Advances in Physiology Education, Vol 256, Issue 6 3-S8, Copyright © 1989 by American Physiological Society
Teaching effectiveness analysis plan applied to lectures in medical physiology
C. P. Casteel, N. A. Mortillaro and A. E. Taylor
Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of South Alabama, Mobile 36688.
To improve and thus strengthen its teaching program, the Department of
Physiology at the University of South Alabama voluntarily embarked on a
multiphasic self-assessment of its medical teaching program. One phase of
the greater assessment plan included an analysis of the teaching methods of
each faculty member. To design and implement this phase, the services of a
teaching consultant from the College of Education were obtained. The
implementation of the objectives as established by the consultant resulted
in 1) the development of a systematic and consistent method of evaluating
the teaching practices of the faculty through the design of a standard
observation instrument for use in analyzing the teaching of each
individual; 2) the sampling of the teaching of each of the seven
participating faculty members; 3) the collection and critical review of
teaching materials used; 4) an analysis of the effectiveness of the
faculty; and 5) the submission of a written report of evaluation results.
The seven participating faculty members were observed during the delivery
of two lectures each presented to the freshman medical class. Based on the
analysis of both the lectures and materials used, a written critique of
each faculty member was submitted. Lecture strengths and weaknesses, both
of individual members and of the whole department were summarized. Finally,
the results of a survey taken of the faculty in which the participants were
asked to respond to a series of questions regarding the self-assessment
program were most favorably accepted by all participating faculty.
