Tips for Teaching: General

Hallmarks of Effective Teaching:

Highly Valued / Less Valued
Enthusiasm / Extensive research on subject
Good Role Model / Humorous
Motivates learners / Neat and Presentable
Emphasizes problem solving / Repeats material
Relevant Discussions / Cites references readily

Hilliard RI The Good and Effective Teacher as Perceived by Pediatric Residents and by Faculty AJDC 144 Oct 1990:1106-1110.

Challenges to effective Teaching in Medicine

  • Competing priorities/demands (clinical care, research, admin, home)
  • Diverse group of learners: interests, motivations, knowledge
  • Distracted/tired learners
  • Lack of training in adult learning
  • Relatively poor $ compensation for time/skills teaching
  • Common modality (lecture) is least effective (too passive)

Evolution of the Teacher

Stage 1: Survival

Must gain mastery of the material and confidence to teach others

Stage 2: Increase Teaching Skills – Practice, practice, practice

Find your zone, your style –experiment!

Seek feedback - Learn your strengths and weaknesses

Learn how to optimize your teaching experiences

Stage 3: Learner Oriented - No longer focusing on yourself

Paying attention to physical cues and verbal responses

Evolving from lecturer to teacher

Levels of Learning: Essential to know your audience

Every learner is at a unique stage in their development.

Understanding new material requires a foundation – i.e. you must teach to their Zone of Proximal Learning

RIME Model: Evaluating the student clinician

Reporter: identifies and relays relevant information, data

Interpreter: identifies and prioritizes problems, offers a differential

Manager: develops and implements a reasonable treatment plan

Educator: can teach concepts; skilled in identifying new questions

Bloom’s Taxonomy: Levels of understanding

Knowledge – data

Comprehension – definition

Application – identify relationship of a fact in its context

Analysis – ability to see how something is put together

Synthesis – ability to create something new

Evaluation – ability to judge value of information

Understanding Memory

In general we can recall:

10% of what we read

20% of what we hear

30% of what we see

50% of what we see and hear

70% of what we say and write

90% of what we do

Therefore, active learning is generally far more effective than passive learning (although often less practical). Best recall tool for passive learning is the metaphor: match new information to an established concept

e.g. Asthma treatment is like putting out a fire: We spray our medicine until the reaction is controlled.

Adult Learners:

Seek novel & practical information = “pearls”

Need inspiration (grades no longer a motivation)

Dislike irrelevant data

Effective teaching requires that the teacher

(1) identifies and addresses their learning needs and styles

(2) gets and keeps their attention

(3) teaches in a memorable way