title: [The effects of pedagogical training on university teaching in the field of health].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Evaluating changes in teaching adopted by teachers after participating in the Pedagogical Health Science Formation extension course taught by the National University of Colombia's Pedagogical Support and Teaching Formation Group from the Medicine Faculty. This was a part-time course; it dealt with topics such as didactics, curriculum, evaluation and the teacher's role.
  
  
  METHODS
  A qualitative, exploratory study was carried out, involving a personal interview formulated by the investigators; this was held in each participant's place of work. Fifty teachers who had taken the course between 2003 and 2004 were interviewed. The questionnaire consisted of ten semi-structured questions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After taking the course, 82 % of the participants considered that the quality of their communication with students was one of their most valued qualities, having understood that learning is a process which must be shared by both teachers and students. 64 % of the participants stated that they had acquired new concepts about evaluation and had increased their use of more participative pedagogical strategies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Teaching training courses had a positive effect on teaching, reflected in the quality of communication, teacher-student relationships and the pedagogic strategies used, all being very important elements in constructivist-orientated pedagogical models. The study's results agreed with other investigators' prior experience. The university must encourage this kind of intervention which will promote its own academic development by improving its teachers' performance.
authors.affiliation: Escuela de Educación Médica, Departamento de Pediatría, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia. mlsaenzl@unal.edu.co
authors.forename: María L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Sáenz-Lozada
authors.forename: María L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Cárdenas-Muñoz
authors.forename: Edgar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rojas-Soto
mesh_terms: D003105:Colombia; D003142:Communication; D003479:Curriculum; D004496:Education, Continuing; D005178:Faculty; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D012586:Science / Q000193:education*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013663:Teaching; D014495:Universities