After two years of studying in
Cambridge, I’ve made some observations about the learning experience here. I
can’t help that it will be a rather negative post, but I am sure you can find
plenty of articles praising Cambridge for its amazing education elsewhere.
In fact, I think the many purely
positive reviews can set students up for disappointment once they identify an
aspect of Cambridge education that isn’t ideal, and I’ve seen a few of the more
critical students doubt themselves and feel isolated in an environment where
criticism is not welcome (They ask themselves: If Cambridge is one of the best
institutions in the country, how can it be that I am unhappy?).
Today, I will mention four issues
I’ve identified. Some of them came as a bit of a revelation to me. Understanding what it was that bothered me and why I was not enjoying certain aspects of the course definitely helped me do something about it, or just accept the facts and get on with it. Perhaps it will help others as well.
1. Lack
of a grand vision
In terms of the overall medical course, there does not seem to be any grand
vision, guiding philosophy or master plan on how to teach medicine in the best
possible way. If it does exist, it is definitely not
communicated well enough or not obvious in itself.
In general, there should good
reasons for why and how every element of the course is taught in order to avoid
inefficiency. Strategic thinking and more intense feedback from the medical
profession on course structure could yield a more concise syllabus.
As a particular example for the lack of overall structure, the different
pre-clinical subjects are taught alongside each other independently, rather
than in a complementary way. There is definitely need for more cross talk between
the different faculties ensuring optimal timing of subjects throughout the year and lack of redundancy.
In terms of clinical teaching,
there seems to be even more of a piecemeal approach and scope for inefficiency.
We are often told that “medicine is an apprenticeship”, but this
statement also seems to serve as a convenient catchphrase to hide behind when criticism
surfaces. I am convinced that systematic approaches to teach medicine do exist
and I am sure they are employed by other leading medical schools in the world.
In fact, I am determined to find out more about this and will write about this topic
again in due course.
2. Convolution
of information
As I already mentioned in an
earlier post, information is often presented in an undigested, incoherent and
badly organised format. Unless one wants to pass exams by rote learning random
facts, one has to reorganise all the information. This represents an enormous
time investment for each cohort of students and I am not sure if it is an
important learning experience in itself.
If the building blocks of
medicine could be presented in a more logical and concise manner, students
could grasp the information much quicker and would have more time to really
indulge in in-depth knowledge, leaving them with a firmer grasp of the subject
and a better foundation for the future.
This also has practical aspects,
some of which are hilarious. We all know that many components of the medical
curriculum aren’t rocket science, and sometimes one almost suspects intent behind the fact that access to simple information is made difficult in some way, so that the
ultimate challenge is not to know the information for the exam, but to have
jumped through hoops in order to get to it.
For example, content of many
physiological subjects is displayed on departmental posters during restricted
viewing times. These posters are older than most of the students on the course
(they have been typed on a typewriter!!) and are not available electronically.
Therefore tens of students crowd in front of them at any time, scribbling down
the information presented. It is almost farcical.
Another example is the clinical
school’s online resource, one of the least intuitive
platforms I have ever come across. People joke that once you have found
something on this system once, you will never find it again, and sadly this has
been true on many occasions.
It is interesting that very few
Cambridge learning materials are available to the public. Some people
are convinced that if they were, the differences between Cambridge and other leading
universities would become obvious very quickly.
3. Large difference in what is provided and what is expected of
the students
On accepting the shortcomings of
some of the teaching that is on offer, one is then struck by the great discrepancy
between the leniency of the course organisers towards themselves and their teams, and
the utter perfection that is expected of the students.
In my opinion, it is a major
cause of demotivation, as inspiring a feeling of inadequacy among the students
does not foster a desirable environment for learning.
4. Constant assessment leaving
no room for learning
This is another point regarding the
environment for learning. Learning obviously requires processing and
understanding of the information to be memorised. At some point this processing
has to take place because learning (at least of the more complicated
topics of medicine) is not an instant event.
However, the questions associated
with this process of learning aren't generally welcome. Too often, the answer to a question is judgmental rather than explanatory. Even though
proper exams only take place at end of the academic year, students are
constantly under assessment, even when they encounter facts for the first time and need some time to absorb them.
As a result, there isn’t actually
much time for learning in the presence of university teaching staff, both in the departments and the colleges. While some supervisions may present an exception, in general they also take more of an inquisitive format.
What remains is for the student
to do the actual learning in their own time. With a full schedule, the time for this is
scarce, especially on the graduate course. If nothing else, this is another unnecessary source of
inefficiency.
The more I think about it, the more I realise that Cambridge often confuses teaching and learning with assessment. But assessment alone is just not enough....
In my opinion, the atmosphere
would greatly improve if there were also some protected times when students can
go through and enjoy the process of learning without constant external
pressure.
Anyway, these were some of my impressions over the past two years. I think Cambridge will definitely have to
address some of these issues if they want to compete internationally in the
long term.
