Last month I visited a hi-tech middle school class to teach middle schoolers some anatomy. We dissected sheep hearts, just like many of you have done in your own studies. What made this experience different was that we used video cameras, iPads, PCs, and smartboards to run the lesson. I had a lot of fun, but I was also intrigued by the agility with which the technology made it easy to differentiate or tier lesson plans. This concept that students' individual needs may each be met at the same time and in the same space has been championed mostly by elementary and secondary school educators. But it seems to me that it is a perfect educational philosophy to embrace for medical education - especially resident education.
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Every Wednesday, I sit in a large room with my peers. There are all levels of EM residents present. The third years know more than the second years who know more than I do. We all listen to the same lectures. But I feel over my head at times, and I'm sure the third years feel board some of the times. Tiering lesson plans is a concept that enables all levels of learners to get the most they they can get out of a lesson while sharing the same space and time.
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Technology has made it possible to easily differentiate lesson plans. Perhaps medical education can learn from early education, and get on board with the logic behind the process.
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Check it out: Time-for-Kids magazine visited the classroom on the day that I was teaching and produced an on-line video-article about a public middle-school classroom that blows any residency classroom away: http://www.timeforkids.com/photos-video/video/high-tech-classroom-27391. If they can do it, why can't we?
- Teach, MD
Showing posts with label Time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time. Show all posts
Monday, February 6, 2012
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Khan Academy
Recently I began to follow the work of Salman Khan. He has become a celebrity in many circles, and I would not be surprised if he makes the cover of Time within the next year. He is changing education by changing the method of it's delivery.
At his 2011 TED talk, Khan said something extremely profound and the audience didn't react. After Kahn began his next sentence, and after the profound statement had time to creep into the minds of the audience members, the crowd suddenly errupted into applause.
At about 6:30 into the you-tube video, Kahn says,
"I assign the lectures for homework, and what used to be homework, I now have students doing in the classroom."
Watch the video here:
This will change the method of delivery for medical education and in reality, many medical schools are already inadvertently using the Khan method at their schools!
For example, when I was going through my basic science years at NYU, I rarely went to lecture. Instead, I sat in my bedroom and listened to the recorded lectures and read along with the PowerPoints that had been video-captured. I would rewind when I didn't understand a lecturer's point, I would press stop when I wanted to eat lunch or was getting board, and I would press fast forward and listen to the lecture in 2.5 times speed when I came upon content that I already knew. The big part missing from my method of study that Khan's method embraces, was the "doing in the classroom" "what used to be homework ."
Why can't medical education take advantage of this sensible method of delivery? Students can watch lectures and read required texts and articles at home. Then, they can be parsed into knowledge groups in which those groups meet with a professor to discuss relevant patient cases and medical content. Those with a high understanding of the content might meet with a professor for a shorter period of time than those with a lower level of understanding. Or those with higher understanding could go over more advanced topics pertaining to the lectures that they watched.
Better yet, after doing the work at home, students could sign up for which class they wanted to take. Those who feel they've mastered the content at home, would have a small group with a professor who would discuss more advanced topics or related topics like medical ethics or public health; those who prefer learning in person to the Khan method, could have their own more traditional method grouping; the possibilities for groupings are endless.
How do you think the Khan Academy could change medical education?
At his 2011 TED talk, Khan said something extremely profound and the audience didn't react. After Kahn began his next sentence, and after the profound statement had time to creep into the minds of the audience members, the crowd suddenly errupted into applause.
At about 6:30 into the you-tube video, Kahn says,
"I assign the lectures for homework, and what used to be homework, I now have students doing in the classroom."
Watch the video here:
This will change the method of delivery for medical education and in reality, many medical schools are already inadvertently using the Khan method at their schools!
For example, when I was going through my basic science years at NYU, I rarely went to lecture. Instead, I sat in my bedroom and listened to the recorded lectures and read along with the PowerPoints that had been video-captured. I would rewind when I didn't understand a lecturer's point, I would press stop when I wanted to eat lunch or was getting board, and I would press fast forward and listen to the lecture in 2.5 times speed when I came upon content that I already knew. The big part missing from my method of study that Khan's method embraces, was the "doing in the classroom" "what used to be homework ."
Why can't medical education take advantage of this sensible method of delivery? Students can watch lectures and read required texts and articles at home. Then, they can be parsed into knowledge groups in which those groups meet with a professor to discuss relevant patient cases and medical content. Those with a high understanding of the content might meet with a professor for a shorter period of time than those with a lower level of understanding. Or those with higher understanding could go over more advanced topics pertaining to the lectures that they watched.
Better yet, after doing the work at home, students could sign up for which class they wanted to take. Those who feel they've mastered the content at home, would have a small group with a professor who would discuss more advanced topics or related topics like medical ethics or public health; those who prefer learning in person to the Khan method, could have their own more traditional method grouping; the possibilities for groupings are endless.
How do you think the Khan Academy could change medical education?
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