Beyond knowledge and skills: the use of a Delphi study to develop a technology-mediated teaching strategy

Abstract

BackgroundWhile there is evidence to suggest that teaching practices in clinical education should include activities that more accurately reflect the real world, many educators base their teaching on transmission models that encourage the rote learning of knowledge and technical skills. Technology-mediated instruction may facilitate the development of professional attributes that go beyond “having” knowledge and skills, but there is limited evidence for how to integrate technology into these innovative teaching approaches.MethodsThis study used a modified Delphi method to help identify the professional attributes of capable practitioners, the approaches to teaching that may facilitate the development of these attributes, and finally, how technology could be integrated with those teaching strategies in order to develop capable practitioners. Open-ended questions were used to gather data from three different expert panels, and results were thematically analysed.ResultsClinical educators should not view knowledge, skills and attitudes as a set of products of learning, but rather as a set of attributes that are developed during a learning process. Participants highlighted the importance of continuing personal and professional development that emphasised the role of values and emotional response to the clinical context. To develop these attributes, clinical educators should use teaching activities that are learner-centred, interactive, integrated, reflective and that promote engagement. When technology-mediated teaching activities are considered, they should promote the discussion of clinical encounters, facilitate the sharing of resources and experiences, encourage reflection on the learning process and be used to access content outside the classroom. In addition, educational outcomes must drive the integration of technology into teaching practice, rather than the features of the technology.ConclusionsThere is a need for a cultural change in clinical education, in which those involved with the professional training of healthcare professionals perceive teaching as more than the transmission of knowledge and technical skills. Process-oriented teaching practices that integrate technology as part of a carefully designed curriculum may have the potential to facilitate the development of capable healthcare graduates who are able to navigate the complexity of health systems and patient management in ways that go beyond the application of knowledge and skills.

Flipping the classroom to teach Millennial residents medical leadership: a proof of concept

“…For example, there is the risk of using technology (i.e., VLEs and video content) for the sake of technology 26. Contrary to popular thought, however, the driving factor behind the success of the flipped classroom is not the availability and use of prerecorded video material as the role of technology lies in supporting a “sound pedagogical teaching strategy” 22,26,33. The second point is that it is essential that students have a high intrinsic motivation to guard their educational process 22.…”

The Flipped Classroom as a Pedagogical Tool for Leadership Development in Postgraduate Medical Education

“…Contrary to popular thought, the driving factor behind the success of the FCM is not based on the availability and use of pre-recorded video lectures [21,22]. Rather, the role of technological tools lies in supporting a "sound pedagogical teaching strategy" [22,41].…”

Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Blogs and Podcasts: Establishing an International Consensus on Quality

“…16 Although Delphis frequently use methodologies such as the snowball technique to identify experts, [16][17][18] this is appropriate only when the expert group is ill defined and not easily quantified. In this study, we elected to use the Social Media Index, which was recently shown to correlate with traditional impact metrics, 14 to select the top 20 blogs and top 20 podcasts from the Web sites considered for inclusion.…”

“…The Delphi methodology, which has been used in several contexts, 17,18,20,21 uses a series of iterative surveys to build consensus among expert groups. 16 We used a modified Delphi methodology, which incorporated two Web-based surveys in an effort to garner international participation.…”

“…Rather than using a snowball technique to identify experts, as is often done in Delphi surveys, [16][17][18] we used the Social Media Index. Although this was beneficial because it provided a reproducible method of identifying the highestimpact bloggers and podcasters, it may be viewed as a limitation because it has not previously been used for this purpose.…”