Participants at a workshop at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) on Tuesday called for improving the teaching of doctors and other healthcare professionals by focusing on changing the role of the students from passive observers to active participants.
A UHS spokesman said that the four-day workshop on Introduction to Teaching in Medical Education that started on Tuesday aims at giving new teachers the basic knowledge and skills.
Dr Ian Willis, director of the Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching Programme at the University of Liverpool, UK, said that teachers who were able to maintain students’ interest were more likely to be successful in helping students reach the learning objectives.
“Clinical teaching and learning must be an intellectually challenging experience where students are able to gain through conceptual understanding and interactive learning,” he said.
He recommended that teachers use active learning activities such as analysis of case reports, problem-solving exercises, student presentations and cooperative groups.
Dr Janet Strivens from the Liverpool Centre for Lifelong Learning said that interactive learning was enhanced through the effective use of key teaching skills including questioning, demonstrating, providing positive reinforcement and reviewing.
She said that the use of lecture notes prepared during the planning stage, communication on a personal level, expressing personal interest in the topic, avoiding the use of slang, asking questions and encouraging students to ask questions were some proven techniques for making a lecture more effective.
Prof Arif Rashid Khwaja, the UHS Centre of Innovation in Learning and Teaching director, also spoke at the event.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 29th, 2012.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ