Large group teaching

Abstract

Although large group teaching remains a ubiquitous part of medical education, the research evidence on its phenomena, efficacy, and economics is limited in quantity, quality, and scope. Empirical studies have tended to focus largely on interventions that reinforce particular curricular philosophies, in particular knowledge transfer. As a result, there is much that has gone unconsidered and uninvestigated around large group teaching. There is a clear need therefore for more holistic and realist research into the complexity of large group teaching and its interactions in the contexts and ecologies in which it takes place. The affordances of lecturing vary by discipline and learners’ level of experience. Younger learners benefit particularly from participating in the discourse of a discipline while experienced learners make more strategic use of lectures for knowledge consolidation. The evidence suggests that questioning whether large group teaching is or is not a good thing is fruitless. It is more profitable to consider how lectures work, for whom, in what ways, with what outcomes, and how the activity, method, and system of lecturing can be improved. Based on the ever-expanding range of large group teaching formats, techniques, and activities, large group teaching would seem to be having a growing rather than shrinking role in contemporary medical education. While the illustrious Dr Johnson’s gloomy condemnation of the ancient and modern practice of lecturing has not stood the test of time, education technologies and ecologies are constantly changing and significant academic effort must be invested in analysing them to develop a more grounded and holistic understanding of large group teaching to make sure that the learners that make up these large groups are getting the best and the most appropriate educational experiences we can give them.