Teaching, the verb, is a form of communication with several components. These components are to provide information to students, to pique interest in a topic, to instill a sense of self-motivated discovery, to assess learning at an appropriate level, and to provide feedback on the assessment. My philosophy of teaching is to communicate with students using all of these components: first to impart knowledge or skill (through lecture, demonstration, or background reading) and then to create memory or learning by providing examples, exercises, and opportunities for experience (through actively engaging the student in an application or skill). Active learning requires that students have an interest in a topic and adopt the practice of self-motivated discovery. Assessment of learning is the component of teaching that holds the learner accountable for what has been communicated by teaching, study, practice, and experience. The oft-overlooked component of teaching is that of communicating feedback to learners so that an awareness of gaps in their knowledge or skill becomes apparent. Requiring students to reflect on provided feedback gives learners the opportunity to make changes and apply the feedback to subsequent practice and assessment opportunities. Recognizing that knowledge is gained and skills are perfected via different learning styles, it is important for a teacher to provide alternative teaching and practice methods to address multiple learning styles.
In the current practice environment of health care, it is important for practitioners to understand the knowledge base and experiences that other members of the health care team can bring to a situation. This is crucial so that any philosophy of teaching should rightly include the value of both teaching and learning in an interprofessional setting. I have the responsibility as a teacher in the health care field to both demonstrate and promote interprofessional teaching and learning, whether in the classroom setting or in the practice setting. Instilling in student pharmacists, their important role as a member of a health care team as well as their role in ensuring patient safety is of upmost importance.
As a teacher and a life-long learner, I have a responsibility to share what I have learned, not only with students under my guidance, but with colleagues in both the practice setting and in the academic community. Teaching, the verb, is a form of communication – communication with both students and colleagues in the expectation that we all are learners in a community of scholars with the aim of keeping optimal patient care as our focus.
Education