The Harvard Macy Institute Podcast S2 E10: Trends and Disruptions in Teaching Perspectives with Dan Pratt and Amanda Dumoulin

The Harvard Macy Institute Podcast aims to connect our Harvard Macy Institute community and to develop our interest in health professions education topics and literature. Our podcast is hosted by our Program for Educators in the Health Professions course faculty Victoria Brazil, and features interviews with health professions educators about their scholarly work.

 

In this S2 E10 podcast, Vic Brazil spoke with Dan Pratt - Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Education and Senior Scholar in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, Canada - and Amanda Dumoulin, a recent BA Psychology Honors graduate student from Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

In his book Five Perspectives on Teaching, Dan Pratt describes perspectives as ‘something we look through, rather than at as we go about the business of teaching. He eschews the idea of simplistic ‘best practices,’ and invites a ‘plurality of the good’ in teaching - recognizing our perspectives and thoughtful about how they shape our teaching formats.

Do these perspectives change over time? Are the influences on them internal or external? What is the effect of a massive disruption such as the COVID-19 pandemic?

Dan gave us a precis of the five perspectives and the Teaching Perspectives Inventory - a freely available instrument for educators to help identify their dominant and back up perspectives. In reviewing data from Harvard Macy Institute Scholars, Amanda offered some insights into trends observed over time, and some dramatic shifts during the pandemic. After some initial shifts towards a transmission perspective, developmental and nurturing perspectives are on the rise again. Food for thought! We reflected on the role of technology and culture in shaping teachers’ perspectives and practice.

 

Happy listening!