How can we teach

effectively?
Ramesh Mehay
Course Organiser, Bradford VTS
Aims

 identifylearning objectives
 introduce some educational theory
 Increase your repertoire of
teaching skills
The Educational Cycle

Assess Needs

Design Assessment Set Objectives

Decide Methods
Part One – Defining the A&Os

What do they need to know?

What are the aims and objectives
of the session?
Identify what they want to learn

FIRST OF ALL, DEFINE WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW

THAT WILL HELP YOU DEFINE THE AIMS &
OBJECTIVES
 Ask them
 Check lists (eg from the medical school)
 problem case analysis - things you know you don’t know
 random case analysis - issues you may not have identified
 critical incident analysis - learning from mistakes and near
misses
 PUNs (patient unmet needs)
 DENs (doctors educational needs)
Aims & Objectives
 Important for any session you do
 Good starting point – focus

Aims are general

“better insight into management of COPD”

Objectives are specific

“understand the different therapies and their step line
use” (GOLD)
Part Two – Domains of Learning

What are we trying to teach?

What are we trying to teach?

K.S.A.

 knowledge
 skills/competencies
 attitudes
 Knowledge
 factual; evolving; evidence base
 Evaluating and using ‘knowledge’ - critical appraisal; application of
knowledge

 Skills & Competencies

 Clinical, Practical, Consultation, Communication, Problem solving
 Research and audit (evaluating and doing)

 Attitudes
 ethics etc; self awareness; commitment to maintaining standards
 Personal care for patients
 Practice context - practice issues; regulatory framework
 Broader context - medico-political/legal/social; ethnic/cultural
Part Three – Educational Theory

What principles and philosophies in

education might help with our
teaching?
JoHari’s Window
JoHari Again
Linking knowledge to skills - Miller’s
pyramid

Does
Shows how
Knows how
Knows
Experiential learning (Kolb)

 concrete experience
 observation, reflection
 formation of abstract concepts and
generalisations
 testing implications of concepts in
new situations
Reflective practitioner

 The professional practitioner reflects on their

knowledge whilst engaging in activity. This enables
them to adapt to the potentially unique context or
problem with which they are faced (Schön,1983)
 Professional education should provide people with
the opportunity to reflect on their practice and to
identify the theories embedded in their routine
work (Coles, 1994)
Constructivism (3 Cs)

 Construction - knowledge builds on

what is already known
 Context - is important in learning and in
applying it
 Collaboration - important in exploring
different perspectives because
knowledge varies in different contexts
and cultures
Adult learning = androgogy

 learning what’s important to you

 applicable in the real world (context)
 learner, not teacher, is responsible
 learning is self directed
 learning is continuous, must adapt to
new situations
Feedback - definition

 Information about performance or

behaviour which leads to action to
affirm or develop performance or
behaviour, i e
 to affirm what you do well
 to help you develop in areas you do less
well
Part Four – teaching methods

How else can we do it?

Acquiring knowledge

 Lectures
 Tutorials
 Books
 Journals
 Electronic information sources
Other Methods

Lecture Debate Buzz groups Mini-lecture

Brainstorming Action learning Project based Case

learning discussion

Critical incident Role play Triadic teaching PBL

Video teaching Task groups Balint group microteaching

Difficult Cases
THE REFLECTIVE CYCLE (Gibbs 1988)

…………a very useful tool for teaching.

Description
What happened?

Action plan Feelings

If it arose again what What were you thinking and
would you do? feeling?

Conclusion Evaluation
What else could you What was good and bad
have done? about the experience?

Analysis
What sense can you make of
the situation?
Gibbs (1988)
GROUP WORK
What Makes a Good Teaching
Session? (LAST SLIDE)
 Tailored to learner’s learning style
 Dependent on learner’s knowledge and experience
 Get the learner to do the groundwork
 Use educational tools
Videos
Books and booklets
Papers and articles
electronic sources (software, internet)
 Giving the tutorial direction - link to experience
 Maintaining interest Interact
Open-ended questions
Give time
Vary content
 Baggage section