Purpose Education as part of medical education is currently changing rapidly. Not least because of the corona crisis, more and more digital teaching formats and innovative teaching concepts such as the flipped classroom model are finding their way into teaching. We analyzed the acceptance and effectiveness of traditional teaching methods as well as the interest in innovative e‑learning methods among medical students in the field of radiation oncology at the medical school of the Technical University of Munich. Methods We carried out an online-based survey as well as a knowledge test on all students from two terms who had completed the seminar series of radiation oncology. The survey comprised seven questions on the frequency of participation, acceptance, and judgment of the effectiveness in terms of learning and on a potential use of e‑learning methods using a six-point Likert scale. The test consisted of 10 multiple-choice questions. Results Traditional teaching methods are largely accepted by students and most students consider the current learning format to be effective in terms of the teaching effect in the field of radiation oncology. However, only about 50% of all knowledge questions were answered correctly. The possible use of e‑learning methods was judged critically or desired in roughly equal parts among the students. Conclusion Traditional seminars enjoy a high level of acceptance among students. Effectiveness with regard to the internalization of content taught, however, should be increased. After all, the future seems to lie in the integration of e‑learning in the form of educational videos and practical seminars.

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Background Residents play an important role in the clinical training of medical students, spending up to 25% of their daily work teaching. In the US medical curriculum didactic courses for residents already exist and their role as a teacher is firmly anchored. In Germany, there are no fixed regulations or residents-as-teachers-programs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the activities of neurological residents in clinical teaching. Methods We conducted a prospective cross-sectional online survey among neurological residents in Germany. The evaluation was carried out descriptively and by means of text analysis. Results 138 residents from 39 German neurological university hospitals answered the survey. Nearly half of them needed the teaching activity as part of their career planning. The residents are mostly involved in practical courses. More than 80% stated, that they enjoy teaching. 64% stated that there were no preparatory courses for teaching at their hospital/university. 78.4% of the respondents received no or merely insufficient feedback for their own teaching and 62.5% had only little or even no knowledge about the university curriculum. Conclusions By teaching medical students, residents play an outstanding role in recruiting students for neurology and, simultaneously, teaching leads an improvement in the residents’ own learning. To encourage young neurologists as teachers and—at the same time as learners—Clinic directors and universities should promote residents-as-teachers programs in neurology and reward the residents’ teaching activities.