{"id":88,"date":"2018-03-29T15:13:09","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T14:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pgcap.ed.ac.uk\/wp\/s0903104\/?p=88"},"modified":"2019-01-28T13:35:35","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T13:35:35","slug":"reflective-response-to-peer-observation-of-teaching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pgcap.ed.ac.uk\/wp\/s0903104\/2018\/03\/29\/reflective-response-to-peer-observation-of-teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflective response to Peer Observation of Teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lucy Sheerins Observation Feedback Form<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Peer Observation of teaching (POT) is;<\/p>\n

“A reciprocal process whereby one peer observes another’s teaching and provides supportive and constructive feedback.” (Cairns, Bissell and Bovill, 2013)<\/p>\n

My initial experience of POT was a positive one. When the assignment was first issued, I felt nervous about being observed and critiqued during my teaching. My reaction is parallel to the response found by Cairns, Bissell and Bovill (2013);<\/p>\n

“All participants admitted some trepidation before being observed and some actually described this as “anxiety”, but in all cases apprehension disappeared as they fell into their regular teaching role.”<\/p>\n

This was also reflected in my observers\u2019 comments during the face-to-face discussion; she was empathic to the vulnerability I experienced, as the candidate being reviewed.<\/p>\n

In my selection process for the reviewer, I was fortunate to have several members that met the criteria. My observer (ZC) is a colleague who has been in post for over five years and has previously completed PGCAP. I invited ZC to be my observer as she is a colleague with a similar clinical background and has notable experience within academia, currently working towards her PhD.<\/p>\n

The lecture selected for the review was delivered to undergraduate year one BSc Oral Health Science candidates on clinical patient presentations. The aim of the lecture was to;<\/p>\n

\u201cIntroduce the students to the layout and protocol for conducting a patient history. Give the students a template for laying out their presentation to the clinical supervisor, which they are open to interpret and share ideas with the class. Conduct a role play situation where the students can practice conducting a patient history recording and presenting to a clinical supervisor.\u201d (Quoted from pre-observation form)<\/p>\n

I selected this lecture as it provided an opportunity to promote student interaction within a lecture and would aid student engagement. The lecture is meaningful and of great value to the students as they are often apprehensive at the prospect of treating patients for the first time. The subject material is detailed within slides, to which students can refer when preparing to attend clinics for the first time.<\/p>\n

I sought to create a role-play scenario in which students were able to utilise the information delivered in the lecture and the clinical presentation. I created a dummy patient and issued the students with a completed medical history and relevant clinical and dental information. The concept of role-play may have been more beneficial had I had allocated more time within the lecture for students to team up and practice the scenario. I chose to request volunteers to demonstrate to the whole class but this lead to me having to select a student to participate as there were no willing volunteers.<\/p>\n

Within the feedback from ZC she discussed the integration of videos or other media to aid student engagement. I am in complete agreement that there is significant potential for media to be introduced into the lecture. During the post observation discussion with ZC, we brainstormed ideas including a pre lecture video with examples of excellent patient presentations and presentations that were less successful. This would allow the student attending the lecture to gain prior knowledge of the process. In addition, students may be more willing to participate in role-play scenarios having viewed a video demonstrating good practice and thus know more of what is expected. The video could be designed in the style of a hazard perception test, where students would identify positive and negative aspects of the consultation and share their feedback and opinions on an online discussion board prior to the lecture.<\/p>\n

In the pre-observation form, I mentioned my concerns over pace and time management. I often feel my lectures are completed more quickly than delivered by my peers, however my observer didn\u2019t find any concerns in this area. In the weeks since the POT, I have reflected upon this concern and feel it may be due to a variety of factors;<\/p>\n