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Two experts on educational innovation in human medicine will be joining the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in late 2021. Their arrival offers a fresh impetus to rethink our education. Marco de Carvalho Filho and Beerend Hierck will be joining forces to advance our current educational innovations, each from their own individual areas of expertise and experience. They both share a passion for education, the importance of research and the evaluation of teaching methods. 

The modernisation of our Bachelor's and Master's programmes offers a great opportunity to redesign our education. The two experts will be sharing their wide-ranging knowledge and experience to help lecturers address current challenges. Marco de Carvalho Filho: 'We meet a lot of lecturers with great ideas. In many cases, they don't have enough time or struggle to find someone to discuss and develop their ideas. 

While Beerend Hierck and Carvalho both have extensive experience in the field of educational innovation in human medicine, they operate from very different perspectives and cultural backgrounds. Originally from Brazil, Carvalho spent over twenty-five years working as an internist, emergency physician and clinical instructor in a São Paulo hospital. He greatly enjoyed his time there, and enthusiastically managed a major educational innovation programme. This sparked his passion for innovative and empowering teaching methods and research on effective education. He joined the UMC in Groningen in 2017 to oversee the modernisation of medical education. He is currently focused on the development of students' personal identities and their evolution as professionals, applying creative activities such as theatre, music and painting. 

Personal emotions play an important role in decision making and it's good to be aware of them as a professional

Harnessing digital potential 

Hierck's approach to educational innovation draws on the ever-increasing potential of digital technology. He has been teaching anatomy for over 30 years and is an assistant professor with teaching and research duties. He also developed virtual reality (VR) applications as a teaching aid for human anatomy at UMC Leiden. Hierck: 'The virtual environment allows students to practise their skills and anatomical knowledge before they start applying them in their practical training. We're currently developing an environment that will allow students to explore animal anatomy. The students will be practising in the virtual environment so that they are fully prepared when they start working with real animals. This will help lecturers to save time and build students' confidence by preparing them for the real-world practice.'

Hierck: 'Depending on their level of spatial awareness, students can struggle to translate 2D anatomy models from the teaching materials into a 3D representation in their minds. For example, it can be difficult to imagine what a circulatory system looks like when it's rotated. It can then be very effective to practice in a virtual 3D learning environment: Leiden ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ students using VR scored just as high as others with good spatial awareness.'

It’s better to be happy on Mondays!

Close cooperation with students is crucial to both sides during the trialling of new teaching methods.  Carvalho: 'It's important that the students contribute their own topics. That allows us to give them genuinely personalised education in the areas in which they want to grow. In Brazil, we developed something called Medical Education Empowered by Theatre. The students write short plays about their own case study. These are then re-enacted by actors, the lecturer and students discuss what could have been approached differently and the play is performed again. This allows them to practise handling difficult situations or talking to patient owners. It's a really effective method that's already being used at Yale and will be used at Groningen UMC from this year onwards.'

Reflecting on emotions 

The emotions we feel as people and professionals can also be in direct conflict with each other.  Carvalho: 'Personal emotions play an important role in decision making and it's good to be aware of them as a professional'. We explore that though various methods, like painting a situation from the day-to-day practice. We discuss the situation and the associated emotional responses with the group: which values clashed and which arguments did they apply to reach their decision. Students often tend to relive their feelings during the actual situation. That makes the whole exercise even more meaningful and profound. Practising and reflecting together helps the students develop an inner compass. It's great to watch them develop their identities in the process. Seeing your students evolve as people and capable professionals is a real joy.' 

Connecting lecturers with each other and across our network

Carvalho: 'In order to become a successful professional, you need to find meaning and joy in your daily professional activities: "It's better to be happy on Mondays!" Hierck adds: 'It's really important to enjoy what you do, and it's fun to see students working in a seemingly empty room with VR goggles on, or exploring a VR environment on their own.'

Effective teaching methods

Hierck: 'Obviously, those kinds of methods do need to offer proven added value and be effective. For example, which teaching methods are more time-efficient or compatible with the latest educational insights? Which learning strategies do our students use? We're gradually building up a portfolio of effective teaching methods through thoughtful selection and evaluation.' 

Carvalho: 'If a lecturer comes up with a good idea, we assess whether it fits into the curriculum and is well received by the students. We both have an extensive educational network and enjoy connecting people who are working on the same solutions.' 

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