Crowdfunding Education : Objectives, Content, Pedagogy, and Assessment

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Exploring medical student learning in the large group teaching environment: examining current practice to inform curricular development

Background Lectures continue to be an efficient and standardised way to deliver information to large groups of students. It has been well documented that students prefer interactive lectures, based on active learning principles, to didactic teaching in the large group setting. Despite this, it is often the case than many students do not engage with active learning tasks and attempts at interaction. By exploring student experiences, expectations and how they use lectures in their learning we will provide recommendations for faculty to support student learning both in the lecture theatre and during personal study time. Methods This research employed a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Three focus groups, consisting of 19 students in total, were used to explore the experiences of second year medical students in large group teaching sessions. Using generic thematic data analysis, these accounts have been developed into a meaningful account of experience. Results This study found there to be a well-established learning culture amongst students and with it, expectations as to the format of teaching sessions. Furthermore, there were set perceptions about the student role within the learning environment which had many implications, including the way that innovative teaching methods were received. Student learning was perceived to take place outside the lecture theatre, with a large emphasis placed on creating resources that can be taken away to use in personal study time. Conclusions Presented here is a constructive review of reasons for student participation, interaction and engagement in large group teaching sessions. Based on this are recommendations constructed with the view to aid educators in engaging students within this setting. Short term, educators can implement strategies that monopolise on the established learning culture of students to encourage engagement with active learning strategies. Long term, it would be beneficial for educators to consider ways to shift the current student learning culture to one that embraces an active learning curriculum

Evidence-Based Educational Practices for Public Health: How We Teach Matters

An eight-member team of the Teaching Working Group of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Task Force created a call to action advancing the use of evidence-based strategies for public health education. The goal of this article is threefold, to assess briefly the current status of evidence-based teaching in public health, strengthen the case for using evidence-based teaching practices in public health courses, and propose strategies for educators in public health to engage along a continuum of evidence-based teaching. In this article, we define evidence-based teaching (EBT) proposes that EBT is demonstrated by: student mastery of specific short-term learner outcomes (e.g., enhanced effectiveness such as represented by improved knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes); increases the likelihood of successfully completion of a particular public health degree or program, which represents an intermediate- or long-term outcome; and ultimately posits that effective teaching in public health aims to produce well-prepared graduates who contribute to a ready workforce (Impact 1) who are able to improve the health of the public (Impact 2), highlights effective evidence-based teaching practices that improve student learning outcomes, encourages both seasoned faculty and newcomers to the field to incorporate EBT into existing public health curricula and to begin by making small changes, and concludes with a call to action for EBT that improves student learning