Exploring Strengths of Junior and Senior Medical and Dental Tutors: A Qualitative Study from Students’ Perspectives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47489/szmc.v39i4.701Keywords:
Tutor, Junior, Senior, Facilitator, Lecturer, Teacher, Effective teachingAbstract
Background: Tutors are one of the most important stakeholders in medical and dental institutes. Future doctors depend upon how good he is taught, and it depends upon the tutor who teaches them. We conducted this study to explore the undergraduate students’ perception regarding the teaching of junior and senior tutors in basic sciences of medicine and dentistry at the University College of Medicine and Dentistry (UCMD) in Pakistan.
Objective: We conducted this study to explore the undergraduate medical and dental students’ perception regarding teaching of junior and senior tutors/faculty members in basic sciences at the University College of Medicine and Dentistry in Pakistan.
Method: An exploratory qualitative study design was conducted at UCMD by performing one-to-one interviews with six dental students and nine medical students regarding their perceptions of the teaching by senior and junior tutors, specifically for undergraduate BDS and MBBS students. Recorded data was transcribed, and thematic analysis was done through Atlas Ti. Themes and codes were taken out.
Results: Strengths of senior tutors included experience, mentorship & guidance, community engagements, research excellence, and ethics & professionalism, while strengths of senior tutors included teaching enthusiasm, communication & presentation skills, and growth potential. Whereas, teaching can be improved by working on professional development, assessment & feedback, mentorship, and self-reflections.
Conclusion: The current study provides an idea that senior and junior tutors have their own abilities and strengths for teaching their specific subjects. It showed that both senior and junior tutor possess unique strengths and weaknesses which can be improved by working on their professional, communication, teaching, and mentorship skills. Teaching can be improved by polishing those strengths and minimizing the weaknesses.
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