Resources
Educators require hard and soft skills to ensure good student engagement and learning. Developing and refining educator skills may prove challenging, but this continuous improvement can benefit one's performance and that of their students, two inherently linked elements.
This SSC provides several resources that may assist students with their reflection and allow both experienced and novel educators to further develop their teaching skills.
principals of providing feedback
Feedback is essential in clinical teaching and helps bridge the gap between the learner's actual and desired performance. Given that students undertaking this module will be educators and mentors, we want students to develop the ability to give valuable feedback to their learners. Students often find themselves receiving feedback, but what does it take to give good constructive feedback as an observer?
There are seven principles of good feedback [ref]:
Be constructive ensuring to phrase feedback in non-judgmental language.
Provide specific points, with examples, instead of vague statements.
Provide a appropriate environment for discussion.
Offer feedback in a timely manner.
Allow trainee input.
Don’t overwhelm the learner with too many points.
Involve attentive listening.
To ensure learners can receive good feedback, teachers should ensure they directly observe learners, have adequate time to give the feedback, develop their skills in providing positive and negative feedback, and have clear goals and outcomes (so teachers know what they are assessing) [ref].
There are two popular feedback methods that educators often utilise. Teaching on the Run notes that the Pendleton Model encourages self-assessment and emphasises the positive aspects of a learners performance.
Ask the learner what was done well.
The observer reinforces and states what was done well.
Ask the learner what could be improved or done differently next time.
The observer states learning points and how to improve.
Positive/reinforcing statements.
Corrective/constructive objective statements.
Positive/reinforcing statements.
As you can see the constructive statement is "sandwiched" between two positive statements.
Below are two five-minute videos, one from TED and the other from UCL, that explain the methodology for giving effective feedback in further detail.
Creating a TEACHING SESSION
Teaching on the Run
Teaching on the Run features a multitude of different resources that incorporate educational theory, practical information and ideas for implementation. We recommend that students undertaking this module read "Effective use of questions" and "Giving feedback". Summarise of the documents can be found in the below paragraph and under the above "Principals of Providing Feedback" heading.
Effective Use of Questions - A Summary
Learners typically retain information better when they are actively involved in teaching. One method of involving learner is to utilise questions. Questions can stimulate and engage learners, encourage reflection, and allow teacher to conduct a learning need assessment so they can pitch their session at the appropriate difficulty level.
When planning to integrate questions into a lesson, it is paramount teachers remember four main points:
1. Consider what type of question you will ask
Teacher can use closed (e.g. requiring a single correct answer)(e.g. "What is the name of...") or open (requiring the learner to combine pieces of information and formulate an answer)(e.g. "What is the likely outcome...") questions depending on the difficulty level of and learning outcome in their session. Question can also be used encourage students to elaborate (e.g. "Can you expand on that?”) clarify points, and open the question to the rest of the group to promote thinking.
2. Focus on what learners do not know
We can promote think by centering our questioning around what learner do not know (areas of uncertainity) as opposed to what they do know. This shift helps learners move away from factual recall, encouraging problem solving.
3. Establish a supportive environment
Following on from point two, to understand areas of uncertainty learner must be comfortable with saying "I don't know". Teachers can help create this environment by ensuring the learn and use their learner's names alongside being approachable, encouraging questions and clearly stating that any response is acceptable.
4. Pose, pause, pounce
Pose, pause, pounce is a strategy that can be beneficial when teaching students that are quieter or shy. Furthermore, teachers can employ this technique to ensure all students have a chance at participating and therefore learning.
Pose - a question to the group.
Pause - long enough for the group to consider the answer.
Pounce - then direct the question to a random group member.
ZTeach
Created by Dr Rofique Ali (@rali2100), ZTeach is a website containing a collection of resources for healthcare workers.
A useful resource on ZTeach are the notes on the Elegant GNOME. Teachers can use GNOME when planning a learning encounter, workshop or meeting.
The Elegant Gnome [ref]:
Goals
What are the long term goals for this session? Why?
Needs
What are the learners current knowledge and skills? How prepared are they for this session?
Outcomes
What are the short term goals for this session/what should learner accomplish by the end of this session?
To ensure learners are aware of the Outcomes, we can clearly state Learning Objectives (LO's) at the start if the session.
LO's should be useful for both learners and educators.
LO's should be based on Goals and Needs.
Methods
How will you deliver the session?
When choosing a method, teachers must consider
The Outcomes
Types of learning styles
The available resources (e.g. equipment)
Evaluation.
Have the LO's been accomplished? How can we evaluate this?
Feedback Forms
As a teacher, feedback forms are essential. These forms evidence any teaching you have included in your portfolio, alongside highlighting your successes as a teacher and how to improve your sessions and skills. To show impact, you can query your learner's confidence, knowledge or skills before AND after the teaching session, as shown below in the Google Form 'GP3 2023: Statin Counselling'.
Online forms are often favoured nowadays over paper forms due to their accessibility. However, some teachers prefer paper forms as it's a more reliable way of guaranteeing learners to complete the form. If you opt for an online form, an easy way to ensure learners can access the form after the presentation is to include a slide with a QR code (which learners can scan with their phone) at the end of your presentation that directs students to the form.
OSCE Resources
Below are three resources developed by near-peer students who organised an OSCE in 2022. The resources contain patient instructions, candidate instructions, a marking criteria, and scenario's.
HD OSCE PRACTICE.pdfMini Mock OSCE Stations.docxMini Mock OSCE Student Instructions.pptxPedagogy (Learning Theory)
Wenger-Trayner - Communities of Practise
Communities of practise are groups that are formed by members who engage in a process of collective learning. In more informal terms, the people in these groups share and pursue an interest in a domain and regularly interact so that they may improve their practice. An example is a teaching body within a school. This community of practice consists of faculty with a collective interest in educating their students. A community of practice must contain a combination of the following three elements [ref]:
A community - Members engage in joint activities, help each other, and share their knowledge.
A domain - As mentioned, the identity of a community is defined by the shared domain of interest.
A practice - Members are practitioners and develop a pool of resources by sharing their practice with one another. This distinction differentiates a community of practice from a community of interest (e.g. a book club).
As illustrated in below, members may participate in the community at different levels.
Situated Learning
Initially proposed by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, situated learning is learning occurring in the same context where a student will apply it. The fundamental principle underpinning this theory is that abstract knowledge is often harder to retain when taught in the classroom. Instead, students apply the learning in authentic activities, contexts, and cultures, often through participation in a community of practice. Though we may not consciously use situated learning, it appears throughout all aspects of life, a familiar example being how most people learn to ride a bike. Examples of situated learning in medical education include [ref]:
History taking role playing
Case-based discussions
Using clinical areas for classrooms
Clinical placement
Types of Learning and Teaching
Health Education England's course, Train the Healthcare Trainer, teaches healthcare workers how to deliver healthcare training using evidence-based teaching methods by encouraging students to select and blend methods and delivery routes.
Active vs Passive
Passive learning involves delivering information to learners using, for example, a presentation, lecture or text. Conversely, active learning requires both physical and mental participation from learners, often through practice and feedback. Clinical skills teaching often utilises active learning as it prepares learners for performing such skills under pressure and a patient's gaze [ref].
Trainer-Centred vs Learner-Centred
In 'Trainer-centred' teaching, the educator tells the student the information. Although some may view this as an ineffective teaching method, 'telling' can be practical when the learner requires 'just in time'/immediate-quick use information (also known as a 'Job Aid'). Additionally, 'telling' can still prove helpful when students are highly motivated to learn something. On the other hand, in 'Learn-centred' teaching, educators provide learning activities and experiences that create powerful mental connections that can pertain despite the passage of time. [ref]
Psychological safety
Student feedback on this module often mentions that our teaching environment is psychologically safe. This occurrence, coupled with the continuous discussion of this belief in leadership and healthcare settings, has implored us to include information on psychological safety in our resources tab.
The Harvard Business Review define psychological safety as "the belief that one can speak up without risk of punishment or humiliation". Consequently, members in psychological safe teams feel respected, which can result in improved communication, greater disclosing of errors in a hospital setting, and increased innovation and creativity [ref]. It is a belief that may resonant strongly with medical students, given the rigid hierarchies and traditions that are associated with a career in medicine.