Griffith University lecturers take a different approach to education

Brisbane university teachers Dr Matt and Dr Mike have taken a different approach to education – and it’s earned them more than 10 million online followers every month.

Dr Matt and Dr Mike describe their past selves as “not good students”. But the duo has achieved not only an academic career but international media fame as health educators.

The Griffith University academics and researchers have amassed more than 1.2 million viewers a month on YouTube, plus more through podcasts, Twitter and TikTok, taking their monthly audience to more than 10 million.

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Neuroscientist Dr Mike Todorovic said students related to him and his colleague, Dr Matt Barton, through their different approach to teaching.

“We weren’t actually good students at high school,” Dr Todorovic said. “We didn’t just pick these things up instantly.

“I taught the students a concept the way I learnt it myself and because it wasn’t inherently easy for me, I had to draw things, I had to create analogies, and that’s how I taught the students. They really appreciated that.

“It’s a path not many academics take because they’ve always been at the top of their field.”

This path has led them to pick up a prestigious Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, a Griffith University Citation for Excellence in Teaching, and a Pro Vice Chancellor’s staff excellence award for engagement.

Griffith University teachers Dr Mike Todorovic and Dr Matt Barton have nearly half a million online followers. Picture: David Clark

The awards acknowledge their educational reach extending not just to the students attending the anatomy, physiology and pharmacology labs and pracs on campus, but to health professionals and the public across Australia and beyond.

Griffith University’s Healthcare Practice and Survivorship Program Professor Wendy Moyle said Dr Mike and Dr Matt were creating amazing work.

“They put passion into their teaching, which is demonstrated in student learning,” she said.

“Dr Mike and Dr Matt demonstrate that sitting through hours of boring lectures might not be the best way for students to learn. Their service is far-reaching as online viewers are multidisciplinary professionals and students.”

Likewise, a skim of their social media accounts includes plaudits from health professionals and keen learners around the world.

A UK physician recommends them as “superb teachers” and the “all-time fav for basic sciences and medicine” while a health consumer from the US describes them as “top-tier when it comes to exploring and explaining the human body in a way that makes its complexities a little easier - and fun - to understand”.

It started when Dr Barton joined Griffith from Western Sydney University and the pair began their parallel careers, helping each develop their teaching and boost outcomes for their students.

In 2016 they started posting key points from their lectures as short bursts in videos uploaded to the most user-friendly platform at the time, YouTube.

They could see that the two-hour lectures they sent to students were not being watched in full, with important elements being skipped.

“You don’t present information from most important to least, the last 20 minutes is just as important as the first 20 minutes,” Dr Todorovic.

“Let’s just take those important concepts and just record them separately as a short video.”

He said it was easy for the students to access the information on their terms.

“We met the students where they already are, instead of making them come to us.”

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For Dr Matt and Dr Mike, this personalised approach to learning and education will be the new frontier.

With all knowledge and theory available online to everyone with the curiosity to find it, future educators and educational institutions must tailor their offerings to meet the ever-changing needs of the student from those fresh out of school to seasoned professionals.

They recognise that will be a challenge - “academics are time poor” - but contend it is essential.

“Technology is rapidly changing and the universities are trying to keep up with that,” Dr Barton said. “We see education as transformative, you provide them with education and skills that will change their world. It is an inspiring profession to have. Universities need to be mindful of not making it transactional.”

They believe lifelong learning through short courses and continuing professional development will contribute to the future of education, as well as the increasing digitalisation.

“Technology has decentralised and democratised education,” Dr Todorovic said.

“Everyone has access to information, but the difficulty is that they equally have access to disinformation.

“We need experts to be online.”

This was the case during the Covid-19 pandemic, when they worked with the Australian Medical Association to present clear information regarding the vaccines.

Now, together with academics from the University of New South Wales, they’ve founded the Australian Academy of Health Promotion on Social Media, a network of social media-engaged experts busting myths and misinformation.

“The online space is no different.We’re presenting research and educating a broad audience through digital scholarship,” Dr Mike said.