Teaching large/small groups … 10 years on!

Some ten years after they first appeared, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) articles by Peter Cantillon regarding the teaching of large groups and David Jaques on teaching small groups continue to be relevant today.

This is not, as the BMJ might say, just about helping doctors to make better decisions, because the advice contained in learning and teaching articles such as these is both accessible and transferable to a whole range of contexts.

Cantillon’s Teaching large groups seeks to encourage lecturers to think beyond traditional approaches to lectures, and in doing so urges readers to reflect upon their practice; further information is available as follows: BMJ 2003; 326 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.326.7386.437 (published 22 February 2003) – cite as: BMJ 2003;326:437

Jaques’ Teaching small groups meanwhile presents readers with a range of approaches to faciliate rather than dominate, all of which should enhance student engagement; further information is available as follows: BMJ 2003; 326 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.326.7387.492 (published 1 March 2003) – cite as: BMJ 2003;326:492.1

There are a further dozen publications in this “ABC of learning and teaching in medicine” series available, all of which are still worth a look a decade after they were first published; this series of articles should all be accessible by clicking here.