June Summary

The responses to the June Question, “How Do You Effectively Teach Multi Level Learner Groups?” were great examples of expertise in teaching. If you haven’t already read through the comments be sure to click on the Archives for June to read each great idea.
Our faculty came through with 13 excellent suggestions. The following are just a few “pearls” from the list. The advice from the faculty was given primarily in the context of “teaching rounds” :

• Set expectations for teaching rounds. Give each level learner a specific role. Three of our responders suggested giving the student the first question and asking the more senior learners to “build on” the student response. Another approach was to start with the student and a pathophysiology question, then move on to interns for signs and symptoms and differential while saving the management questions for the resident.
• Give opportunities for senior residents to teach. This can be planned (where the senior and the team know that the senior will be “running the show” for a certain number of cases) or impromptu where you ask the senior for their opinion and direct the student questions to them for response. In both instances, give the senior feedback on their teaching

Hopscotch Teaching.. or Teaching to Multi-level Groups

Both clinical and basic science teachers often ask me questions about teaching/facilitating groups composed of learners at different levels. From my observations, I’ve found that it is not uncommon for faculty to conduct hospital teaching rounds where the team is composed of medical students, interns, residents and possibly some fellows. Researchers facilitate conferences and lecture to groups that include graduate students, medical students, fellows, and colleagues. The question is, how do you keep them all engaged and learning?

Have you ever faced this situation before? If so, how did you handle it?