From 2018 till 2021 I was chair of the International Board of Examiners for the International College of Applied Kinesiology. The board is responsible for examining health care providers eligible to sit for the exams to reach diplomate status, the highest level of study within the International college. The board organized exams both written and practical at various locations around the world usually prior to international meetings.
With that role, I organized exam review courses in Atlanta, Spain and the Netherlands giving students a step-by-step guide on the important information to study for the exams.
My role as chair was to lead and organize an evidence based evaluation process to assess both clinical and content knowledge within the International College of Applied Kinesiology.
Postgraduate Education
During the 2020/2021 academic year I have participated in a pilot project at Vrije Universiteit to develop a teaching course for PhD students with the goal to certify PhD students to teach at the university level. This program was by invite and recommendation only. We were a group of 10 PhD students across all departments who were asked to help design a new University Teaching Program Certification for PhD students run by the LearnAcedemy at Vrije Universiteit.
Formal Student Evaluations
“Alan’s clear and structured teaching style has helped me make sense of an otherwise convoluted and unstructured mess of information and unclear requirements. Thank you!”
-Timo Schmidt, MEAC
Master of Chiropractic (University of Glamorgan, Wales, UK)
“My name is Andrea Cecchi, I am Italian, and I am 52. I have a BS in Physiological Science cum Laude from UCLA achieved in 1993, a Doctor of Chiropractic degree magna cum laude from North Western College of Chiropractic achieved in 1998 and 3 Chiropractic Specializations achieved after that. The last one was the Diplomate In Board of Applied Kinesiology (DIBAK) was achieved in 2020. This Diplomate comprehends a very vast amount of material and typically it takes several years and several trials to achieve it. Doctor Jenks has achieved his DIBAK several years ago and he put together a review course to guide the doctors pursuing this Diplomate.
Originally, he intended to condense everything in two sessions but because of our requests and the amount of material, we ended up meeting 5 times. The three students who attended all the reviews passed the Board exam on the first try. I give us three the credit of having put the time and the effort into the process, but I know that I could not have done it on the first try without Dr. Jenks guidance. He proved to be extremely passionate about teaching us because his only goal was for us to learn.
He organized the review in a logical and easy to follow package, making the assimilation of the material interesting and fluent. He made himself available for the whole year of studying to any question at any time, without ever making us feel like we had a silly question. In case the question was not straight from the books from which we had to study, he took the time to research the answer and delivered it within a short time. In my academic career I have met several special professors who I will never forget. Dr. Jenks is definitely one of them. He has made the studying process as pleasant as it can be for a working father who had to say no to many fun family activities and vacations to prepare for the Boards. I will be forever indebted to him for my achievement. Thank you, Dr. Alan Jenks.”
-Andrea Cecchi DC, BS, ICCSD, Gonstead Diplomate, DIBAK
“The final touches in my preparations for the Diplomate exam in Professional Applied Kinesiology came from Dr. Alan Jenks. He evaluated the essential requirements and put it together in a very useful script. First in 2019 an ambitious, international group of 10 to 15 persons met Dr. Jenks two times in Holland, to get information and practical training, with the global goal to pass the exam. In 2020 when Covid-19 entered Europe and nobody could fly anymore, Dr. Jenks offered us online training. Via zoom we met again and had some awesome afternoons full of AK-Quizz, discussions and useful recommendations, how to attack the demanding test. In september 2020 three of us could pass the exam. This was only possible due to Alan’s huge commitment. He convinced the ICAK to allow exams beyond the usual manner, which requests to take the Diplomate exam only at ICAK-conferences. I’m very grateful for everything Dr. Jenks did for us. He had hard times with the pandemic, but stayed always relaxed, in his very positive and motivating nature.“
-Claudia Röthinger, Physiotherapist, Naturopath and DIBAK- Diplomate InternPrimary areas of interest in medical educationational Board of Applied Kinesiology
Examples of Course Materials
Included are course instruction handout and a mix of powerpoint slides from our ICAK Basic course series
These slides are a mix of our powerpoint lectures from our Biostatistics III course
Course Feedback
Included are a random sample of course feedback forms from our ICAK Basic Course
Peer and Administrator Feedback
I have included two feedback/testimonials from a co-teacher and a teacher who invited met to teach in Turkey.
“I first met dr Jenks when I took courses from him in the Netherlands in 2015. His enthusiasm and passion for teaching and easy to understand style was something I wanted to bring to Turkey, both for my university teaching and the Turkish Sports Physiotherapy Conference. I have had dr Jenks multiple times as a keynote speaker at our association conference annual general meeting and teaching within our physiotherapy program at Hacettepe University. His knowledge and ability to explain complex physiology very simply and apply it to daily practice makes him a highly requested speaker. Students and staff always enjoy his style and presentation and will continue to ask him back. Highly recommend dr Jenks as a teacher in the health sciences.”
-Bunyamin Haksever
Hacettepe University · Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation
Other Experiences Related to Teaching
Running a private teaching company allows me to choose where to teach and I have included the feedback of a colleague who asked me to come teach in Atlanta..
