A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

Medicine and dentistry
❘
437
(Kneebone et al., 2006a, 2006b). Even at undergraduate level, assessing simple clinical
skills in isolation in simulated manners is unlikely to adequately prepare students for
practice in the real world.
Interrogating practice
• What are the positive and negative attributes of simulation?
• How far can and should patients be used in training?
• What should be the role of simulation in assessment?
USING TECHNOLOGY IN LEARNING IN
MEDICINE AND DENTISTRY
Chapter 7 considers the use of e-learning and should be read in conjunction with this
section. In medicine and dentistry we are concerned with the use of computers, but also
many other forms of technology, including that involved in much simulation. Most
medical and dental schools in the Western world have been using various types of
technology in teaching for some time, including the ubiquitous Virtual Learning
Environment. Some schools use proprietary brands, others tailor-made products. These
may be used only for information dissemination and as repositories of information, but
in most instances will be used more imaginatively to include student-to-student and
student-to-teacher interaction, online quizzes with feedback, use of videoed material and
so on. Video material involving patients requires close attention to be paid to consent
and confidentiality issues. A fairly standard approach to creating SDL e-packages is to
integrate a lecture, clinical demonstration, case-based learning using anonymised patient
notes, short answers, pathways through diagnosis or care, and a quiz. Such packages are
costly and usually require the teacher to work with a learning technologist.
Computer-based learning opportunities exploit self-study at convenient times in a selfpaced
manner, may make better use of scarce resources, and solve difficulty with venues
of insufficient size for a full cohort of students. But they need to be planned, designed
and coordinated if they are to integrate successfully with everything else going on in
a curriculum. The ‘information dump’ end of the spectrum has its uses (e.g. it is easy
for students to look up missed lectures), but it falls into the trap of transmission rather
than transformation in relation to learning (Mezirow, 1991). Another potential danger is
of a depersonalised or artificial experience. Some schools are starting to experiment
with second-generation technology using wikis and blogs, and other less static and
teacher-controlled environments, including websites designed originally for social
interaction rather than learning. Other technologies, including the use of handheld
computers, mobile phones, podcasts, Personal Response Systems (‘clickers’), interactive