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Teaching Guidelines for Presenters

Presentation Tips

Following are some tips that you might find helpful in organizing a presentation. 

  1. Pre-meeting preparation
    • For co-presenters, decide in advance who will present what, time allotted to each, etc. 
    • Estimating time allotment is a challenge.  A good rule of thumb is to estimate very generously how much time you think you will need and then add 10% to that.  If you’ve requested a feedback consultant, remember to factor in the time for that. 
  1. Welcome and introductions
    • Begin the session with your educational objectives and make sure that they are in keeping with the participants’ expectations/objectives.  (i.e. establish an educational contract)
    • Although there is not always time for full participant introductions, some mechanism to establish rapport within and among participants and co-presenters is helpful.
  1. Put material into context
    • How does the particular skill, curriculum, etc., that you are going to focus on in the workshop fit into the big educational picture? 
    •  What is the workshop agenda and what can the participants expect?  
    • Introduce fundamental principles first and build on them. 
  1. Teaching methods
    • The most successful workshops have very little didactic/passive learning and a lot of experiential/interactive activities. Refer to “Experiential Learning Guidelines” listed below.
  1. Attend to any challenges to the learning process
    • Participants looking bored or unengaged? Be prepared to vary your teaching activity.
    • Participants looking frustrated? Might be mismatch in the educational contract.
    • Miscalculation in timing? Be prepared to do some on the spot editing
    • Participant monopolizing the group discussion?  Be prepared to tactfully address that.
  1. Closure
    • End on time!
    • Reconnect with your objectives
    • Be clear on any action plan you might have (i.e. distribution of materials to participants, follow-up for a group project, etc).
  1. Have Fun


Experiential Learning Guidelines

 

by Donald Fidler, MD, FRCP-I, and Benjamin Hogan, Med

April 19, 2009

 

·         Alter the mode of teaching approximately every ten minutes. Example: Alter between 5-10 minutes of lecture and/or slide presentations (passive learning modes) with active, experiential learning modes as suggested below.

 

·         Experiment with experiential models. One suggestion is to present an experiential stimulus for 5-10 minutes, preferably under 5 minutes, then divide large groups into small groups of 2, 3, or 4 learners for them to discuss the stimulus. Follow with teachers/facilitators asking 1-3 of the small groups to present their findings/discussions to the large group. Follow up by asking all learners in the large group to participate by showing their agreement/disagreement with the findings/discussions by a show of hands or by using clickers and displaying the results.

 

·         Below are some of the many examples of 5-10 minute experiential stimuli:

o    Perform a role play

o    Show a video/film clip

o    Interview a person (patient, administrator, guest expert, a family, etc.)

o    Ask a small group of learners to perform a specific task in front of the large group

o    Read a case history, research abstract, or an article with survey results

o    Provide a game in which all learners can participate or a small group of learners in front of the large group can participate

o    Perform a class survey using clickers and present the results to the large group

o    Present a news paper/magazine, TV editorial

o    Present a governmental bill proposal

o    Have a small group of learners research a controversial topic outside of class and present their findings and opinions to the large group

o    Have a small group of learners present a short drama they developed based on professionalism or ethics

o    Show slides of paintings, sculptures, photographs, or other art forms which depict emotionally-charged issues

o    Play music with or without lyrics which capture intense emotional moods or organized or disorganized thinking

o    Examine popular jokes, myths, stories, movies, or advertisements and explore why they are successful and why they may resonate with and/or may offend various people

o    Present or demonstrate information about food, gestures, beliefs, and/or traditions of several cultures to compare and contrast

o    Have learners bring in food, stories, clothing, etc. which demonstrate aspects of their own familial or communal cultures and traditions

o    Read a children’s story to learners and have them imagine the impact of the story for a specific level of childhood development. Repeat the story and have the learners imagine the impact of the story had they been children who were severely abused and/or neglected.

o    Read a story or case

§ Read a story or case twice, changing the age, race, location, or socioeconomic status of the characters/patients for comparing and contrasting

§ Read a story or case twice, changing small “what if” details which make the case more intense of offer understanding of the backgrounds and/or histories of the characters/patients for comparing and contrasting

§ Read chapters of an on-going story or case each learning session over a semester or extended time period, teaching patience and teaching about thinking about people and their conflicts and adaptations over time

o    Have learners write about seemingly trivial events in their lives, but ask them why those events had significance for them. Ask volunteer learners to share their experiences with the large group or present excerpts anonymously (again with permission from the learners)

o    Present medication side effects of patients and present how the side effects compromised the quality of life for the people and why the people felt they could or could not report the side effects to their caregivers

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