Volume 39 Number 2 | April 2025

Easing the Transition from Professional Practice to Education

James C. Williams Jr., PhD, MLS(AMT), MLT(ASCP), ASCLS Today Volunteer Contributor

James WilliamsPerhaps you are like me, a technologist with many years of experience, dedicated to the field, aware of the challenges facing the career, and enthusiastic about contributing to its future. Maybe you have trained new employees, mentored MLS and MLT students, and have a gift for helping others learn. If you are like me, that likely leaves you considering teaching in a formal laboratory program.

If that is you, I would like to offer you a few words of advice to prepare yourself for that transition. Professional practice and academia are worlds apart. If you are considering teaching in an accredited laboratory program, there are some things you will need to do, skills you will need to develop, and knowledge you will need to acquire if you would like to have a smooth transition. I want you to avoid the pitfalls that nearly derailed my teaching career before it even started.

My Experience

I have been a laboratory scientist for nearly 40 years. Throughout my career, I always had a passion for teaching. I liked training new employees and being a clinical preceptor for students in the laboratories where I worked. However, with the staffing issues that now plague the career, training students became challenging. Those challenges increased my resolve to help mentor the next generation of laboratory scientists. Additionally, I began to realize that I could have a greater impact if I had the opportunity to teach in a laboratory program. Thus, my quest to transition to the classroom was born.

I began serving on advisory committees for our local MLT and MLS programs in my area. Serving as a clinical preceptor for so many years connected me with program faculty. During one MLT program advisory board meeting, the program director alerted us that he was resigning his position, and they were looking for his replacement. I thought to myself, “Here is my opportunity.”

“Every day for that first semester I felt like I was trying to drink water from a fire hose.”

At that time, I was in a director development program, training laboratory managers like me in the skills necessary to function as directors. I thought to myself, “Surely a program director in an MLT program could not be much different than a laboratory director in a hospital lab, right?” Boy was I wrong! My transition was stressful. I felt completely unprepared for what was required. Every day for that first semester I felt like I was trying to drink water from a fire hose. I went home feeling deflated and defeated, questioning my life choices.

Lessons Learned

Having gone through that experience, I want to help anyone who is considering making the same transition avoid the pitfalls that ensnared me. Therefore, I present to you a brief list of things you can do to make your transition from the bench to the classroom successful.

  1. Get to Know Your Local Program. If you are considering teaching, I would advise you to get involved with your local MLS and/or MLT program. Attend their advisory committee meetings, volunteer in their program as a lab assistant, seek opportunities to guest lecture, or make a presentation on a topic you are passionate about. In doing so, you will expose yourself to what it means to be a teacher and the demands of the classroom, both lecture and lab. This will also, hopefully, help you find a mentor who can help make your transition smooth.
  2. Educate Yourself in Instructional Methodology. Life in academia is different than life in the clinical laboratory. Remember, you are trained as a laboratory professional. Your training did not include pedagogical methods. There were no classes on Bloom’s Taxonomy or metacognition. As a teacher, you will be expected to choose a textbook and develop an entire curriculum around it. You will need to understand how to operate a learning management system like Canvas or Blackboard, develop student learning objectives (SLOs), and build assessments (formative and summative) that show the students are learning what you are teaching. You will want to become familiar with active learning strategies. One easy read and helpful book is Saundra McGuire’s, Teach Students How to Learn (McGuire et al., 2023). Just because you lecture it does not mean they are learning it.
  3. Become Involved in Professional Organizations. The tools you will need to make your transition a success include becoming involved in professional organizations like ASCLS.
  • Become a member of the Clinical Laboratory Educators Forum (CLEF). This will give you the opportunity to learn from the experiences of seasoned educators who have been where you are going.
  • Attend the Clinical Laboratory Educators Conference (CLEC). CLEC is a valuable resource for educators, both seasoned and new. They offer a New Educators Workshop (NEW) every year that you will want to attend.
  • Become active in local chapters; ASCLS, ASCP, and AMT all have local chapters where you could get involved. This will give you an opportunity to expand your circle and gain valuable knowledge.
  1. Learn about the NAACLS Accreditation Process. Although there are many similarities to College of American Pathologists (CAP), AABB (Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies), Commission on Laboratory Accreditation (COLA), or even U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accreditation processes, National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences (NAACLS) accreditation is unique in many ways. Understanding their requirements before you enter the classroom will help you develop lessons that comply with their standards. Additionally, that will help you understand the NAACLS requirement for teaching in an accredited program. Fortunately, NAACLS offers regular webinars and training events, many of which can be accessed while attending professional conferences.
Conclusion

These are just a few things that I wish I had known prior to my transition from the lab to the classroom. My first few weeks were an emotional and mental trainwreck. Every day I argued with myself whether I had made an unwise decision. Had I known the things that I have listed here, my transition would have been much more positive and rewarding. If you are considering teaching in an accredited laboratory program, I suggest that you begin preparing yourself for the transition now, even if you do not have a position lined up. So, if you think you can teach, you probably can. However, you will need to prepare.

References

McGuire, S. Y., McGuire, S., & Angelo, T. (2023). Teach students how to learn: Strategies you can incorporate into any course to improve student metacognition, study skills, and motivation. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

James C. Williams is the MLT and Phlebotomy Program Director at St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, Texas.