Category: Teaching
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Groupwork and introverts
I really enjoyed this presentation on TED, particularly this line: “… the transcendent power of solitude“. Being an introvert doesn’t mean someone who is shy or reluctant to engage with others. It describes a person who has a tendency to turn inward mentally, feeling more energized by time spent alone. As teachers who are preparing…
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Movies about teacher-student relationships
The untimely passing of Robin Williams a few weeks ago reminded me of an idea for a post that’s been on my mind for a while (apparently I’m not the only person who thought about this). I’ve always loved movies about teachers and students, and I wanted to share some of the ones that have…
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Between Cape Town and Khartoum
Earlier this month I spent a week in Khartoum as part of an international exchange programme between the following organisations: University of the Western Cape (my institution in Cape Town) Ahfad University for Women (Khartoum) Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania Bergen University (Norway) FK Norway The project is an attempt to facilitate the exchange…
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Faculty member on FAIMER Brazil (2014)
I’m spending a week in Fortaleza, Brazil as part of the FAIMER-Brazil programme for 2014. FAIMER is an international programme aimed at developing capacity in medical education and research, especially in developing countries. There are regional institutes in South Africa, Brazil, India and China, and the main organisation in Philadelphia. I was here in 2013…
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Small group teaching
This is the first draft of an articles that published in my Clinical Teacher mobile app. Introduction Small group learning is one of several educational strategies used to promote student learning, as it promotes a student-centred approach in the educational context (as opposed to a teacher-centred approach, in which the teacher determines the objectives, content…
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Interview: The use of technology-mediated teaching and learning in physiotherapy education
I was recently asked to do a short interview by Physiospot, on the use of technology-mediated teaching and learning in physiotherapy education. As it turns out, the bulk of the interview relates more specifically to a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, rather than the use of technology. However, I think that this makes it potentially…
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Effective lectures
This is the first draft of an article that was eventually published in the Clinical Teacher mobile app. Introduction “The successful teacher is no longer on a height, pumping knowledge at high pressures into passive receptacles. He is a senior student anxious to help his juniors” (William Osler, 1849-1919) In medical education, the word “lecture”…
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Clinical reasoning: Identifying errors and correcting
Yesterday I attended a presentation on clinical reasoning by Professors Vanessa Burch (University of Cape Town) and Juanita Bezuidenhout (University of Stellenbosch). Here are the notes I took during the presentation. How does CR work? How do errors occur? Do clinician educators contribute to errors? Can we identify students with CR difficulties? Can we improve…
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If you can’t explain it simply…
Sometimes I get frustrated with colleagues who seem to think that the more complicated they can make an idea sound, the more intelligent they must be. I can’t think of another reason why they would obfuscate what they’re trying to say. I spend a lot of time trying to simplify what I’m talking about, although…
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Bertrand Russell’s 10 Commandments of Teaching
A great post from Brainpickings, on Bertrand Russell’s 10 Commandments of Teaching: Do not feel absolutely certain of anything. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed. When you meet with opposition,…
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Finding the time
People do not fail in life because they aim too high and miss… (The Principal of Change) “People do not fail in life because they aim too high and miss. They fail in life, because they aim too low and hit.” We often can’t imagine how we’ll ever find the time to make the changes…
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Yet another T&L blog?
Yet another T&L blog (Unteaching) We thought there was room for something a bit more…playful. Something less formal. Maybe even irreverent. We think that there’s space for a group of like-minded South African educators to get together and shoot the breeze without needing to worry about who is watching and who you represent. A place…
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Are we preparing students for life?
The following is an excerpt from Tom Whitby’s post, Are we preparing students for life? Content in past decades was slow to change. Even as advances were made in science, history, geography, and literature, the world itself moved at a slower pace, so time and change were less critical. We had a print media that…
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Getting over a theory of student learning styles
Some interesting points from a short blog post on learning styles. The periodic critiques of the research make the same points. 1 We don’t know what learning styles are. Researchers haven’t agreed on whether they are attributes, preferences, habits, strategies, or biological traits. We don’t know if they are cognitive, neurological, psychological, or situational. 2…
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Ranking students, or developing understanding?
We have a collection of courses at my institution that have become known as “killer courses”. These are the courses with a history of poor student performance in terms of throughput and retention, and which we’re trying to provide extra support for. Two of these killer courses are outside courses (i.e. outside of our department)…
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Content isn’t important, relative to thinking
I just had a brief conversation with a colleague on the nature of the teaching method we’re using in my department. Earlier this year we shifted from a methodology premised on lectures, to the use of case-based learning. I’ve been saying for a while that content is not important, but I’ve realised that I haven’t…
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UWC “Scholarship of teaching and learning” colloquium
I presented at the UWC scholarship of teaching and learning colloquium last week. Here is the presentation I gave, which is essentially a progress report of my PhD research project. I posted my own presentation a few days ago and here are the notes I took during the colloquium. Can universities be caring? A meditation…
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Peer review of teaching
Introduction Peer review is a form of evaluation designed to provide feedback to teachers about their professional practice. The standard method of evaluating teaching is to ask students at the end of a module or course, for their feedback on the lecturers performance. While student feedback does have value, it also has limitations. For example,…