Medical Education (PgDip)

Learning and assessment

How will I be taught?

The course uses a wide range of online approaches to learner support and development. Learning and teaching methods encompass a range of strategies and techniques to promote co-operative, purposeful learning. The teaching takes place online in group settings, which are facilitated by online tutors. There are a variety of tasks in each module where there is the opportunity for discussion, debate, exploration and peer interaction designed to enhance learning in addition to guided and independent study. Online tutors play a key role in the delivery of teaching for each module.

Practical application is a key feature of the course, and you will be encouraged to try out new approaches to teaching and learning throughout the programme. Synthesising your knowledge and applying theory to practice within your own clinical teaching setting will be a central requirement of both formal assessment and formative work.

Opportunities to develop your team working and collaboration skills will be available through your tasks and activities within discussion forums, blogs and general engagement in debate and exploration with tutors and peer groups.

How will I be assessed?

You will be assessed in a variety of ways both to inform learning (formative) and to assess learning (summative) and all assignment tasks are linked to your educational practise. For example, typical assignments may relate to designing a proposal for an educational project in your clinical teaching context, developing a practical teaching portfolio, analysing the evaluation strategy for courses you are involved with.

How will I be supported?

You will receive written feedback on all your assignments, in addition, there are many opportunities throughout the course to receive peer and tutor feedback. You will be allocated a personal tutor who will support your progress on the course, monitoring your general progress, discussing relevant issues and providing advice, guidance and support. They will contact you at various points in the course. There are a variety of tasks and activities in each module and you will discuss a range of educational issues through engagement in these with online tutors and peers. Personal tutors will comment on your reflective blog if you wish, and this exchange is an opportunity for you to engage in a dialogue about your educational roles, responsibilities and experiences in your clinical setting. This will also be done through your personal development maps and educational discussion in the discussion forum.

What skills will I practise and develop?

 The overall aims of the course are to help you:

• Critically appraise both your own and others’ practice as clinical educators and educational leaders to enhance learning and teaching relationships with colleagues/trainees.
• Synthesise concepts in order to further enhance knowledge and understanding to initiate educational developments responsive to clinical education needs and challenges.
• Develop an ability to engage with research, scholarship and practice and deal with complexities, contradictions and gaps in the current evidence base.
• Develop the educational skills required to provide constructive feedback to learners.

More specifically the course aims to:

• Develop and formally recognise experience, skills and leadership in clinical education.
• Provide an understanding of educational theories, methods and practice across the clinical professions that inform current educational practice.
• Promote critical self-awareness and reflection on educational practice to inform educational change.
• Develop educational skills as a clinical educator and educational leader.
• Illustrate your understanding of concepts by designing, planning and delivering learner-centred sessions employing a range of educational strategies/principles.
• Achieve an understanding of how to create effective change in healthcare education.
• Provide skills to design, develop and critically analyse educational media and technologies in order to enhance the learning-teaching process.
• Promote a critical evaluation of the purpose, design, application and interpretation of a range of assessment methods available to clinical educators.
• Develop the educational skills required to provide constructive feedback to learners.
• Develop the knowledge and skills needed to be an educational evaluator in clinical contexts.
• Develop the knowledge required to design, implement and evaluate an educational event with coherence, integration and relevance.
• Provide an understanding of the philosophical orientations of educational research and a range of research methodologies to enable the selection and utilisation of appropriate strategies to design and conduct educational research.