Core skills 6
- 1. Core skills 6: Supporting Learning Jordan Napier & Mandy Moffat Welcome! We’ll get started at 2.05pm. As you arrive, say ‘hello’ in the chat-box.
- 2. Ways of working… • Informal • Ask questions in the chat box • Keep your mic muted (unless you’re speaking) • Enjoy!
- 3. By the end of this session, you will be able to: Consider how to create a supportive learning environment (whilst teaching in a blended approach) Discuss ways of identifying students who may be struggling
- 5. The Learning Environment... What is it? How do we create it?
- 6. The learning environment is… The context in which learning occurs The range of components and activities within which learning occurs
- 7. Excerpt from ‘Dear Life’ by Rachel Clarke ‘Our instructor already warned us that if we didn’t break several ribs while pumping the chest, we would certainly be failing. Worse still, he told us with disconcerting relish ‘if you don’t do it properly, the patient’s brain will be mush… …I remember us clustering around our CPR mannequins taking it in turns to save the life of a rubber torso…the doctor scrutinized our clumsy efforts, scowling from the sidelines and barking real-time feedback… …mainly what I took from this teaching session was a healthy dose of anxiety’
- 8. Taken from Teaching by Humiliation: Why It Should Change by John Belsey ‘The sense of dread that surrounded us as the professor’s teaching ward round approached was a feeling I can still recall with uncomfortable clarity. As we moved from patient to patient, we each prayed that we would not be the one targeted for humiliation that day. As the smirking audience of junior doctors, therapists, pharmacist, ward sister, and (worst of all) student nurses looked on, my heart would sink as I heard the dreaded words: “So, Belsey, what can you tell us about the problem this patient has?” You knew that however well you presented the case, somewhere along the line you would trip up and give the predatory professor his opportunity to expose your inadequacies.’
- 11. What other components does the online/virtual learning environment bring?
- 12. Influencing the learning environment 'As teachers we can exert a degree of control over the social and psychological environment. We can choose whether to be confrontational or supportive; whether to encourage or humiliate; and whether to promote active participation in learning or passive receipt of knowledge' Claire Macrae
- 14. The importance of a sense of belonging...
- 16. Identifying a learner in difficulty... Absences Decreased concentration Poor performance in assessment Change in behaviour
- 17. Steps everyone can take to support them... Offer to chat 01 Listen 02 Signpost to the right place (student support team, disability services, GP...) 03
- 18. Supporting learners in difficulty... Accessibility Respect for confidentiality Ability to give honest, constructive feedback Professional role model Knowledge of where to go for further help Respect, empathy and patience
- 19. In the Dundee MBChB/ScotGEM programme… You can always highlight concerns about students you think may be struggling; sip@Dundee.ac.uk (years 1-3) pip@Dundee.ac.uk (years 4-5) for specific or more complex support issues please contact the Academic Mentor team academicmentor@dundee.ac.uk
- 20. Take home messages… WE CAN INFLUENCE THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT TO MAKE IT MORE EFFECTIVE FOR SUPPORTING LEARNING EVERYONE WHO TEACHES HAS A ROLE IN IDENTIFYING STRUGGLING LEARNERS AND SIGNPOSTING THEM TO APPROPRIATE SUPPORT
- 22. References MASLOW AH (1954). Motivation and Personality. Harper and Row, New York. Macrae, C. (2017). Getting Started with...Learning Environment. University of Dundee Belsey, J. Teaching by Humiliation (2014): Why It Should Change. Journal of ethics. Url: https://journalofethics.ama- assn.org/article/teaching-humiliation-why-it-should-change/2014-03 Clarke, R. (2020). Dear Life: a doctor's story of love and loss. Little, Brown.