Abstract:

Introduction:
In the academic year 2013/2014 a new syllabus for the "Introduction to Higher Education Didactics" course was introduced for the first year full-time and part-time students of a doctoral (third level) programme at all faculties at Warsaw Medical University. The new syllabus was compliant with the guidelines of outcome-based education (European and National Qualification Frameworks). The teaching classes comprised a total of 30 hours of lectures and 12 hours of seminars. The following classes: Fundamentals of Voice Production and E-learning and remote learning - new forms of education - in the form of seminars were introduced in the curriculum for the first time. The course began with the Introductory class conducted in seminar groups.

Aim:
The study aimed to analyse the opinions of the first year doctoral students about and their satisfaction with the changes in teaching methods used in the "Introduction to Higher Education Didactics" course.

Materials and Methods:
A total of 96 first year full-time and part-time students of a doctoral (third level) programme took part in the study, including 61 women and 35 men. The mean age of the study group of students was: 28.46 years; min. 24, max. 37, SD: 3.808. Medicine graduates constituted the largest group (42 persons), the study group comprised also 10 pharmacists, 9 dentists, and other specialists in health science.
Quantitative study, poll, anonymous survey, questionnaire developed by the authors, auditorium questionnaire, voluntary participation in the study. The study was conducted on June 2nd, 2014.

Results:
During the introductory classes conducted in seminar groups (January 2014) the students were asked to present group reflection about what they would like to learn with reference to the higher education didactics and to answer the following questions: What are you interested in? and What seems to be useful in your situation?
Approximately 130 answers were provided. They were analysed and subdivided into several thematic fields. The analysis became the basis for development of the syllabus. General assessment of classes amounted to 3.92. Introductory seminar and a series of 8 lectures: 4.7. Lecture: Teaching Designing: development of course outline, planning classes - 3.7. Lecture: Development of Didactic Tests - 3. Seminars: E-learning and Remote Learning - 4.4. Seminars: Voice Production - 3.8. A vast majority of the students reported that the teaching content in the following areas: Dealing with difficulties during classes, Teaching/learning methods, Teacher as a person: features, skills, and competence that build authority, Arousing interest among students was presented at a fully satisfactory level. The smallest number of students reported their satisfaction with Voice Production classes.

Conclusions:
1. The new and improved syllabus for the "Introduction to Higher Education Didactics" course met the expectations of the first year doctoral students and may be used in this form next year.
2. It is advisable to increase the number of hours of seminars or teaching classes in order to improve the quality of education with reference to the preparation of doctoral students to their teaching-related activity.
3. Introduction of e-learning classes covering the contents of selected lectures should be considered.

Keywords:

Satisfaction, doctoral students, Warsaw Medical University.