Excellence in teaching

Sally Reagan is the Undergraduate Course Co-ordinator in the Department of Public Health and the PBL Co-ordinator in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry . She received the Excellence in Teaching award in 2000. This award represents a joint effort by the Guild and the University to recognise and reward exemplary teaching.

Last year was an outstanding year for me professionally speaking. I received four major teaching awards. Two of these were University Excellence in Teaching Awards. One was for Innovation, shared by my undergraduate teaching colleagues. In addition, the final year medical students voted me ‘Tutor of the Year’, the first time this award was given to a female and a non-clinician. The year was capped off with an Australian Award for University Teaching.

I think I am a very lucky person. I am able to work in an area I find fascinating and I am rewarded for my efforts. When I started working as an Associate Lecturer at UWA 6 years ago, I never imagined that all these awards would be bestowed upon me. I was given several teaching positions, enjoyed them and was given more. With the development and implementation of a new medical curriculum on the horizon, I decided that I needed to learn more about medical education. I was particularly interested in medical schools using problem-based learning (PBL). An Inaugural Fay Gale Fellowship in 1998, provided me with the opportunity to travel to Universities in North America to gain first-hand experience of medical curricula employing PBL. This experience opened many doors for me. I am currently the undergraduate coordinator of the medical course in the Department of Public Health and work two day a week at the Faculty level as a PBL curriculum consultant. I have developed the Faculty PBL model, train staff in tutoring, problem writing and curriculum development. I am also a PBL tutor and teach in four years of the six-year course. I am now a regular visitor to other Australian institutions and medical schools in the Asian region, sharing my teaching experiences with them.

I use the fundamental principles of PBL in all my teaching and learning. I believe that the most important features of any successful learning context lie with the learner and that people learn most effectively when they are doing things and finding things out for themselves. I also believe that humans are naturally curious and enjoy solving problems. The challenge is to incorporate this tendency into learning situations so students can use the behaviour as a learning tool. While responsibility for the learning lies with the students, responsibility for the learning context, teaching strategies and course objectives belong with the course co-ordinator and teacher. We as teachers or facilitators play a vital role because we construct the learning experience. I believe that the true test of learning often occurs after the student leaves the class-room.

As a result of this philosophy the outcomes of my teaching and learning activities have expanded. They not only include knowledge of course content, but also the ability of the students to problem solve, to think critically, to manage, to develop organisational skills, to communicate, to respect others, to deal with conflict, to share ideas and divide labour, and to develop leadership skills. These skills are important life skills and relate directly to community expectations of medical students upon graduation.

I cannot describe how overwhelmed I was when I won the awards last year. As wonderful as the rewards are however, and in higher education I don’t think they come any better, I am still amazed by the joy I receive daily from teaching students. I love teaching and I love watching and helping students to learn. In fact, the process fascinates me. I still spend a great deal of time educating myself on teaching and learning in higher education but I find the people I learn from the most, are the students themselves. I always feel privileged to be able to interact with students and help them achieve their goals. I teach many different subjects, using many different methods, in many different years of the medical degree. I have to provide variety and flexibility in all my teaching. What works and what doesn’t is gleaned from students, so I have to have a good rapport with them to be a reflective practitioner. I am committed to the process of educating the students to become self-directed learners because I believe it will ultimately produce better students and better doctors.