Dr Shane Maloney - Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry

'Excellence in Teaching - what is it?'

If I could be so presumptuous to offer anything to other teachers it would be to remember that we were students once too and a little empathy goes a long way. My first thoughts on presenting new material are "how easy was this to grasp" and "what were the stumbling blocks". Those questions tend to cover a lot of problems because I was not a particularly bright undergraduate. An excellent, often untapped, further source is senior colleagues, who know by now the traps students fall into. I am fortunate that my colleagues in Physiology are happy to share their experiences. In concentrating on the usual pitfalls and making sure they are covered, the learning experience should not be so daunting. I am pleased this year's students thought so.