Abstract :
An efficient teacher needs to communicate effectively with the audience, which in turn largely depends on an engaging presentation. The goal of any presentation is to inform, entertain, persuade or inspire and academic presentations primarily provide information, as in a classroom lecture or in a conference research paper.The department of medical education at our institute has been conducting the ‘National course on educational sciences for teachers of health professionals’ since last four decades. Since 2015, newer learner engagement strategies (LES) were incorporated into the program. We analysed the feedback data from participants with an aim to understand the impact of implementation of LES in the course. Literature was
further explored to identify other LES in practice. We collected data of five national courses conducted during 2018 to 2020 at our Institute. The in-campus national faculty development course, which is spread over 6 days, consists of about 42 sessions involving nearly 28 presentations. One hundred thirty-five (n= 135) participants from all over India had participated in this course during the period under review. Newer strategies must be used to engage new generation of learners during presentations. The best way to engage learners is by having an interactive presentation with a structured narrative that holds their attention and allows them to participate in the presentation process. Medical teachers should make themselves familiar with digital tools which help in interactive teaching. Further prospective research studies need to be carried out to understand outcomes and improve strategies of learner engagement.
Keyword :
Cognitive load, Learner engagement, Multimedia principles, PowerPoint, Short term memory, Visual presentation.