Teaching contexts

Get interactive in your lectures – some helpful tools

Tim Vincent General, Interaction and interactive tools, Large group teaching and lectures, Mobile learning, TEL tools and technologies
https://www.jisc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/lecture-hall.jpg

It can be a challenge to keep lectures engaging and stimulating, especially when there is so much material to cover and the physical layout is not conducive to interaction. Fortunately, mobile technology provides some tried and tested digital tools that can help get students thinking and responding to your teaching.

They can be used in a variety of ways, for example:

  • Ascertaining what students know at the start of a lecture to direct your teaching for that session
  • Breaking up long didactic sections with a bit of interaction
  • Getting students to think and commit to a decision
  • Indicating students’ understanding towards the end of a lecture to see if they are taking in the learning objectives
  • Getting feedback on an aspect of the course or your teaching

Here is a list of some of these tools.  If you would like some help in trying any of these out, get in touch with the BSMS Learning Technologists Tim Vincent or CJ Taylor.  Several BSMS faculty are using PollEverywhere, for example, in their large group teaching – look out for future posts discussing their experience.

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Physicians Associates at BSMS

Nicola Dearnley Careers and medical profession, General, News, Physician Associates (PAs), Small group teaching

  Dr Nikki Dearnley, Clinical Education Fellow, BSMS

In September 2016 BSMS opened its doors to its first intake of Physicians Associate students. As part of my role as a Clinical Education Fellow I am heavily involved in teaching on this course. When I explain to friends and colleagues what my job involves I often get a lot of questions about the role of a Physician Associate, so I am going to use this blog post as an opportunity both to answer some commonly asked questions and perhaps sell to you the benefits of teaching on this course!

What is a Physicians Associate?

Physician Associates are collaborative healthcare professionals with a generalist medical education. They work alongside doctors to provide medical care as a part of the multidisciplinary team. Physician Associates are dependent practitioners working with a dedicated supervisor, but are able to work independently with appropriate support. Physician Associates work within a defined scope of practice and limits of competence. They can:

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Reflections on the flipped classroom

Andy Brereton Education theory, concepts, models, Flipped classroom model, Medicine, Small group teaching

Dr Andy Brereton, Clinical Teaching Fellow

Andy teaching on the TIME course for new BSMS educators

I joined the Department of Medical Education at BSMS, in October 2016, as a Teaching Fellow. One of my motivations for applying for the job was the belief that this faculty could support me in my development as an educator. By refining my teaching skills, understanding and embedding technology (TEL), I would in turn, be providing the best recipe for learning.

Key to developing as a teacher I challenged myself to ask;

  • What motivates me to teach in a certain way?
  • Do I repeatedly use the same teaching method to deliver the key points of a session?

Today I facilitated a seminar (Week 5) on sepsis for my SSC in Module 103 #shocked using the flipped classroom approach.

This was the first time I had provided students with reading material (http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa010307) and asked them to read it pre-session. This morning’s session was then spent collectively exploring the pathophysiology of sepsis and the evidence behind current clinical guidelines by critiquing appraising this sentinel paper (pre session reading material).

From my observation, this was the most interactive seminar so far and I’m pleased I tried something new! Better still, the students appeared to thoroughly enjoy the session.

Note to self: Be open to change…