Answer to “What is my role as a teacher in relation to lecturers?”
The traditional role of the lecturer is as a conduct or transmitter of information from the expert to the student. This is a limited view of the lecturer’s responsibility and function. Harden & Lilley (2018) describe the eight roles of a medical teacher. All are appropriate to the lecturer.
-
As an information provider, the lecturer not only serves as a source of information but highlights others sources of information and coaches the student in how to ask the right question and find the answer.
-
The lecturer as a facilitator is concerned with supporting the students learning during and after the lecture
-
As a curriculum planner a lecturer shows how the lecture relates to the course learning outcomes and to other learning experiences during the course.
-
The lecturer is an assessor who encourages the student to assess their own performance and mastery of the area before, during and following the lecture
-
In the lecture, the lecturer serves as a role model
-
The lecturer also has a management and leadership role in arranging the logistics relating to the lecture and in collaborating with others who have an interest in the area addressed by the lecture
-
As a scholar and researcher the lecturer has a responsibility to consider how the approach to teaching and the role of the lecture in the course can be improved
-
Finally as a professional, the lecturer has a responsibility to evaluate his or her lecture and to keep himself or herself up-to-date on lecturing techniques such as the use of the flipped classroom.
Harden and Lilley (2018) The 8 roles of the Medical Teacher. Elsevier, Edinburgh.