Could Lectures Be Stimulating? An Approach To Encourage Active Learning.

Medical education is the cornerstone of building an effective health care system. Newly qualified doctors have to be equipped with knowledge, skills and attitudes to face the challenges of treating patients. Therefore the majority of medical schools in Western countries adopted, to varying degrees, the Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach. However the PBL is an expensive approach as it is based on small group teaching with a maximum of 8-10 students per group. This makes it difficult to apply in countries like Libya where the medical schools enrol larger numbers of students, often without appropriate resources. Hence the majority of the teaching is based on didactic lectures. Although the majority of teachers are doing a good job, students usually find the lectures of limited benefit. This leads students to memorize facts simply to pass exams, only to forget them soon after. The whole process lacks stimulus and challenge to students. However, highly motivated students tend to create their own PBL environment! They skip lectures and organize themselves in groups of two or three to discuss course material. They try to understand the subject, learn from each other, and review previous exam papers. Although this can be a useful stimulating teaching environment, it lacks proper guidance and less capable students find it difficult. It seems unlikely that Libyan medical schools will be able to adopt PBL in the near future. Traditional lectures to large groups of students will continue to be the main method of teaching. However, the general approach should change from teacher-centred to student-centred. Hence the most pressing question remains: could lectures be stimulating to students, and could they encourage thinking rather than memorizing? In other words: could the students be active rather than passive learners during the traditional lectures? The answer is definitely yes! There are many practical methods that could be adapted to make this change. The students could receive in advance the course material and outlines of planned lectures. This could include several problem based scenarios (problem-centred method). The students should be advised to arrange themselves in groups to discuss main scenarios before class. During the lecture, the teacher should lead the discussion of the main focus to illustrate the most important message of the lecture. Other scenarios could be discussed by students in their arranged groups at coffee time, home, or in tutorials led by teaching assistants (senior students and newly qualified physicians), to encourage …