Narrative Medicine, Reimagined: Counterstorytelling in the Health Sciences Classroom

Facilitated by Dr. Brooke Covington, Assistant Professor of English at Christopher Newport University, Academic Director of the Center for Community Engagement, and contributing author to "Narrative Medicine: Trauma and Ethics".

Maintaining exam integrity requires thoughtful design and responsive practice. In this session, Dr. Woods reflects on how her experiences with academic misconduct, mostly within proctored exams, have shaped her approaches to exam procedures, proctor training, and investigations. Using anonymized examples, she will highlight patterns of misconduct and the practical adjustments made to reduce opportunities, including changes to exam design and proctoring practices.

The session will emphasize iterative learning by examining what worked, what did not, and how small, evidence-informed changes can support integrity. Dr. Woods will also discuss her approach to investigating suspected misconduct, including how she developed more effective questioning strategies in the absence of formal training.

Framed within a broader institutional context, the session invites educators to reflect on their own practices and consider how evolving experience and awareness can inform approaches to promoting academic integrity.

Facilitator Bio

Dr. Brooke Covington (PhD) is an Assistant Professor of English at Christopher Newport University, where she is also the Academic Director of the Center for Community Engagement.

Her scholarly work sits at the intersection of narrative medicine, community-engaged pedagogy, and public memory. She is a contributing author to Narrative Medicine: Trauma and Ethics (Vernon Press, 2024) and has facilitated narrative medicine workshops for academic and community audiences.

Her teaching and research are grounded in a commitment to storytelling as a form of knowledge, advocacy, and care.

• Event organized by the DesignEd Team at the Faculty of Health Sciences.
• Session is designed for instructors/faculty members and teaching assistants.