Lessons learned from the
workshop
Lessons learned from the
AAPM workshop
1. A specific teaching technique
2. A general understanding
George Starkschall, PhD
Department of Radiation
Physics
A specific teaching technique
•• Peer
Peer instruction
instruction
•• See
-D-303APeer
MO
303A-03 ““Peer
See presentation
presentation MOMO-D-303A-03
instruction
instruction in
in the
the teaching
teaching of
of an
an
introductory
”
course
introductory medical
medical physics
physics course”
course”
A general understanding
• Differences exist in the education
and skills of medical physicists as
researchers or clinicians vs the
education and skills of medical
physicists as educators
• How can we respond to the existence
of these differences?
Responsibilities, education, skills
Analysis (from Bloom’s Taxonomy of
• Responsibilities: Research and clinic
• Education: Includes core education
in advanced physics, calculus,
principles of medical physics,
clinical rotations, thesis (problem
solving)
• Skills (among others): Analysis,
synthesis, evaluation
• Examine and break information into
parts by identifying motives or
causes
• Make inferences and find evidence to
support generalizations
• Verbs: compare, analyze, classify,
distinguish, categorize, select,
prioritize
Synthesis (from Bloom’s Taxonomy of
Evaluation (from Bloom’s Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives)
Educational Objectives)
• Compile information together in a
different way by combining elements
in a new pattern or proposing
alternative solutions
• Verbs: compose, develop, design,
combine, construct, produce, plan,
organize
Educational Objectives)
• Present and defend opinions by
making judgments about
information, validity of ideas or
quality of work based on a set of
criteria
• Verbs: judge, relate, criticize,
evaluate, critique, recommend,
appraise, compare
Analysis, synthesis, evaluation
• Higher-order cognitive skills
Higher
Higher-order
• What medical physicists are good at
• What differentiates medical
physicists from dosimetrists,
physics assistants, technologists,
etc
• Medical physicists achieve these
skills through educational program
Failure to launch
•• Because
Because we
we lack
lack understanding
understanding of
of the
the
educational
educational process,
process, we
we imitate
imitate behavior
behavior
without
without understanding
understanding the
the rationale
rationale for
for
that
that behavior
behavior
–– That
That makes
makes us
us technicians,
technicians, not
not scientists
scientists
•• We
We are
are reluctant
reluctant to
to incorporate
incorporate new
new
behaviors
behaviors
–– Our
Our teaching
teaching methodologies
methodologies tend
tend to
to be
be very
very
conservative
conservative
Responsibilities, education, skills
•• Responsibilities:
Responsibilities: Education
Education (didactic
(didactic and
and
clinical)
clinical)
•• Education:
Education: Very
Very little
little formal
formal training
training
•• Skills:
Skills:
–– Ability
Ability to
to apply
apply analysis,
analysis, synthesis,
synthesis, evaluation
evaluation
to
to the
the educational
educational process
process is
is limited
limited
–– Teaching
Teaching skills
skills were
were obtained
obtained by
by modeling
modeling the
the
behavior
behavior of
of our
our own
own teachers
teachers
Two questions
• How are your present medical
physics practice methodologies
different from those you used 5 years
ago?
Two questions
• How are your present medical
physics practice methodologies
different from those you used 5 years
ago?
• How are your present teaching
methodologies different from those
you used 5 years ago?
What to do
• To improve our teaching abilities
–– We
We need
need to
to obtain
obtain an
an understanding
understanding of
of
the
the educational
educational process
process
–– We
We need
need to
to be
be exposed
exposed to
to various
various
educational
educational theories
theories
What to do
• To improve our teaching abilities
–– We
We need
need to
to obtain
obtain an
an understanding
understanding of
of
the
the educational
educational process
process
–– We
We need
need to
to be
be exposed
exposed to
to various
various
educational
educational theories
theories
What to do
• To improve our teaching abilities
–– We
We need
need to
to obtain
obtain an
an understanding
understanding of
of
the
the educational
educational process
process
–– We
We need
need to
to be
be exposed
exposed to
to various
various
educational
educational theories
theories
• Do we have the time for this in our
educational programs?
What to do
• To improve our teaching abilities
–– We
We need
need to
to be
be exposed
exposed to
to various
various
teaching
teaching models
models
–– We
We need
need to
to be
be willing
willing to
to adopt
adopt new
new
models
models to
to our
our teaching
teaching repertoire
repertoire
Modify role of teacher
• View teacher as facilitator, rather
than provider, of information
• The teacher provides the student
with insight, rather than information
Value added
• The most valuable time we have are
the few hours a week we are in
contact with our students
• Problem: How do we make optimal
use of this limited time?
Changes in approach
• Change our approach to the
educational process
• Lecturing (transmitting information)
can be done through alternative
means, e.g., recording, podcasts, etc
• Teaching (transmitting insight and
understanding ) can be done through
alternative approaches, e.g., peer
instruction, problem-based learning
problem
problem-based
Closing thought
Closing thought
• Our role as medical physics teachers
is not to teach our students medical
physics
• Our role as medical physics teachers
is not to teach our students medical
physics
• Our role as medical physics teachers
is to teach our students to learn
medical physics
Thank you