Dr Harry Witchel's educational leadership at Brighton and Sussex Medical School is focused on assessment. Teams that he leads gather detailed micro-data from student performance in order to incrementally enhance teaching and learning in a highly regulated medical education environment. By identifying topics where student performance was challenged, his management team could focus on supporting and improving instructors/colleagues in matching their teaching to the student cohort's needs. This has resulted in significant improvements in average exam scores and fewer failing students, while at the same time maintaining exam difficulty and broadening exam coverage to more closely match what is taught. The students appreciated this, with average student satisfaction ratings rising significantly (from 3.1 to 3.3 out of 4) since his management has begun.
In 2016 he led a team of five staff that won a university-wide award for their assessment procedures. His interest in assessment extends to assessing assessment, including being the external examiner at three UK medical schools. His work has been described by these medical schools as "thoughtful and considered" as well as "a helpful, critical friend.” He has also published research surveying the different formats of standard setting used by British medical schools. He is currently editing a book for the American Physiological Society's prestigious "Methods in Physiology" series entitled, "Technologies in Biomedical and Life Sciences Education: Approaches and Evidence for Efficacy for Learning" which will be published in 2022 by Springer. He continues to support students in their studies.
In 2017 the Physiological Society awarded him the David Jordan Teaching Award for making educational videos. One educational video on his YouTube channel has over 60,000 hits. In 2004 the British Science Association awarded him the Charles Darwin Award Lecture. His most recent book is a comprehensive study skills guide explaining how to plan, research and write university assignments, from essays and lab reports to scientific posters; there are also clear explanations for creating PowerPoint slideshow talks and reflective writing. The book has just been published by Macmillan, and is entitled "Writing for Biomedical Sciences Students.”