Workshop on teachers skills under way

Problem-based learning places the responsibility for learning in the hands of the students, and encourages examination of the processes of clinical reasoning and self-directed study.
The teacher's role changes from that of a supplier of information to being a consultant. This way of learning seems to offer some advantages at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels. The opportunities for intellectual growth that it offers to teachers and students can outweigh the admitted difficulties of planning and implementation.
These views were expressed by Professor Raja C. Bandaraniyake, a Sydney-based veteran medical educationist, who is facilitating a five-day workshop on "Enhancing Teachers' Skills" at the University of Health Sciences (UHS), Lahore. The workshop is organised by the UHS Department of Medical Education. Senior faculty members of the affiliated medical and dental colleges of Punjab are attending the event.
In his presentation, Professor Bandaraniyake said that problem-based learning in medicine was learning undertaken by a student in response to being confronted by a clinical or biomedical problem, the unique features being: (i) a complete reversal of the traditional order of learning, (ii) a deliberate focus on the process and effectiveness of student learning, and (iii) a deliberate focus on the process of clinical learning.
He said that much of the current clinical teaching could also be conducted in a problem-based way, if teachers were to lay greater emphasis on the processes of clinical reasoning and learning, rather than on the recall of detail, adding that small groups of students in a clinical undergraduate or post-graduate setting constitute an ideal vehicle for problem-based learning.
Stressing the role of tutor in the undergraduate medical curriculum, he said that in problem-based learning, the tutor facilitated or activated the group to ensure that students progressed satisfactorily through the problem. The tutor could do that by questioning, probing, encouraging critical reflection, suggesting and challenging in helpful ways, but only where necessary.
Earlier, giving a presentation on small group learning, he said that it was a powerful educational tool when used skilfully in carefully considered situations. Advantages included the encouragement of independent self-learning, critical thinking and awareness of the views of the other.
In the context of a medical undergraduate curriculum, the range of small group sessions was limited only by the imagination of the course organisers and tutors.
He said that clinical teaching was invariably small group in character, but educational strategies and teaching methods needed to be geared to the overall objectives of the curriculum. The workshop will continue till March 10.