Effectiveness of microteaching as a method of developing teaching competence among in-service medical teachers

INTRODUCTION: In spite of the fact that microteaching has been practiced extensively in most universities, its actual efficacy has not been studied systematically. In this study, there was an attempt to quantify the efficacy of microteaching in inducing behavioral change in teachers. We also aimed to determine the perceived utility and ease of this process in teacher training, using the feedback received from the participants. This feedback along with efficacy can collectively predict the effectiveness of microteaching. METHODS: A prospective experimental study was designed using a convenient sample of 30 faculty volunteers. After the institutional ethics committee approval, the videos of pre-microteaching and post-microteaching sessions from the 30 participants undergoing 5 sessions of microteaching were graded with a seven point teaching competency scale and the participant’s perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use was studied using a validated questionnaire. Paired sample t-test was used to determine the efficacy of the study. RESULTS: Microteaching showed a statistically significant improvement among the behavior of the participants after five sessions of microteaching. All the parameters in the scale showed a statistically significant improvement. Though the participants felt that this method was useful, the majority of them felt it is a very time consuming process requiring resources. CONCLUSION: Hence, the overall effectiveness in in-service teaching process was limited for microteaching in this current scenario; though microteaching induced positive behaviour change, it was time consuming and also it was difficult to arrange a peer group to enrole.