Anna has had a special interest in Medical Education Technology and was the co-ordinator of the teacher's training workshops at CMC Vellore, since its inception. After she retired, she continued pursuing this interest and organised the first workshop of the MOSC Medical College.
I was a student at this workshop. The last time I attended a condensed course on Medical Education was in 1980.
It was an inspiring experience to listen to Anna making several presentations on Adult education, Feed back, Multiple Choice questions, Teaching-Learning process, etc. I was excited to discover her insightful understanding of the several skills medical teachers need to acquire to be effective communicators and mentors. The other faculty making presentations on related topics were enabled a great deal by Anna personally, helping them in their preparation, as this was the first one for them.
It was a privilege to watch them function as a team. They related and trusted each other to make the work shop a pleasant experience. The three day work shop was stimulating, interesting and hands on.
For me it was an opportunity to be tutored through different experiences, Anna shared with the group and appreciate her scholarship in medical education. The power point presentations Anna prepared and presented had an outstanding quality and content. I was surprised to discover how Anna used adult learning principles in her presentations, pausing for questions and interspersing her talks with exercises, group activities, etc. It was a feast to listen to her.
As I recall Anna's pursuit to become an effective facilitator, I have observed her enthusiasm, sense of mission and self directed learning. She 'walks the talk', because students during their term in pharmacology felt stimulated that some of them kept in touch with her informally to pursue their special interests in pharmacology. A teacher is known by his or her ability to inspire students. That is what Anna has become to many students.
What a privilege it was to have been Anna's student in Medical Education technology!
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
Yayy! Anna Aunty! This is great!!
ReplyDeleteAt least in school teaching, I know that experts don't always make the best teachers. They tend to assume that content they are teaching is as easy for the students to grasp as it was for them. The truth is that every classroom has a mix of visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners. It is up to teachers to plan their lessons in order to accommodate all these learning styles.
In my short exprience, I've found that when "teacher talk" is limited to 40% of the time, and "student talk" (discussion circles, hands on activities ) takes up 60% of the time, then learning is retained.