MEDEV

School of Medical Sciences Education Development

As an arts and humanities graduate who has spent nearly 15 years working as an academic in science, medicine and dentistry, this project is dear to my heart bringing together as it does teachers and learners from a wide range of disciplines. The ETHICS project provides a exciting opportunity for teachers to share with one another our diverse knowledge, experience and approaches to teaching and learning of ethics.

Education is often at its best when academics and students leave their cosy ghettos and interact with colleagues outwith their own discipline. This has obviously happened informally for many years, but the focus and co-ordinating nature of the project are to be welcomed.

I believe there may be several key benefits that will accrue from this project, not least the development of a new professional network with organised opportunities for teachers to meet and discuss their academic interests and activities. Other benefits include:

Scenarios - So what is this a case of?

Ethics taught out of context and without application loses much of its flavour; the development of an ETHICS Project database of scenarios from across the disciplines is a very valuable initiative.

Medical teaching has always involved the use of cases; how often have you heard a colleague use the phrase, "I had this patient..."?.

Many of us also use scenarios and cases to illustrate key ethical principles and to present ethical dilemmas.

Having taught aspects of business, management and engineering ethics, as well as bio-ethics, medical and dental ethics, I have found that cases and scenarios from one discipline can often be customised to suit another. Having authored a case-based book and two teaching packs myself, user feedback has suggested academics appreciate having a ready resource and fresh cases to add to their own repertoire.

As teachers in medicine, dentistry and veterinary science, we are constantly being pulled in all directions - clinical work, research, teaching, and administration - and under pressure to deliver high quality teaching and publications; anything which helps us to teach well but also saves time and effort is likely to be applauded. LTSN-01 is currently inviting teachers to contribute their own cases to form part of the database

Curricular approach - How do we teach ethics?

The ETHICS project is already obtaining information about how ethics is taught across the disciplines; this includes the type of curricula in operation.

In the medical disciplines, these will vary from traditional curricula delivering information via didactic lectures and seminars (which still have an important part to play in the educational process) to the new system-based, problem-based, self-directed and open learning curricula. The latter are likely to make much more use of small group work where cases and scenarios are widely used. All of these approaches can be innovative and progressive, and thus of interest to other teachers and students.

The curriculum in use will obviously affect the role of both teachers and students, but there is a major shift in medical, dental and veterinary education involving change for both parties. The traditional role where teachers were seen as imparters of wisdom has evolved to include our role as facilitators of learning.

More emphasis on student-centred learning and teaching mean that our students have had to become active rather than merely passive recipients of knowledge; they are expected to engage with us and each other as much as with patients.

Integration - How do we integrate the teaching of ethics?

Many teachers of ethics feel unhappy if their subject is presented as something peripheral or separate to the main degree course (e.g. even the title medical ethics can be perceived as less involved than ethics in medicine).

In medicine, dentistry and veterinary science, ethics should be an integral component of the overall curriculum, not presented as an optional extra; after all, ethics is about behaviour and professional practice rather than just rules and regulations.

The project is likely to deliver information on how ethics has been integrated with other subjects in the curriculum. Ethics as a subject cries out for an inter- disciplinary approach, but also frequently requires integration within a broader curriculum.

This integration is not always easy to achieve; it requires diplomacy, communication, and the ability to convince others of the need for ethical discussion and study. Teachers' experiences in this area are likely to interest colleagues in other disciplines. This experience might well be shared when colleagues participate in the forthcoming ETHICS Project workshops.

Educational resources - Where do we go to find out more?

Sometimes teachers and students fail to think laterally when seeking learning resources. The project may help teachers in guiding students towards a more eclectic range of resources than the traditional reading list. This range might include academic textbooks and journals, daily newspapers, CD-Roms, DVDs, videos and websites. The LTSN-01 website is just one such example.

Dedicated support - Keeping us on track.

Perhaps the major benefit of the project is having a specialist project officer to support and promote the project. Susan Illingworth, the ETHICS Project Coordinator, is to be congratulated on all her hard work. Sarah Marshall and Suzanne Hardy, LTSN-01 Learning Development Officer and Information Officer and their team also deserve praise for their active support of the ETHICS project in medicine, dentistry and veterinary science.