Information for lecturers
At Warwick Medical School we aim to deliver high quality lectures to support the case based learning of our MB ChB students. As graduates, our students have previous experience of learning in higher education and rightly have high expectations. Content should be applied and clinically relevant and suitable for arts as well as science graduates. Delivery should be interactive where possible and always enthusiastic. It is important to us to support our teachers and we offer the opportunity for teaching observation, peer feedback and mystery shopper feedback to all of our lecturers.
Top tips
5 ways to ensure your lecture runs on time
- Limit your number of slides. 40-45 are usually plenty for a 50 minute lecture.
- Avoid putting excessive text on slides and reading it out. Students can be given pre-reading for background information. Use the notes area for additional information, references and further reading.
- Start on time. The admin team will pre-load your presentation if you have one.
- Have some case examples at the end of the presentation that you can use if you finish early, or omit if you are running late.
- Offer to answer questions by email instead at the end of the lecture.
6 ways to increase interactivity and attention in lectures
- Use technology such as VevoxLink opens in a new window, Socrative, or a text wall.
- Use case examples. Students often request more case examples in lectures- they are training to be doctors and are interested in the application of their learning. Using un-identifiable real patients that you have seen works best.
- Show video clips. Box of Broadcasts (BoB) is available for TV clips and Healthtalkonline offers patient interviews.
- Have breakout discussions. Give 2 minutes to discuss a question in pairs.
- Quizzes can be used to structure the whole lecture, as a pre and post test or at the end of the delivered material.
- More tips on creating engaging slides can be found on this example.
Practicalities
Pre-preparing lecture material
We have a number of students with specific learning needs who require a copy of any PowerPoint material before the lecture. We aim to upload all teaching material 24 hours before delivery. Please could you therefore forward a copy of your presentation by 48 hours before the lecture at the latest.
Lecture capture
We are audio recording as many of our lectures as possible for the benefit of our students, particularly those with a disability. Lectures are made available for internal use only, and only with your signed consent. Find out more about the Warwick lecture capture service.
Teaching observation
We will support all new lecturers in their first lecture and offer constructive feedback. Further observation of teaching can be arranged on request by the faculty development team. We encourage lecturers to participate in peer observation, particularly those participating in the Masters in medical education.
Mystery students
What are mystery students?
Students who have received training to enable them to provide detailed feedback on lectures. This is done anonymously and mediated through a named member of academic staff. The aim is to support lecturers professional development by giving them more specific feedback from students. It is NOT used for performance monitoring.
What do lecturers think about this?
All lecturers are given the options to opt out but everyone so far has participated and no lecturers responding to a feedback questionnaire had concerns about the process. Responses from lecturers have been overwhelmingly positive and 78% would change something for next time.
How is feedback quality assured?
All student feedback is reviewed by an academic staff member before being anonymised and sent out to lecturers. Any feedback quality issues would be fed back to individual students. Should concerns be raised by a student they would be taken up by the staff member and managed supportively.