Objective:
- To bring 'real world' (industry; practitioner; client; customer) perspectives to your students
- To identify 'real world' problems and issues that the industry/sector faces and engage your students learning, knowledge and professional understanding to address these, anchored by practicalities of professional practice/industry constraints
Overview:
By inviting a range of sector/industry experts into the lecture theatre, you create the opportunity for students to appreciate their learning within their professional context. This approach can be viewed as "one off" or offered as a full module/programme where each week experts, users, clients, or sector experts address your students to broaden their understanding and deepen their appreciation of professional practice.
Activity:
This activity requires preparation in advance to secure relevant speakers for your students. Personal contacts and professional networks often yield great opportunities to engage speakers however there are also professional speaking associations that you might be able to tap into. It is also useful to consider customer bodies, consumer groups, patient action groups and other sector or industry stakeholders however internal experts can also be found across faculty, and within your own, or neighbouring, institution.
The preparation (agreement and confirmation of the speaker brief) is key to the development of a guest lecture series, and typically if you have the opportunity to schedule a programme of inputs, you have the opportunity to expose the students to a wide range of perspectives.
Skill Development:
A deep appreciation of their learning/skill development across the full programme of study can be achieved through the guest speakers however it is also possible for a guest lecture series not to create the deep learning that you would seek. It is therefore important to consider how you wish your students to reflect upon what they have heard and build deep connections to their wider learning.
There are opportunities to deepen the learning gained by guest speakers through regular reflection and also through assessment of their learning. This can be achieved through ETC: TOOL Reflective learning Diary or drawing upon the reflective models (Gibb1988; Driscoll 2000) to support your classroom debriefing.
Within a series of guest speakers it is important to ensure that there is reflection time without the externals present which allows you to connect up the inputs, critique and question what has been presented.
Resources:
Planning – it can be helpful to create an individual brief for your speakers that outlines the key logistics (time; length; location; travel; expenses if offered) and indicates what is expected in terms of
- Approach (time; questions)
- The general module/programme/ outcomes and purpose
- The specific elements you are seeking to explore
- Details of the audience – year; background; experience; interests;
- Why you asked them (what they offer to your students)
This is often best undertaken through the development of a shared understanding/discussion, followed up by written confirmation.
Additional ETC resources include:
Guest Speaker Guidance – to support the development of individual sessions
Reflective Learning Diary – as a potential assessment method for a full programme of speakers
References:
For reflection:
Gibb's reflective cycle: from Gibbs, G (1988) "Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods"
Atkins and Murphy Model from Atkins, S. and Murphy, K. (1994) Reflective Practice. Nursing Standard 8(39) 49-56 Driscoll, J (2000) Practising Clinical Supervision Edinburgh Bailliere Tindall