How to make Classroom teaching more effective and inclusive in Medical Sciences ?
Once I asked final year medical students via online survey ( Name of colleges who participated not to be disclosed ) regarding their suggestions and feedback on class room teaching and how can it be made more inclusive and purposeful.
In general, low attendance in classes prompted me to do this exercise. Around 40 final year students participated in feedback. I am summarising the inputs they gave with respect to classroom teaching, academic activities and atmosphere and also some related issues.
I will
also be thankful if respected teachers can also give their valuable suggestions
and experiences, so that student’s satisfaction remains high.
I being a
Cardio Thoracic surgeon, hence not a very experienced teacher of UG students in
medical college, as super speciality departments don’t get to take many classes
of MBBS. But teaching has always been my passion as I feel that when I teach,
it’s a bilateral flow of knowledge transfer. In the process I gain a lot. I get
a chance to transfer the knowledge of my teachers, the experience I gained from
patients, cases and surgeries. If I am able to ignite or awaken few minds in my
journey as teacher, I will be very happy person as I feel an awaken mind can
find everything on his or her own later.
Once I asked final year medical students via online survey ( Name of colleges who participated not to be disclosed ) regarding their suggestions and feedback on class room teaching and how can it be made more inclusive and purposeful.
In general, low attendance in classes prompted me to do this exercise. Around 40 final year students participated in feedback. I am summarising the inputs they gave with respect to classroom teaching, academic activities and atmosphere and also some related issues.
If you
have any suggestions or comments please feel free to post below.
Final Year Medicos (MBBS) feedback summary, as they have written
- . . PowerPoint presentations: slides are at times very lengthy, too many and it becomes very boring. Mix of black board teaching and ppt is very welcome.2. All presentations by teachers can be uploaded online from where the students can download them later for better understanding.3. Short MCQ session / Q and A after the class.4. Theory lecture supplemented by a real scenario case history , wherever feasible.5. Exams should have both descriptive and MCQ.6. Exam timings, class timings and Syllabus notices to be shared well on time and also available on line.7. Canteen which remain open late night and serves good multiple variety hygienic, protein rich, non-junk food.8. Evening postings: students are of the opinion that they are hardly left with time for self study. Should not be more than 4 days a week.9. No class on day of sessional exams and there should be one day gap between the exams.10. More integrated classes with theory and practical together and different disciplines involved teaching together.11. Counselling sessions for PG branch/course to be held.12. Breakfast should be available before 8 am class in hostel.13. Clinical postings should have a syllabus of cases that needs to be seen.14. Attendance sheet should be shown to us every three monthly.15. Answer sheets of exams should be shown.16. Classes on communication skills, personality development.17. Library should have more seating capacity.18. Lecture theatre infrastructure: Mikes, speaker, lack of Air conditioning, bad acoustics, un comfortable seats, dogs entering classrooms were common mentions.19. Training about financial planning and research methodologies. Also, how to write a paper and make a presentation.
I am sure
we will ponder on above points.
Dr. Siddharth Lakhotia
MBBS, MS, M.Ch, FIACS
Professor and Head
Cardio-Thoracic Surgery
Institute of Medical Sciences
BHU, Varanasi
drslakhotia@gmail.com
Thanks Dr Siddharth, at
least in my knowledge, you are the first person who raised the issue of
teaching. In present scenario everyone assesses the status of Institutions by
quality research outputs and projects grabbed. One should realise that proper
understanding of the subject forms the plinth of quality research. We must
introspect about the quality of teaching which we are catering to our
students.
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There can be no better advisor than the benificiary himself. Taking such feedbacks and acting upon them is of paramount importance. These feedbacks must be discussed in PPC and implemented. An assessment of teaching must be done for the sole purpose of improvement in teaching..
ReplyDeleteYes, their feedbacks are genuine. Black board teaching ....more time for self study and interactive sessions with group of teachers from different departments on a single clinical entity may make them feel good...��
ReplyDeleteSir there should be proper canteen fr us , several times we used to attend classes just immediate after clinical posting coz we don't hv much time to go to hostel n take lunch!
ReplyDeleteYes i totally agree, health nutritious food is the fuel for mind and body. canteen is a must.
DeleteRegards to all my professors and seniors. I am Agniparna Chakraborty, a 3rd yr MBBS student! I felt a few points why we lack interest in classroom lectures seeing it from a student's point of view. I shall be happy if these will help others.
ReplyDelete1)Many anatomical structures don't have a 3D representation which makes it hard to relate what we see in the patients with the book/ PPT diagrams. This leads to mugging up things and forgetting with time.
2) Many people who teach often do not start from basics and teach from their level using certain abbreviations / procedure names without explaining what they are and thinking that we will get it! When these things come up in the book, we can look up in a medical dictionary/ the internet and find out! But in class lecture without completely understanding something, it's very hard to recall later and eventually the student looses attention!
3) When we are knowing a new thing for the first time, straight away entering into it's details sometimes makes us loose interest in the lecture and see the watch when the class will end! If the lecture is of 50 mins, first 5-10 mins if spend in giving the overall view of the topic, at least the broad headings in the form of a story,will definitely help to break the ice. Further we shall be able to relate when each heading will be discussed in details and understand where we are standing in the topic at that moment. Otherwise when the class ends we hardly take back anything fruitful and often are not able to say even the broad headings without giving it a reading!
Yes agniparna, your points are well taken and i will try in my lectures to include them wherever possible.
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