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Education is an essential investment...
- Andrew N Papanikitas (9 July 2005)
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What is the reason for yawning in the class?
- Satheesha Nayak (10 July 2005)
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Teachers: Break the monotony in the traditional marathon lecture teaching system
- Urban JA D'Souza, Sheila Pai, KMC Mangalore, India (22 July 2005)
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Andrew N Papanikitas, Paediatric SHO Eastbourne DGH BN21 2UD
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Education is an essential investment in our future which NHS staff and the public are often in danger of overlooking. As a 'busy' house officer I listened to colleagues complaining about the having students in tow, and and how they 'wouldn't do the bloods' and 'disappeared at every opportunity'. This has not been my experience with medical students. Perhaps this is because in the 'busy' units and on the firms where I recently worked, we 'invested' the time into teaching relevant skills, and made our apprentices feel part of the team. Students attached to me have always been 'paid back' for their help with coaching geared specifically towards whatever their next exam will be, rather than 'scraps' from whatever I happen to be reading. Juniors have a role to play because medical school is a recent memory. Seniors need to be imaginative and empathic to their students' learning needs. As far as the public are concerned, my student is 'helping me' (the truth). Patients are very understanding, and often quite impressed when confronted with a well-oiled team of student plus junior. We can improve everybody's experience. On calls are much more fun (less lonely!) with students. Finally, a policy of making any medical student welcome (regardless of usefullness) does foster a general environment where students will learn that the clinical years are not 'wasted time'. My chief complaint as a clinical student was that we sometimes travelled miles and miles to find that teaching was cancelled and that we were in the way. However my most inspiring teachers cultivated an ongoing learning process which seized every learning opportunity and made it accessible if at all possible. We should be developing an ethos of training in the UK and then the grass can be greener here! Competing interests: AP is co-authoring a student revision guide for publication later in the year |
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Satheesha Nayak, Selection Grade Lecturer in Anatomy, Manipal Academy of Higher Education Manipal, Udupi District, Karnataka State, INDIA. 576104
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Dear editor, I read the article by Tiago Villanueva. The author thinks that the current education system is boring and it makes the students yawn. The author wishes to see drastic changes in the medical education at least in the future. Definitely, in the near future, there will be a revolution in the teaching of medicine. We are now equipped with satellites and rapidly advancing information technology. The distance between countries is decreasing that way. A day will come where the students need not get a formal teaching by the teachers in the school. They can learn medicine sitting at home. I do not fully agree with the author saying medical students don’t care about studying for the sake of studying. They want to learn the knowledge and skills. Actually, how many students agree with the author’s views? In my experience, 80% of students want to PASS the exams. Their learning is exam oriented. I see only a small percentage of students who are really willing to learn anything more than what is asked in the exams. Whenever there is a change in the examination pattern, or change in curriculum, students complain that it happened only with them and they are the experimental batch. It is nice to have a student who wants to learn more than what is expected of him. Such student will never be yawning in class. What makes students yawn in class is “lack of interest” or “lack of motivation”. I have interviewed the students who yawned in class. The students yawn in class because 1. They didn’t have enough sleep the previous night because they had a party. 2. They were studying late night for a test the next day. 3. They are sick and can not concentrate in the class 4. Something was bothering them during the class so they couldn’t concentrate. These are all the reasons for yawning away in class. If there is a deep desire to learn, a student can learn on his own even without the help of a teacher. Such a student will be a life long learner. All others want to pass the exam and they will never study what is not asked in the exams. Every student should realize that the education system cannot change overnight and, even when it changes overnight, it is not good for them. Gradually, there will be a change in the education system based on the past experiences and future needs. Students should have open minds to accept the curriculum set by experts. Competing interests: None declared |
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Urban JA D'Souza, Associate Professor School of Medicine, University Malaysia Sabah, 88999, Kotakinabalu, Malaysia, Sheila Pai, KMC Mangalore, India
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The future of medical education is mainly dependent on the students, teachers, policy makers, government and the patients. A reformation in medical students by first learning how to learn and then learn by doing1 may be gradually adopted with a change in medical education curriculum. Medical education is experiencing a paradigm shift from the traditional passive learning method to the innovative active learning, problem –based- learning which prepares a medical doctor to know the art of life long learning. Most of the time, we medical school teachers feel that, present generation of students lack interest in their studies as indicated by yawning or dosing in the class. Most of the time, we try to find mistakes in our students, but factually we teachers are also partly responsible for their lack of interest. Medical curriculum, as such is loaded with lot of input and each medical student finds very difficult to cope up with the pressure. We teachers, usually deliver our marathon, hour long information based lectures wherein we don’t understand the difficulty of a student. We may end up with one lecture but poor students in the traditional education system has to continuously sit for four such long lectures in the morning session itself. Most of us are known very well for our monotonous lectures (most of the time boring) without thinking a bit for the poor student. Break the monotony, teach your medical subject by relating bit of day- today affairs with an ingredient of humor and see that your lecture is free of yawning. Moreover, the present traditional system of medical teaching should be re-looked and as many Western Universities have adopted the problem –based –learning methodology where the student made to involve actively in the learning session more enthusiastically. A balance between the traditional system and problem –based-learning may add further and fill up the gap between teacher and student. Educators and policy makers should re- look for the challenges in reforming a need-based –reform in medical education2 globally. References 1.Villanueva T. The future for medical education. BMJ 2005;331:105-6. 2. Majumdaar AA, Urban JA D’Souza, Rahman S. Trends in medical education: challenges and directions for need-based reforms of medical training in South-East Asia. Indian J Med Sci 2004 ;58:369-80. Competing interests: None declared |
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