Microteaching as a self-learning tool. Students' perceptions in the preparation and exposition of a microlesson in a tissue engineering course

Abstract

Microteaching is a didactic tool of recent application to undergraduate and postgraduate students as a way to promote self-learning. In this work we compared the perceptions of the students who provide instruction in tissue engineering using microteaching and the perceptions of the same students when they receive such instructions. Two similar questionnaires with items related to the preparation and exposition of a microlesson were used to investigate the perception of 56 students before and after the microteaching session. In our results, students significantly prefer to use specific objectives, textbooks and Internet information when they are preparing a microlesson as compared to the situation when they receive it. On the other hand, the use of a pre-programmed index during the exposition and the reduction of the use of PowerPoint software are significantly more preferred by the students after receiving the microlesson. No statistical differences were found for the rest of the options analyzed. These results show that the self-assessment generated in the microteaching session, which is linked to the feedback related to the self-learning process, makes microteaching a technique not only useful for self-learning but also an important tool to promote self-regulation across the curriculum.