Ágoston Kecskés

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January 12, 2012

Blog Entry #8: The bells toll for traditional classroom lectures

            During this morning’s discussion, we briefly discussed the end of traditional classroom lectures in medical education. For a nice summary of the salient points, see American RadioWorks®’s three reports on the subject (http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/tomorrows-college/lectures/). The lecture style for which the University of Toronto has become (in)famous is soon to be rendered obsolete. So what is the heir apparent?

            Assuming the aim is simply to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of medical education, online video-taped lectures would seem like an easy and popular way choice. The traditionalists would be unlikely to put up too much of a fight as the essential format would not change dramatically. Furthermore, access would be guaranteed as desktop computers are ubiquitous and smartphones are not far behind.

There could be more subtle benefits too. Because the recording and posting of online video lectures is in many ways a fixed cost, one could invest a bit more upfront to ensure that the best lecturers’ presentations are posted. Furthermore, faculty time spent teaching would be dramatically reduced. Alongside each presentation, one could post transcripts and PowerPoint slides. In addition, a more comprehensive set of study notes could also be posted for the purposes of defining “testable” material for the purposes of examination. Thus, lecture content would be standardized which would allow smartphone users to upload the content they had studied throughout preclerkship to be recalled and reapplied as point-of-care during clerkship and even into licensing examinations and residency. For those worried that standardizing the lecture material would pigeonhole students’ learning and understanding of key concepts, a(n) (annotated) bibliography could also posted with each lecture with hyperlinks to applicable, readable resources. This would be more than enough for the vast majority of students. Besides, medical students are supposed to be highly selected (e.g. in personal essays, interview questions, academic records, and extracurricular activities) for self-directed learning. Why not put their skills to good use? Frequently asked question sections could accompany each lecture as a resource for students seeking clarification of unclear concepts. Furthermore, it would be much easier to apply restrictions on lecturers’ presentation (e.g. time, number of slides, content) thereby aligning presentations with the given learning objectives. The videos could also be adapted for viewing on smartphones so students could learn on the go.

            Admittedly, an online video-taped lecture format is not a dramatic departure from the traditional classroom lecture format. Still, it’s a step in the right direction. Next up: transitioning the University of Toronto to (real) PBL.