Teaching the teachers: ways of improving teaching and identifying areas for development

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    • education
    • teachers

    What does "pedagogy the teachers" mean?

    The term refers to ways of enabling teachers to develop their power to assistance students to learn. It can denote a range of activities and have a variety of outcomes. Boxes FB1 and FB2 outline some of these activities and outcomes.

    Effigy FB1

    Activities

    • Attendance at courses on teaching

    • Attendance at sessions on aspects of teaching, such as lecturing, running tutorials

    • Having 1's ain teaching observed and commented upon

    • Observing others teaching (learning by case)

    • Discussion of issues, such as planning and evaluating a session, with a respected teacher

    • Reflecting on one's own teaching and trying to place what aspects are helpful to students' learning and which are not

    • Studying student feedback, whether written or verbal, to identify what students study as beingness helpful and unhelpful to their learning

    • Mentoring of a new teacher by an experienced colleague

    Effigy FB2

    Outcomes

    • Better agreement of what helps students to learn

    • Acquiring techniques—for example, on how to encourage participation or how to lecture effectively

    • Gaining ideas on means of structuring data to make it more accessible to students

    • Feeling more motivated and more able to appoint in education

    • Valuing teaching more than highly

    When because how teaching power may be developed, it is helpful to bear in mind the breadth of opportunities available and as well the varied outcomes which may be sought.

    Well motivated teachers convey their enthusiasm to their students and this encourages them to learn.1 Teachers can exist helped to maintain their motivation by knowing that they are doing a expert task: that they are helping students to learn effectively. By enhancing teachers' understanding and abilities, education the teachers activities tin can assistance to nurture enthusiasm for teaching in the confront of competing pressures from clinical and other demands.

    How can education the teachers offer opportunities to hard pressed teachers to increase their ability to teach well and savor the process?

    Medical schools, postgraduate centres, and numerous other providers offering courses on aspects of instruction and learning. Attention a grade may well be the first thought of someone wishing to ameliorate their pedagogy or of a colleague offering advice on how to enhance teaching skills. Withal, it is well worth considering a range of options and matching these to the person's requirements rather than just accepting what first comes to mind. The likelihood of making an advisable pick is greatly increased past beingness clear most what one wants. If y'all want to have a beach holiday, you lot are unlikely to volume a calendar week in the Alps! Nonetheless people oftentimes enrol for educational sessions and courses with rather hazy ideas about what they want or what will be offered to them. This is rather like picking a holiday more or less at random, rather then finding out exactly what is bachelor and seeing if this meets your requirements. Spending time in thinking through some unproblematic only important questions can help to ensure satisfaction with the eventual choice. Box FB3 provides examples of questions which might be asked; others that are appropriate to specific educational activity situations may occur to readers.

    Figure FB3

    Questions teachers might enquire themselves

    • What is it that I want to be able to exercise differently?

    • Do I need more noesis nearly the learning process?

    • Do I demand to know more about the techniques and methods of didactics?

    • Do I need to examine the way in which I view my teaching and, maybe, change this?

    • Are my bug in teaching mainly organisational? For instance, too few patients on the ward who are suitable for my students to learn from, or lack of a reasonable room in which to run an interactive small grouping session.

    • Do I need to proceeds feedback about how I am doing every bit a teacher?

    • Practise I need more than practice in certain areas, such equally writing learning objectives or producing a lecture at a suitable level for get-go year undergraduates?

    Having idea through their responses to such questions, teachers should be clearer virtually what they require in order to develop their teaching. This, in turn, will help with the choice of action to run across these requirements. For example, if more feedback is desired, then this may be gained in a variety of ways, such as from colleagues observing teaching sessions and offering feedback on prespecified areas; from students through specifically designed feedback sheets or by discussion in focus groups; from videoed teaching and subsequent analysis, with or without the help of a colleague or educationalist.

    If more information on the learning procedure is desired, then a textbook on learning in higher teaching or on the psychology of learning, possibly using the recommendation of a friend or colleague in the education department, is a good starting identify. The point is that there are a number of ways of enhancing education ability besides enrolling on courses. To make good use of a form, or whatever other style of building knowledge or skills and enjoyment of teaching, it is important to have a clear view nigh what i wishes to acquire and why. This does not imply that unexpected learning is not valuable; indeed it may testify of more than worth than the intended result. All the same, fourth dimension is precious and making a thought-through option of a learning activity will increase the likelihood that the desired goal is achieved. Additional learning is then a bonus.

    What do courses have to offer teachers of medicine?

    Having suggested that attending a class is but one of a number of possible ways of teaching the teachers, it may be useful to outline some of the strengths of this method of instructor development as it is a commonly chosen option.

    Whatever the aims and content of a course, this mode of learning ordinarily offers an opportunity for teachers to come across together to share experiences, ideas, problems, and strategies. This in itself can be immensely supportive and pb to creative trouble solving and constructive learning. A supportive and challenging group offers an environment that facilitates change and growth, which is why class organisers spend time on edifice group cohesion and encouraging honest feedback inside a climate of respect and skillful humour. "Good" groups are more than often the result of skilled organisation and facilitation than serendipity! Although some course participants may feel impatient about group-edifice activities, the canny will gain double value by both benefiting from the stop production of these and analysing what seems to be effective and seeing how this might be translated into their own teaching situations.

    Courses also often provide opportunities for applied work on issues related to teaching and learning. For example, subgroups might spend time devising a grade evaluation canvas that could be copied and taken away to exist customised past teachers to fit their ain class or medical school requirements. Courses, such as "Training the trainers" run past the Royal College of Surgeons, or those run by a number of medical schools and other organisations—for instance, the Medical Didactics Interview Didactics Clan, offer opportunities for participants to run short practice teaching sessions—"microteaching"—with subsequent feedback from other course participants. A commonly used format is for each course participant in plow to offering an episode of microteaching, followed by feedback from the other participants who have been taught during the microteaching. These small teaching sessions may involve interactive, didactic or, where practical skills are involved, hands-on teaching. Examples might exist running a curt discussion, didactics how to recognise osteoarthritic disease in the joints of the fingers, or training someone to tie a surgical knot. Microteaching may or may not exist videoed, according to the objectives and the time bachelor.

    The format for giving feedback to the teacher, who is, of class, the prime learner in this situation, varies from course to course. Some employ what are referred to as "Pendleton'due south rules"2 where the prime number learner speaks start, then other participants relate what they felt went well and what went less well and recommendations for improvement are made. Allowing the person who conducted the microteaching to say how s/he felt about the session before anyone else comments is important. It helps to give a feeling of control and removes the irritation of others commenting on points of which the person was simply too well aware. Yet, Pendleton'southward format was adult in order to give feedback as part of the process of evaluating consultation skills. Sticking to a "what went well", "what went less well" construction for microteaching feedback from a number of learners tin be less helpful, in the author'south experience. The reasons for this are, firstly, that it polarises the comments into "skillful" and "bad", whereas feedback needs to reveal to the prime number learner what the learner actually experienced, which may exist neither negative or positive, or may comprise elements of both. Secondly, people tend to pay less attention to the positive points as they await to hear the bad news which they await to follow. Box FB4 outlines an alternative format for giving feedback, which works well for microteaching.

    Effigy FB4

    An culling format for giving feedback

    • The microteaching session takes place with a course participant acting every bit instructor and therefore the prime learner

    • An observer who may be the course organiser or may be a course participant takes notes in chronological social club

    • Afterwards the microteaching, the prime learner and those who accept been taught, make brief notes about the experience

    • The course organiser invites the prime number learner to say how s/he found the feel and whether due south/he thinks that the learning outcomes were achieved and to make any other pressing comments

    • The grade organiser and so invites each participant in turn to say what they learnt and how they felt about the experience. Participants are asked to employ "I" statements and comment simply on what they actually experienced, to be specific, and to avoid estimation ("I think you meant...") or communication giving ("I think you should ...")

    • When all participants have spoken, the observer adds points not already covered, again sticking to what was really observed and striving to be clear and specific

    • If advisable, the course organiser may add together comments if at that place are points which take been missed and to emphasise positive points

    • Finally, the prime learner has a chance to make whatsoever farther comments, but is encouraged not to justify or defend. Advice can exist invited if required at this stage. The prime learner is invited to notation down one or two key learning points at the finish of the session

    This format enables straightforward, honest feedback to be given within a condom structure, in which the emphasis is on learning from what really happened rather than on hypothetical situations or remembered experience. The feedback is virtually what the learners actually did, felt, and thought and they report on this and on what they learnt. This is past no means e'er what the "instructor", the prime learner, had planned. It is interesting that things which the learners report equally beneficial are sometimes seen as weaknesses past the prime learner. For case, diffusive from the planned format to accommodate learning needs is valued by learners only downgraded by teachers if they see their prime job as covering content. The prime number learner has control of how much, if any, advice is solicited. S/he likewise, of form, decides what to brand of and how to utilise the feedback. S/he is encouraged to annotation and reflect on the comments which have been made, neither to have them on board wholesale or to reject those which may be unpalatable. Part of the role of the prime learner is to use the feedback to evaluate her or his own performance and to make decisions about what seems to encourage effective learning and what seems to hinder it. The more specific the feedback the more able south/he volition be to run into what may demand to be changed and how to event changes.

    Space has been given to this description of microteaching and way of structuring feedback as, in the author's experience, many teachers find it a powerful and useful method of learning. If readers are considering attending a course as a fashion of enhancing their instruction power, the use of microteaching is something to look out for. It may sound heavy going. In fact, it is fun as well as useful. "A highlight of the course", is how microteaching is often described.

    Having looked at activities that will enable instruction power to be developed, the side by side department considers a way in which teachers tin place which areas of their teaching might benefit from these activities. Stages in the procedure of teaching are examined.

    PIE as a means of identifying areas of teaching which may do good from development

    Teaching may exist viewed equally an activity that has 3 key phases:

    Phase
    I: Planning
    Phase
    II: Implementation
    Phase
    III: Evaluation

    This makes an hands remembered acronym—PIE. Teachers seeking to amend their abilities can ask themselves, "Which bit do I want to focus on?" The three phases may exist subdivided to highlight areas of importance.

    PHASE I: PLANNING

    Box FB5 lists questions appropriate to phase I, planning.

    Figure FB5

    Phase I: Planning—questions

    one
    Students • What year/level? • What have they experienced and covered then far? • What cognition and skills should they accept? • What will they be going to do later in the class?
    2
    Learning outcomes • What exactly practise I desire students to exist able to practise past the end of this teaching episode?
    iii
    Content • What information do the students need to gain and/or what skills do they need to do and/or what experiences exercise they need to have in club to achieve the outcomes I have listed? • How volition I construction the content?
    4
    Timing • How much fourth dimension has been allocated? • How much fourth dimension should I requite to each section?
    five
    Methods etc • What methods/techniques/teaching aids volition be appropriate to achieve the outcomes?
    6
    Assessment • Will at that place be any? • Will information technology be determinative or summative? • Volition the students receive feedback and if so, how?
    vii
    Practical points • Venue, equipment—are they suitable to meet the outcomes?

    Outcomes (see phase I, 2) and other parts of the plan may have to be modified in the low-cal of what is practicable, which means that the planning phase tends to be iterative every bit areas are re-examined to adjust changes. Once questions such as those in a higher place have been answered, and so a detailed plan will demand to be written. Problems in responding to questions in this stage give pointers about where development is needed. For instance, if the teacher is unclear nigh what methods will help fulfil the planned outcomes, then activities which build understanding of how to choose instruction methods and increase the repertoire of these are likely to be helpful.

    The planning phase is crucial to the success of a teaching session, nevertheless it is a part which is oftentimes skimped. As a teaching the teachers activity for a group, asking for written responses to the prompt questions above is often productive. For instance, the exercise will frequently event in teachers identifying for themselves the need for more precise information about the students and the curriculum. Gaining this can help to avoid unnecessary repetition of material which results in bored, and possibly inattentive, students. Information technology also helps to forestall unplanned gaps in students' learning—for example, where assumptions are fabricated by individual teachers nigh what the syllabus covers at certain points.

    Writing learning outcomes during the planning phase is an area where teachers are probable to need help. Here a brusk, practical session of a couple of hours working with peers, can be invaluable. This might take the form of definitions and explanation followed past giving the group a set up of statements to label every bit aims or as learning outcomes (that is, behavioural objectives).3 This can be a lighthearted exercise followed by the more than serious activity of teachers writing learning outcomes for their own sessions.

    PHASE II: IMPLEMENTATION

    Phase Ii, implementation, covers the actual teaching session and may therefore involve any or all of the types of teaching referred to in box FB6.

    Figure FB6

    Phase II: Implementation

    i
    Building skills—for instance, the ability to examine a shoulder joint
    2
    Transmitting data—for example, describing the key features of the locomotor organization
    iii
    Encouraging students to examine their attitudes—for example, past running a small-scale group discussion on impaired mobility

    These three areas are often referred to as skills, knowledge, and attitudes. The literature on the psychology of learning refers to Bloom's4 three domains: psychomotor, cerebral, and affective. This more precise linguistic communication may be helpful despite its less user friendly sound. Certainly, at that place are bug associated with giving a unmarried label of "skills" to an area such equally communication, which has elements of more than one domain. Precise language may also assistance teachers to recollect more than conspicuously about other complex areas, such as concrete examination, which require knowledge and suitable attitudes in addition to physical skill if they are to be performed in a professional and competent manner. Labelling such areas but as "skills" may mask the richness and variety of the tasks involved and thus hamper acceptable planning and implementation of educational activity. It may cause teachers to overfocus on certain aspects while underemphasising others, such as attitudes or the role of knowledge in the performance of many tasks in medicine.

    Implementation may require the apply of teaching aids, such every bit a Power Signal presentation, a estimator quiz for students to work on individually, or the basic, all the same serviceable, tools of blackboard and flip chart.

    Areas within the implementation phase which cause difficulties for the teacher or the students indicate the demand for teaching evolution of some kind. Again, what is required may be anything from simply exercise in using educational activity aids to reading and reflection on learning and teaching, leading to changes in planning and and so alterations to the bodily teaching session.

    New teachers may demand help in understanding the relation between what they plan (phase I) and what really happens (phase Ii). An introductory form on teaching or an experienced colleague will signal out that keeping to the stated start and finish times is essential, while other aspects of the planned session should exist modified to meet students' needs which, near inevitably, will vary in some respects from expectations. There is little point in running a education session, however well planned, if information technology does not meet the learners' needs. It is important that teachers make agile choices about changing their plans and that these changes are firmly based on judgments about the students' needs. This will assistance to ensure that deviations from what was planned improve the session, rather than allow it to migrate and lose focus.

    Office of the implementation phase may involve assessment of students. This may range from a written examination to informal comments on performance or could include students' assessments of each other or self assessment, mayhap with the aid of a log volume or learning portfolio. Whether assessment is built in or non, students will benefit from feedback on their learning; without this, improving operation is difficult. Feedback on achievements increases students' motivation as well as helping them to build on what has been learnt.5Despite this, feedback tends to be hurried or squeezed out of teaching sessions. It is well worth trying to ensure that this element does non get lost during the implementation phase. Many teachers benefit from help in how to give feedback (see department on microteaching to a higher place). Both feedback and cess are potential areas for instruction evolution.

    PHASE Three: EVALUATION

    This phase requires teachers to undertake structured critical examination of their ability to promote learning. It involves gathering information on what was learnt, making judgments most the effectiveness of the teaching in bringing nigh that learning and about the usefulness of the learning which has been achieved. Equally before, questions tin help initiate thinking most the topic. Box FB7 provides examples of questions to prompt thinking.

    Figure FB7

    Stage III: Evaluation

    1
    Were the planned outcomes accomplished?
    2
    In retrospect, were these advisable?
    3
    What seemed to help the students to learn?
    4
    What seemed to hinder their learning?
    five
    What can I do near these factors?
    six
    How satisfying was the instruction for me and why was that?
    7
    What does that tell me for adjacent fourth dimension?
    eight
    Practise I need any assist with teaching and, if so, where will I go information technology?

    Some means of obtaining the data to assist reply these questions has been given earlier (page 760, column 2). Making judgments most the effectiveness and value of what has been taught constitutes the near important part of evaluation. The collection of data merely enables this to happen. Give-and-take with colleagues, either other teachers or full fourth dimension educationalists, can stimulate critical evaluation and provide support. A well written textbook6 may exist helpful too. It is worth finding the fourth dimension to write down a small number of central points to remember when planning time to come teaching, even if no formal, written evaluation of a class or session is required. Quality assessment processes are increasingly requiring teachers not only to improve their educational activity but too to requite evidence that they have done so. (All Britain medical schools are currently being assessed by the Quality Assurance Agency under the Quality Assessment of Education scheme.) Recording so using the results of evaluation constitutes an of import quality enhancement loop; quality management and enhancement is 1 of six areas assessed by the Quality Assessment of Didactics scheme.

    Concluding words!

    Teaching is a complex chore. Good teaching is vital if we are to take proficient doctors and medical scientists in the future. There are numerous ways of developing and supporting teachers. The author hopes that some of the ideas discussed in this paper will help teachers to notice their work fulfilling and, more often than not, fun.

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