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.

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