How Pulp Fiction contributes to good teaching
Since 2017, Elvan Kut Bacs has been striving to provide pharmacists with the best possible training for their future tasks, sometimes using unorthodox teaching methods. The lecturer and program coordinator of the Master's program in Pharmacy at D-CHAB has now been awarded the Golden Owl 2024 for her dedicated teaching. In this interview, she reveals what makes good teaching and why fiction can sometimes be helpful, especially in fact-based science.
What has shaped you as a teacher? Is there a particular moment?
When I received the Golden Owl, an event from my teenage years came to my mind. I had prepared incredibly well for a presentation on Siddhartha. During the presentation, however, I got lost in my notes and had to tell the rest of the story without the manuscript. Suddenly I realized, how mesmerized my classmates were listening to me. That was a moment that had a huge impact on me. I realized that you must internalize a subject to be able to communicate it really well.
How did you become a lecturer at ETH Zurich?
I wrote my doctoral thesis on emotion and pain perception at the Collegium Helveticum, at the interface between the humanities and natural sciences. That was a wonderful time. After working for some time on the Collegium's Executive Board and being involved in various research projects, I was drawn back to pharmacy in 2017. Since then, I have been lecturing at ETH Zurich in the Bachelor’s degree program of Pharmaceutical Sciences and our two Master's degree programs at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
You are also a program coordinator for the Master Pharmacy, right?
Correct. As a program coordinator, I take care of curriculum development together with my colleagues. It's mainly about finding out how we need to train pharmacists to meet future needs. In the Master's program in Pharmacy, we have many pharmacists who work in a public pharmacy or hospital. This also applies to me, and we convey this patient-oriented practical insight in our teaching. This is very special in our Master's program.
What is your recipe for good teaching?
My recipe is strongly influenced by my time at Collegium Helveticum. I think it's important to look at topics from different perspectives and I try to convey my personal approaches and show why I enjoy dealing with a subject. As a lecturer, you are like a conductor at a live concert: you have to make sure that the music plays, and a spark is lit. When that resonates with the audience, i.e. the students, it's always an incredibly inspiring moment.
How do you achieve this resonance?
By designing the lecture in such a way that I always include new and unexpected aspects, sometimes also from literature and films. For example: When we talk about opioids, I like to show a scene from Pulp Fiction where an overdose is treated with an adrenaline injection directly into the heart. We then discuss what is wrong with this procedure. From a technical point of view, you should administer a nasal spray with naloxone. That always makes the students laugh. Of course, a nasal spray wouldn't be as dramatic in the movie, but pharmaceutically it would be the right choice. The students remember this discussion.
Have you already encountered challenging moments in teaching?
Sometimes I reflect on the need for compulsory attendance of students in class: I believe that lectures should be so insightful and generate added value that students attend voluntarily. At the same time, exam pressure and limited learning time are also a given. Finding a balance here is a challenge.
What would be your three pieces of advice for future lecturers?
You should first ask yourself: What do I want students to learn? What skills do I want them to master in the end and what is my narrative for getting there? Secondly, it is important to incorporate lots of interactive elements and thirdly, show your personality. People often prefer to listen if they get a feeling of the person standing in front of them.
In this context, you have done a good job, as the Golden Owl proves. What does this award mean to you?
It's a wonderful recognition, also because I rather haven't had a linear career. It's nice to see, that what I already enjoy doing, is also well received by the students, and I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for this award.
