Sensemaking with Spreadsheets for Medical & Health Professionals

This resource outlines the course design and rationale for SenseMaking with Spreadsheets for Medical & Health Professionals a 400-level course.

SenseMaking with Spreadsheets for Medical & Health Professionals is a course designed for clinicians, researchers, educators, and students who are ready to advance knowledge, skills, and critical thinking related to making sense of chronic diseases. Delivered entirely online through a learning management system, this course offers the flexibility and accessibility today’s learners need, providing a high-level education experience that is both robust and relevant, all from the comfort of participants’ preferred environments, when and where most convenient.

This course connects a dynamic community of professional learners in a shared space to engage in productive struggle and wayfinding pathways. It is designed not only to teach about different approaches to sensemaking but also to build critical thinking, problem-solving, analytical and digital literacy skills that contribute to better understanding of chronic health conditions. Through scaffolded assignments and curated content, participants will build competence in reconciling classifications, harmonizing conceptual schemas, and negotiating meaning as co-creators and co-organizers of medical and health knowledge.

Key Course Features

• Diverse, Curated Readings: Carefully selected foundational literature relevant to sensemaking for medical and health professionals.
• Scholarly Exploration: Guidance on how to explore and critically engage with web-based content and scientific/scholarly literature based on individual or professional interests.
• Scaffolded Assignments:
  • Spreadsheets and tables for synthesizing and comparing etiological, physiological, and clinical features of chronic health conditions.
  • Guided use of generative AI tools for research and learning.
  • Reflective writing and forum discussions to support meaning-making and critical dialogue.
• Collaborative Learning Community: Engage in peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, mutual support, and interdisciplinary insight.

Instructional Design & Educational Foundations

This course draws from a powerful blend of modern educational theory and best practices in adult learning to ensure deep, transferable learning:

• Learner-Centered Andragogy: Tailored to adult learners who bring their own experiences and motivations, the course encourages autonomy, professional and personal relevance, and self-direction.
• Heutagogy (Self-Determined Learning): Learners set goals, pursue topics of interest, and shape their own learning paths while being supported with flexible guidance.
• Constructivist Learning: Participants build new knowledge by connecting prior experiences with new insights through reflection, research, and collaborative meaning-making.
• Connected Learning: The course emphasizes real-world relevance, peer collaboration, and social engagement through online community and dialogue.
• Social Development Theory (Vygotsky): Structured opportunities enable interaction and shared problem-solving support learning in the zone of proximal development.
• Discovery Learning: Participants are encouraged to question, explore, and investigate health conditions that matter to them, fostering curiosity and independent inquiry.
• Merrill’s Principles of Instruction:
  • Activation: Participants draw on their existing knowledge and experiences.
  • Demonstration: Clear models and examples illustrate best practices in tasks.
  • Application: Participants engage in hands-on, practical assignments to apply new skills.
  • Integration: Participants reflect, discuss, and share their work in ways that integrate learning into their lives.
• Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy: From remembering and understanding medical concepts to analyzing, evaluating, and creating original outputs like summaries, spreadsheet analyses, tables, and charts, the course scaffolds upward cognitive growth.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Gain understanding of a various relevant sensemaking approaches and tools.
• Synthesize diverse sources of information into organized, informative formats.
• Use digital tools (including spreadsheets and AI) to make sense of chronic health conditions.
• Communicate insights through reflections, summaries, tables, charts, and scholarly dialogue.
• Collaborate with a community of professionals to enhance collective understanding and mutual support.

SenseMaking with Spreadsheets for Medical & Health Professionals transforms the learning experience for clinicians, researchers, educators, and students in health professions and medical fields. It equips individuals with the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to engage meaningfully with different classifications, conceptual schemas, and taxonomies, and contribute to improving medical and health knowledge.

Author: Joan Tu
Date: August 16, 2025
Page Count: 14
Format: Digital Download
Interior: Black & White
Ages: For Higher Education, Continuing Education, Adult Education
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TERMS OF USE:
One download per educator.

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