Endocrine Abstracts

In higher education, endocrinology teaching is often delivered by academic researchers and endocrine physicians, however their involvement in teaching is rarely the primary focus of their job plan. As such, opportunities to develop as an educator are often triaged behind primary responsibilities such as research, funding applications, publications and patient care. Undergraduate and postgraduate medical education is delivered across a range of settings (classroom, lab, bedside), with tutors responsible from teaching groups as small as one or as large as several hundred. Learning opportunities must focus on established local and national syllabi, and adequately prepare students for associated assessments (i.e. you can read 100 books on driving but passing your driving test would be challenging without hours of experience behind the wheel). Typically, traditional approaches to teaching at UK universities have been didactic, linear and tutor-centred. However, recent changes in funding, governance and policy are driving improvements in the design and delivery of teaching, which is becoming increasingly dynamic, collaborative and interactive. There are many evidence-based strategies that enable tutors to design and deliver effective interactive sessions, and careful planning, resource preparation and choreography enable educators to deliver constructive sessions that facilitate learning. This workshop will explore a flexible low-tech approach to education that is scalable across a range of teaching settings. We hope that attendees can draw on this to develop their own teaching skills.