Teaching medical educators to teach: the structure and participant evaluation of the Teaching Improvement Project

Abstract

Since 1993 the Medical School at the University of Nottingham has developed the Teaching Improvement Project (TIPS) which provides training in basic teaching techniques for medical educators. It uses a significant proportion of 'microteaching' during which participants make 10-minute presentations which are videotaped and analysed. Forty-five courses have now been run for nearly 400 participants. Participant evaluation of this course clearly establishes that one of the most useful training activities for medical educators is for them to teach, to evaluate their own teaching performance and to receive feedback from a teaching evaluator on their teaching effectiveness. In addition, participants also value acquiring the skills of using learning objectives, structuring learning, questioning and active-learning techniques.