Teaching is like decathlon: To take a medal, you must excel in two disciplines. But one major dropout in the others will take you down.
I subscribe to Dee Fink’s concept of choosing rich teaching outcomes: “Have a dream! ” – What should your students be able to do or understand two years after completing my course? [1]
I believe in learning by doing, solving real world problems. I teach students how to navigate a PET/CT examination in native format rather than forcing them to reproduce details that they cannot relate to when lacking the practical background. The same practical task is then made part of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination [2].
E-learning helps me as a single instructor teach large groups of students effectively, but it does not obviate the need for sound pedagogy. I aim to use a small selection of e-learning tools consistently so that students understand what is expected and can focus on the subject matter [3].
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) taught me the social side of teaching. A successful learning situation rests on three elements: intellectual presence, teaching presence, and social presence. If one is lacking, even “good” teaching falls flat [3].
Finally, I believe in the value of taking in different viewpoints and self-reflection [4]. This includes taking courses in new and challenging disciplines in order to keep experiencing oneself as a learner [5].
References
1. Fink LD. Creating significant learning experiences: an integrated approach to designing college courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 2013. ISBN-13: 978-1118124253
2. Gulati A, Schwarzlmüller T, du Plessis E, Søfteland E, Gray R, Biermann M. Evaluation of a new e-learning framework for teaching nuclear medicine and radiology to undergraduate medical students. Acta Radiologica Open. 2019;8:205846011986023.
3. Biermann M. Building an inclusive classroom – a blended course in Nuclear Medicine. UPED-Skrift. 2018;2018:1–8.
4. Brookfield S. Becoming a critically reflective teacher. Second edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; 2017. ISBN-13 9781119049708
5. Biermann M. Doing the eskimo roll. YouTube; 2018: