Teaching Matters

Lot's of things have changed since I have grown up. Lot's of things have changed since the time I have switched positions. Yes, now that I have became a teacher myself, I realize the difference.

I had a teacher in my school times, Mrs Bano. Very solid. Her teaching was very solid. She used to teach us Hindi. She had a good command over Hindi & also had very clear speech & a good explanatory power. At that time, computers were not so much used. Hence chalk & talk was the only method by which she could teach. But still she taught nicely. All those teachers who taught by chalk & talk had a nice method of teaching (baring few who could not explain anyways).

Then came the time of transparencies. The teachers used transparencies as their teaching tool. This type of teaching happened when I entered my MBBS. There were still some teachers who used the chalk & talk method & were very effective. They taught medicine in a beautiful manner. But some teachers used to dump too much material in the transparencies & keep projecting one transparency after another. Explanation would be done only when required.

Times keep changing. Hence by the time I started my residency for MD in Pharmacology, types of computer & it's usage were well developed. Presentations were made on Power Point, which people say PPT for short. They would ask did you make a PPT? Seminars were presented on PPT's. But the teachers started becoming  tech savvy too. Lectures started to be presented on PPT's. They say that audio - visual aids help in learning.

Now that I teach medicine in general & Pharmacology in specific myself, I have adapted myself to too many teaching methods. First I used my memory as my rescue. As a new teacher it helped me understand the concept of that particular topic & I would be able to explain the students. So I started teaching by the chalk & talk method. Then I joined one of the best institutions in Medicine, i.e. Seth G. S. Medical College & K. E. M. hospital. Now here it is, I guess, below dignity to use chalk & talk & one would be considered tech savvy if one uses a computer with the best animations. One of my resident friends told me that it is compulsory to use PPT for lectures.

Then just recently I read in the newspaper that some of the Undergraduate students from the same institute mentioned above commented that there is no fun in PPT lectures. The teachers just come, read the slides which contain a lot of material & many tables & animations & leave. This confuses the students.

But it is also observed that when you use these so called audio - visual aids, students are busy copying the slides rather than looking & listening to the teacher.

I am not saying that PPT's are bad. But according to me chalk & talk method still remain the IN THING for at least lectures. PPT's I think are good for seminars & business presentations.

But I think lectures depend a lot on an individual teacher. It's the teacher's knowledge, understanding & the explanatory power that matters. Whatever teaching aid used then becomes secondary.