create a forum where its students could build and exchange ideas on how to enhance their educational experience, the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine generated a small grant program that parodied ABC’s successful entrepreneur show, “Shark Tank.”
Beginning in 2014, the “Educational Shark Tank” encourages teams of students to develop innovative school initiatives and present them to a panel of senior educator “sharks” as an alternative to the traditional grant application process. These formal presentations occur at a special conference in front of a live audience.
The educator sharks then pick apart the presenters’ ideas, offering suggestions to challenge the presenters to ultimately improve their designs.
Winning proposals were awarded portions of the grant money—$2,500 in 2014 and $10,000 in 2015 and 2016—to facilitate their projects.
The authors of the Educational Shark Tank plan to conduct a five-year survey at the end of 2018 to measure the experiences of participants and progress made by past winners.
Source: Academic Medicine
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