Optional Learning Resources:

• Large group teaching methods: Lecture, Team Teaching, Symposium.

• Small group teaching-learning methods: Group Discussion, Seminar, Demonstration,
Tutorial, Brainstorming, Role-play.
• Individual learning methods: Self-directed Learning, Individual practice, Conference.
• Principles for preparing slides, charts, handouts.

Preamble to the additional learning resources.

We have created a repository of learning resources in this segment of the LMS for post-
graduate students. This provides a comprehensive understanding of the various teaching-
learning methods and media. This component is optional, and you are taking this after
completing the standard course, and obtaining the certificate.
This optional course will give you a deeper insight into the various teaching-learning
methods that are most frequently used, such as Lecture, Team Teaching, and Symposium
among the large group methods;
Group Discussion, Brainstorming, Seminar, Demonstration, Tutorial, and Role-play in the
small group methods; and
Self-directed Learning, Individual practice, and Conference in the individual or paired
learning methods.
You will also be introduced to the foundational principles of educational communication,
classification of teaching-learning media, principles for selection of appropriate media as
mass based, group based and individual based, which will also gel with the teaching-learning
methods. You will also get to know the principles of preparing the teaching-learning media
such as slides, charts, handouts in this segment.

ü Large group teaching methods: Lecture, Team Teaching,

Symposium.

Lecture is a method that involves ‘talking to’ or ‘talking at’ a group of learners, which means
students are passively listening to the teacher. This is a large group method of teaching, and is
appropriate for the objectives that are in lower cognitive domain.
Lecture can be organised into three parts – introduction, presentation, and conclusion.
Preparing for a lecture is very important, because it gives an opportunity for the teacher to
organise information in a sequential and interesting manner.
Advantages of lecture include –
o Large number of learners can benefit at any given time.
o It is cost effective because one teacher can manage large number learners.
o Large volume of information can be provided within a short time.
o Teacher has complete control over the class to put across information in an organised
manner
o It is a live method of teacher – learner interaction, therefore it is good for clarifying
complex concepts.
Disadvantages include –
o Students are by and large passive.
 o The teacher must have proficiency in teaching skills to engage attention of students for
longer duration.
o It does not take into account learner individuality for their style, and pace of learning
Some of the important factors that make lecture successful include – ‘Set induction’, that is
inducing the students into the right mind-set. It is also called as advance organiser or hook. Its
purpose is to gain attention, to arouse motivation, to assess understanding of prior learning, to
provide an overview of content that will follow, and to determine the expectations of
participants. It can be done by way of changing seating arrangement, an ice-breaking activity,
questioning the students, etc.
The aspects of lecture that make it successful include –
o Stating the objectives of the lecture at the beginning.
o Identifying the entry behaviour of learners to assess their previous knowledge or
experience in the lesson that follows.
o Listing the key concepts of the topic.
o Sequencing the key concepts in harmonious flow.
o Selecting appropriate audio-visual aids to support the lecture.
o Planning for learner participation in the form of intra-lecture activities, such as a quiz,
buzz session, etc.
o Organising content to fit the timing, and giving margin for questioning of students.
o Concluding the lecture by recalling the objectives that were stated at the beginning,
and checking whether those objectives have been realised.

Team teaching is a modification of lecture method, and is a large group method. It is useful
for teaching objectives in lower cognitive domain. It can be used in two forms – ‘relay
teaching’ or ‘embedded counterpart’.
Relay teaching is when two or more teachers present one or more related concepts in
succession that is one after the other. Such relay breaks monotony and provides a variety of
learning experiences.
Embedded counterpart is the technique where one teacher is giving a lecture and the other
one will be seated among the learners. Such embedded teachers participate in the lecture by
raising relevant issues, which the learners might otherwise not have thought of. This
technique is very useful for presenting a new concept, where the teachers can plan the lesson
in such a manner that the concept is presented in a lively manner by a question and discussion
technique.

Symposium is a large group teaching – learning method. It is useful for teaching educational
objectives in the lower, and to some extent the intermediate cognitive domain. This method is
also useful to learn interdisciplinary topics that spread across different disciplines like a
discussion on evaluating a new drug therapy, which could involve a clinician, pharmacist,
ethics activist, economist, patient, etc.
It is a learning method, where participants make a series of short presentations. The topic
would be covered under different heads with each of the presenters concentrating on a single
aspect of the whole topic. For example, to explore the topic ‘recent advances in treatment of
respiratory allergies’ there can be experts from immunology, pulmonology, pharmacology,
and clinical research to present their version of knowledge.
There is no interaction among speakers during presentation phase. Also, there is no question /
answer session with the audience. It gives a deeper understanding of an issue from many
angles Because the speakers are authorities in their fields, symposium gives greater
credibility for learning. However, the lack of question / answer session makes it rigid and
formal.
Symposium differs from Panel Discussion in the sense that in Symposium, the presentations
are prepared and presented, while in the Panel discussion, there is more of impromptu
conversation.

ü Small group teaching-learning methods: Group Discussion,

Brainstorming, Seminar, Demonstration, Tutorial, Role-play.

Group discussion is a small group teaching-leaning method, which is more learner

controlled. It is useful for learning objectives in intermediate and higher cognitive domains as
well as those in the affective domain.
This activity is a regular feature for the afternoon sessions in postgraduate courses, and
provides a platform for formal and informal sharing of information and ideas. A faculty
member may supervise it or the students may hold discussions on their own. It has the
advantage of involving all group members in discussions. However, if one of the members in
the group is vocal or aggressive, the entire exercise may become lopsided and lose its
significance.
There are various forms of group discussion – controlled group discussion, where a group
member co-ordinates and directs the discussion; free group discussion, which doesn’t have a
co-ordinating or controlling effect by anyone. Unless the group is mature and self-disciplined,
such a discussion may go haywire and lose its purpose.
Brain storming is a modification of small group discussion, where each group member offers
his or her unique opinion to a situation and at the end of listing all the opinions, they are
discussed and analysed for their viability.

Seminar is a method where a homogenous group carries out discussion on predetermined

topic under the guidance of a faculty member. In this situation, the students would have
determined the topic for discussion in consultation with the guide or a faculty member and
made an in-depth study of the topic before starting the discussion. The guide starts the
discussion by making opening remarks on the topic and requesting the group members to
make their presentations. The guide will intervene only when it is necessary to maintain the
track of discussion. Further, he or she will summarise the discussion at the end and make the
concluding remarks. It may be noted that there is NO audience for seminar.
There are certain differences between seminar and controlled group discussion –
o In seminar topic is predetermined, whereas in controlled group discussion topic may
be decided on spot or with minimal notice.
o Participants of seminar are decided in advance and are given time to prepare for their
role in discussion, whereas controlled group discussion members may not know the
topic till they begin discussion.
Demonstration is a small group teaching-leaning method, which is useful for learning skills.
During demonstration, a small group of learners observe a skill that they are expected to
learn. It is accompanied or preceded by explanation of the procedure. The learners will
practice those skills under supervision, and then independently to improve their proficiency.
Demonstration can be in the laboratory, clinical, or community context.
In the bed-side learning, the students will observe their teachers during the ward rounds for
history taking, physical examination, and communication skills. This is also useful for
learning critical thinking and analytical skills for patient management. Clinical learning takes
into account objectives from all domains. Within each domain, all the levels of learning are
taken care of, because objectives of every level in each of the domain form core competences
for their professional performance.
Laboratory-based learning is a small group based activity followed by individual practice.
This is useful for the teaching-learning of psychomotor skills such as laboratory procedures
like using microscope, staining slide, or therapeutic supportive procedures like preparing
dentures, etc. As per the levels in Guilbert’s model, learning of skills is in three phases,
observing a demonstration, practicing under the supervision of a mentor, and performing
independently.

Tutorial is a small group teaching–learning method, which is usually teacher directed, and is
useful for teaching objectives in cognitive domain. In this method, learners who have
learning difficulty during regular teaching activity are identified and classified into groups
basing on the ‘content’ they have difficulty to learn. These groups are provided with intensive
learning facilities under the supervision of a teacher, to overcome such difficulties.

Role play is a small group learning method, which is useful for learning the objectives in
affective domain. It demonstrates a situation that is built around a learning goal, by writing
explicit script. The facilitator, who is usually the teacher, identifies some of the group
members to play different roles in the script. While playing the role and while observing the
role play, the learners become aware of the feelings and values associated the educational
objective. For example, if the objective is to enable the learner to realise the benefits of
‘blood donation’, one group member can play the role of a critically ill patient who needs
blood transfusion, one can play the role of the patient’s relative who is desperately seeking to
save his life, while one person can pay the role of an eligible blood donor.
Getting into these roles will give the learners a first-hand experience of various ‘feelings’ as a
patient, relative and donor. The one who is playing the role of patient will understand the life
and death situation that stalks the patient who needs blood and the joy that comes through
when he or she gets the lifesaving blood. One who is playing the role of the relative will feel
the frustration and angst of not finding blood and the relief that comes through after finding
blood for transfusion. One who plays the donor’s role will feel the satisfaction of having
saved a life. Though this is a controlled situation, it gives a life like experience in learning the
objective. After the role play is over, is customary to de-brief those who played the roles, so
that they are back to their original self.
 ü Individual learning methods: Self-directed Learning, Individual
practice, Conference.
Self-directed learning is a situation where the learners have the autonomy of time and place
for learning. This follows the teacher-directed large group methods, and the collaborative
small group methods.

Individual practice methods are essential for reinforcing the learning at personal level and
ensure mastery of learning. There are many types of self-directed learning, such as
referencing in a library, engaging in an asynchronous online activity, completing and
assignment or a project, practicing with a simulator, or a real patient. Individual learning
methods cover all the three domains at all the levels of learning, and also for confluence of all
domains into a unified activity.

Conference is also an individual learning method, with the active support of a mentor. This
is a one-to-one dialogue between teacher and learner to solve the learning difficulties, and
also to give focused feedback for improvement. The development of technology has added
new dimensions to this by way of tele-, video-, web- and satellite-based conference.

ü Principles for preparing slides, charts, handouts.

Central to all teaching-learning activity is clear and effective communication.

Communication is the exchange and flow of information from one person or a group of
persons to another person or group of persons. The system of communication has one or more
sender and one or more receiver, and one or more media of transmission or exchange of
information. Successful communication is when the receiver(s) understand the information
exactly as the sender(s) intended to transmit or exchange.
Education is all about communication, and therefore to be a good teacher one has to be a
good communicator. Mehrabian has classified communication into three categories – body
language, tone of voice, and the content of communication. Body language accounts for 55%,
voice tone for 38%, and the content of communication for 7%.
Communication in education can be improved by using appropriate media, and these are also
called as the audio-visual aids. One of the tools to identify the appropriate teaching-learning
medium is the Dale’s Cone of Experience or the Learning Pyramid, proposed by Edgar Dale
in the 1960s.
Dale’s model describes the retention potential of various media. This model informs how
much people can remember based on how they encounter the information. It also asserts that
the progression of experiences flow from the most concrete, which is at the bottom of the
cone, to the most abstract, which is at the top of the cone.
As per the proposition in Dale’s Cone, we tend to remember 10% of what we read, 20% of
what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we hear and see, 70% of what we say and
write, and 90% of what we do. This gives an empiric measure of how to select the effective
medium for the content and context of learning.
On these principles, effective media, whether projected or non-projected can be designed. It
has to be remembered that there are context specific applications for the projected and non-
projected media, such as in large or small group, and the individual learning methods. The
use of social media in learning also can be explored as an additional activity.
The good practice for preparing and delivering effective audio-visual presentations is
planning them well. The content, its sequencing; relevant images, and background will be
based on these three influencers.
Another key factor to remember is that slides are not presentation. They assist the
presentation by giving it a prop. It is claimed that the average rate of speech is about 120
words per minute, while it is estimated that a person has capacity to listen and understand
about 600 words.
A good presentation would attempt to minimise the noise and maximising actual learning
focus. To facilitate this, a well-designed slideshow presentation with its image, audio, and
video capabilities can capitalize on the notion that students to learn more deeply from words
and pictures than from words alone.
Selection of media has to be appropriate for the learning needs. It must also match the
appropriateness of the TL Method that is being used. Therefore, to ensure that the media are
logically selected, Dale proposed a model that described the retention potential of various
media, which is variously called as ‘Cone of Experience’ or ‘Learning Pyramid’. This model
informs how much people remember based on how they encounter the information, and also
that the progression of experiences flows from the most concrete at the bottom of the cone, to
the most abstract at the top of the cone.

T L media can be broadly classified as mass based, group based and individual based.
Mass based TL media are expository in nature. These are teacher controlled, where teacher is
imparting knowledge to the learners in a one-way communication. The most commonly used
media for mass based situations include radio broadcast, telecast using projection television
and motion pictures. These can be supplemented by distribution of handouts, worksheets,
posters, etc.
Group based TL media are usually applied for small group situations, which are more
conducive for realising objectives in higher cognitive, refining psychomotor and affective
domains. These are also effective in achieving and refining objectives in interpersonal
communication. The TL media that are more appropriate for these situations include boards,
charts, models, specimen, real objects, and of course the smart boards and simulators.
Individual based TL media are appropriate for personalised TL situations. These provide
opportunities to realise objectives that deal with intensive learning of psychomotor skills and
lower cognitive objectives. These are mostly learner controlled in nature, i.e., the learners can
modulate the pace and volume of learning. The TL media that are appropriate range from text
based resources like workbooks, Self-learning Materials, and handouts to multimedia
resources like e-learning modules, social media sources such as Facebook and YouTube, and
the emerging facilities such as Virtual Reality / Augmented Reality, and Simulators.
Audio-Visual Aids can be classified as computer-assisted, projected and non-projected aids.
Projected aids are those, which utilise a source of lighting to project, while the non-projected
need no such illumination. The computer assisted include interactive learning resources,
social media, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Simulators.
Examples of projected aids include Data projector, Television, Films, Tabs, Smart Phone,
wearable devises such as Google Glass. Examples of non-projected aids 2D Chalkboard,
Marker board, Poster, Charts and Flip Charts; the 3D aids include Models, Specimens, Real
objects; the printed aids include Handouts, Assignment sheets, Self-learning Materials
(SLM), and Group task sheets.
The Goldilocks principle is named after a children's story ‘The Three Bears, in which a little
girl named Goldilocks tastes three different bowls of porridge, feels that one is too hot, while
the second is too cold, and that the third is with the just right temperature and prefers to deink
it.
The concept of just-the-right-amount has been applied to a wide range of disciplines,
including communications, to show something that is middle-of-the-road, and generally
acceptable without poking in extreme concerns. In the context of communication, Goldilocks
Principle describes the amount, type, and detail of communication necessary in a system to
optimise the effectiveness while reducing the redundancy; without becoming too much to
distract, or too little to leave it incomplete.

Another framework that is followed is the CRAP principles, which states that four key
principles of visual design have an important impact on usability – Contrast, Repetition,
Alignment and Proximity.
Contrast in visual design helps to direct the viewers’ eyes to what’s important and helps them
focus on what is the key message on the slide; therefore, the ‘key message’ has to be very
different from the other items that surround it.
Repetition represents consistency, which affirms that the visual representation is more useful
and easier to learn, when similar visual is presented in similar ways. The consistency can be
ensured by way of using the same kind of fonts, icons, headings, links, list styles and slide
layout.
Alignment simply means making sure that all elements of the design line up horizontally and
vertically. This can best be achieved by designing the interface to an underlying grid.
Alignment is probably the most dramatic visual treatment you can do to a design to make it
appear visually easier to use.
Proximity principle is derived from the Gestalt school of Psychology, which emphasised that
visual perception was about perceiving organised wholes, not just about seeing isolated
objects. The principle of proximity means that if you place elements in a user interface near
each other, people will think that they are related somehow.
In any communication, the purpose is to reach out to both the intellectual and emotional
aspirations of audience, so that the communication is interesting, and at the same time
enlightening. To ensure this in a slide or poster, the rule of thumb guidelines for designing
slides or posters is to have 1/3rd text and 2/3rd visuals.
The consistency principle suggests not using too many different fonts or font sizes – two
types of fonts seem to be optimal, for the entire presentation. Every slide shall carry the same
font and identical size, so that there is not much of load on the eye and the mind to see and
receive. Also colours should be used aesthetically, without creating a colour riot. It would
also be aesthetic to allow sufficient ‘open spaces’ either in slide or in poster; there shall not
be much cluttering and cramming. The flow of visual and text sequence shall be managed for
sequence of learning. Animations in PowerPoint are useful to control the ‘eye flow’.
Remember to create multiple layouts before finalising the most suitable one.