The role of observational research in improving faculty lecturing skills: A qualitative study in an Italian dental school

Figures & data

Table

Practice points

Lectures are still the most widely used method in health sciences education. The two main determinants of a lecture's quality are teacher expertise and lecturing skills. Lecturing skills can be improved by peer and/or expert observation. Lecturer's observation by a grid is very expensive, because it requires a trained expert observer, the time-consuming collection of a vas quantity of data, and lengthy analysis. Observational analysis integrated with microteaching, lectures’ students scoring and peer evaluation, can be a cost-effective method to stimulate reflection on action and to improve faculties’ lecturing skills.

Table 1.  Characteristics of the observed lecturers

	Age	Gender	Teaching experience (years)	Academic position	Lecture no.	Topic	Observation length (min)
Lecturer A	51	M	20	Full professor	1	The first visit in the oral medicine clinic: Signs and symptoms and dentist–patient relationship	75
Lecturer B	30	F	3	Clinical tutor	3	Ulcers of the oral mucosa	95
					4	Viral conditions of the mouth	79
Lecturer C	29	F	2	Clinical tutor	2	Lumps of the mouth	91
					7	Pigmented lesions of the oral mucosa	62
Lecturer D	34	M	5	Assistant researcher	5	Bollous diseases	93
					8	White lesions of the mouth	88
Lecturer E	43	F	1	Clinical tutor	6	Inflammatory, autoimmune, and neoplastic conditions of the salivary glands	87

Table 2.  Observational grid for lectures

Topic^1:
I. Explaining	Frequency	Quality^2	Timing^3
a. Introduces the topic (today we will talk about … now we are introducing …)
b. Explains/justifies (a new term, an affirmation)
c. Clarifies (a topic, the reasoning …)
d. Makes examples
e. Synthesizes
II. Questioning
f. Asks for questions
g. Picks up spontaneous interventions from class
III. Visual aids
h. Writes on the blackboard
i. Uses slides
j. Uses images, pictures
k. Other (specify)
IV. Lecturer attitude	When^4	Quality^5
l. Reveals a dialogic attitude
m. Uses nontechnical language
n. Speaks aloud
o. Sustains verbal communication with vocal inflection
p. Catches expressiveness of class
q. Sustains verbal communication with nonverbal communication (eye contact, facial expression, body movement)

Note: ¹One grid for each topic.

²Insert, for each behavior observed, the perceived quality: 1 = fair, 2 = sufficient, 3 = good, 4 = excellent.

³Register each behavior length.

⁴Specify if in category 1 (explaining), 2 (questioning), or 3 (use of visual aids).

⁵Insert, for each behavior observed, the perceived quality: 1 = fair, 2 = sufficient, 3 = good, 4 = excellent.

Table 3.  Frequency of items included in category I (explaining) and category II (questioning)

	Lesson
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
CAT I: Explaining
a. Introduces	18	10	16	19	12	15	14	16
b. Explains	21	14	25	22	21	22	7	10
c. Clarifies	26	20	15	9	5	6	9	10
d. Makes examples	27	8	22	9	9	5	2	6
e. Synthesizes	22	16	13	22	19	9	8	27
Total CAT I	114	68	91	81	66	57	40	69
CAT II: Questioning
f. Asks for questions	6	22	4	8	4	15	28	31
g. Picks up intervention	0	2	11	5	2	16	1	29
Total CAT II	6	24	15	13	6	31	29	60
Level of student attention	4	1	3	4	2	3	2	4

Table 4.  Frequency of items included in Category III (use of visual aids)

	Lesson
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
CAT III: Visual aids
h. Blackboard	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
i. Slides	31	2	11	14	56	10	4	6
j. Images	19	14	37	22	29	39	10	16
k. Other	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0
Total CAT 3	50	16	48	39	85	49	14	22
Level of student attention	4	1	3	4	2	3	2	4

Table 5.  Scores assigned by the expert observer to the quality of lecturing skills included in categories I, II, and III

	Lesson
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Quality CAT I Explaining	4	3	4	3	3	3	3	3
Quality CAT II Questioning	4	3	3	4	4	4	3	4
Quality CAT III Visual aids	3	4	3	3	3	3	4	4
Mean quality	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	4
Level of student attention	4	1	3	4	2	3	2	4

Figure 1. Frequencies of category I and II lecturing skills as observed during the lessons.

Table 6.  Frequency of items included in category IV (lecturer attitude)

	Lessons
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
CAT IV: Lecturer attitude
l. Dialogic attitude	3.4	3.1	3.2	3.7	3.6	3.2	3.5	4.0
m. Language	4.0	3.0	3.9	3.7	3.5	3.5	3.1	4.0
n. Speaks aloud	4.0	2.5	3.9	4.0	3.8	3.6	3.3	4.0
o. Vocal inflection	4.0	2.3	3.6	3.9	3.4	3.2	3.4	3.7
p. Catches expressiveness	4.0	2.5	3.9	4.0	4.0	4.0	3.6	3.7
q. Nonverbal communication	3.6	2.3	3.2	3.4	3.8	4.0	3.5	3.9
Mean	3.8	2.6	3.6	3.8	3.7	3.7	3.4	4.0
Level of student attention	4	1	3	4	2	3	2	4