It’s difficult (embryology, that is). Both teaching and learning the subject is difficult. As a subject that I am used to, albeit in a rather superficial manner in most areas, it’s not easy to know whether I’m getting the key points across or if I’m muddling the ideas. The group of students in the Swansea Graduate Entry Programme are from such a diverse range of backgrounds that it is impossible to treat them all alike (particularly in their first year), so to what level do you cater? Medical students don’t really need a huge amount of detailed developmental biology knowledge but the basic processes and concepts are very important, and will help them. Are the lectures too simple, or not simple enough? I suspect that the answer will be different for each student. Am I overly repetitive, or is reviewing ideas helpful? Is the subject matter itself interesting enough, or must it be clinically oriented to hold their attention?
In the last couple of years students have done well in this part of their exams. As to whether I have aided or slowed their understanding, I’m uncertain. I hope the exam results tell the true tale.
