My thanks to the Department of Continuing Medical Education for this


Two teaching and learning styles have been identified,

1. pedagogy (teacher-centred) in which the teacher decides what is taught and how it will be taught
   
2. andragogy (learner-centred) in which the learners decide what they need to learn and how.
   

Both of these teaching and learning styles are effective, when used selectively to meet specific educational situations.

Teacher-centred approaches are best suited to building a foundation of knowledge for future use. Learner-centred education is best suited to those situations in which the learners are focused on the application of knowledge and the development of competency in relevant skills.

Research into the physician as a learner indicates that:

• Physicians learn best when the learning is in the context of patient care, answers their questions about patient care issues, is directly applicable to their work and does not take up too much of their time.
• Physicians learn in response to clinical problems. They scan their environment for potential problems, and once a problem has been identified decide to act on it by learning the things they need to know to solve the problem. They then apply this knowledge to the problem. (Slotnick)
• Physician learning is unique in that there is a high inclination towards autonomy and self-directed learning. (Amin)
  

When designing continuing professional opportunities for physicians it is, therefore, important that the characteristics of learner-centred education be incorporated. These characteristics include:

• The learners are self-directing, but may need some guidance to reach that point.
• The learners have an extensive experiential base that can serve as a resource or foundation for learning.
• The learners tend to have a life, task or problem-centred orientation to learning.
• The learners’ motivation is internal rather than external, but both motivations can apply.
• Teaching methods should include auditory, visual, tactile and participatory approaches.
• Frequent breaks, even if they are short, facilitate learning.
• The teacher is a facilitator of learning and serves as a resource for the learner.
• Feedback accelerates the incorporation of learning into practice.