scholarly journals Tracking Active Learning in the Medical School Curriculum: A Learning-Centered Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 238212051876513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lise McCoy ◽  
Robin K Pettit ◽  
Charlyn Kellar ◽  
Christine Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Medical School ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
First Year ◽  
Group Instruction ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Curriculum Review ◽  
Learning Techniques ◽  
Learning Centered ◽  
Semistructured Interviews

Background: Medical education is moving toward active learning during large group lecture sessions. This study investigated the saturation and breadth of active learning techniques implemented in first year medical school large group sessions. Methods: Data collection involved retrospective curriculum review and semistructured interviews with 20 faculty. The authors piloted a taxonomy of active learning techniques and mapped learning techniques to attributes of learning-centered instruction. Results: Faculty implemented 25 different active learning techniques over the course of 9 first year courses. Of 646 hours of large group instruction, 476 (74%) involved at least 1 active learning component. Conclusions: The frequency and variety of active learning components integrated throughout the year 1 curriculum reflect faculty familiarity with active learning methods and their support of an active learning culture. This project has sparked reflection on teaching practices and facilitated an evolution from teacher-centered to learning-centered instruction.

scholarly journals Teaching Pathology in an Integrated Preclinical Medical School Curriculum and Adaptations to COVID-19 Restrictions

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 237428952110153
Author(s):  
Matthew D. Krasowski ◽  
John L. Blau ◽  
Stephanie J. Chen ◽  
Karra A. Jones ◽  
Thomas J. Schmidt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical School ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
Integrated Curriculum ◽  
Sudden Change ◽  
Health Professions ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Medical School Curriculum ◽  
Professional Schools ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Virtual Instruction

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a major impact on education at all age levels, including professional schools and health professions programs. We describe the experience of adapting preclinical medical school courses within an integrated curriculum to virtual instruction. A major feature of two of the courses were pathology small groups adapted from pathology courses in the previous medical school curriculum. These small groups were designed to use facilitated groups of 8 to 10 students. With a sudden change to virtual learning, these small groups were shifted to large group virtual sessions. In general, the conversion went well, with ongoing optimization of the format of the large group sessions mainly occurring over the first several sessions. End-of-course student evaluations were generally positive, but with a preference toward returning to live sessions in the future. Scores on 5 multiple choice examinations in the spring 2020 course were essentially identical in mean, standard deviation, and distribution to examinations in the previous 2 years of the course that had similar layout and topic organization. We discuss the challenges and successes of the switch to virtual instruction and of teaching pathology content within an integrated medical school curriculum.

scholarly journals Student engagement and higher order skill proficiency: a comparison of traditional didactic and renewed integrated active learning curricula

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 685-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari K. Hopper ◽  
Daniela A. Brake
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Curriculum Reform ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
Poor Correlation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Cohort Groups ◽  
The Impact

A large, multicampus, public medical school underwent curricular renewal, emphasizing a student-centered approach with 50% of all course contact time devoted to active learning. Determining the impact of active learning on student engagement and higher order skill (HOS) proficiency was the primary aim of this study. Following Institutional Review Board approval, two cohort groups of first-year medical students were enrolled. The first cohort ( n = 54) included students before curriculum reform in the legacy curriculum (LC). The second cohort ( n = 73) included students completing studies in the renewed curriculum (RC). Near the end of the first year of medical school, both cohorts completed a validated survey of student engagement, and a proctored problem-based assessment of HOS proficiency [Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+)]. Results indicated RC students perceived greater levels of engagement than LC (39.5+5.8 vs. 33.3+5.6), and greater reliance on HOS, including analysis, synthesis, and application. However, there were no significant differences between cohorts in proficiency of HOS when assessed by the CLA+ (LC = 1,878 ± 161 vs. RC = 1,900 ± 157). Additionally, poor correlation between engagement and HOS for both LC and RC indicated more engaged students do not necessarily possess greater HOS proficiency. Ceiling effect may explain results as medical students enter medical school as highly skilled learners with potentially little room for improvement. It will be informative to continue to track engagement and HOS of both cohort groups as they continue their medical studies.

STUDENT CONCERNS FOR ENGAGEMENT IN ONLINE ACTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS DURING COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Memarian ◽  
S. Zuluaga ◽  
M. Stickel
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Student Response ◽  
First Year ◽  
Positive Feeling ◽  
Learning Techniques ◽  
Neutral Tone

This paper shares a summary of the self-reported concerns of 134 first-year engineering students around engagement in online active learning environments during COVID-19. The students had volunteered to participate in remote weekly problem-solving workshops for four weeks that utilized Active Learning techniques. In this paper, we specifically analyze samples from the students who participated in only one workshop and responded to the following question: What concerns do you have that might limit your ability to engage in online active learning environments? Twenty of the participants reported no concerns. The tone of each student's response and personal feelings reported were also analyzed. Then, a thematic analysis of each student response was made, with the transcription and coding agreement being performed by two coders. As expected, most of the students expressed their concerns in a negative or neutral tone, and only a few expressed an affinity for current educational settings. Word mining of feeling terms shows that more students had verbalized being disengaged, followed by distracted and uncomfortable and none communicated a positive feeling. Our thematic analysis showed that learning socially (72/114, or 63%) is the most pressing concern for the students, followed by more personal regulating factors such as attitude and motivation (44%), quality of physical and virtual study environment (40%), as well as the guidance received from the course administrators (24%). Findings suggest the need for developing a global understanding of what active learning in an online environment entails in the context of engineering education, and to develop and adjust tools and practices to help students learn in this new context.

scholarly journals Attendance, engagement and performance in a medical school curriculum: early findings from competency-based progress testing in a new medical school curriculum

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather S. Laird-Fick ◽  
David J. Solomon ◽  
Carol J. Parker ◽  
Ling Wang
Keyword(s):  
Medical School ◽  
Basic Science ◽  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Medical School Curriculum ◽  
Science Knowledge ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Basic Science Knowledge ◽  
Group Sessions ◽  
The Relationship

IntroductionMedical students often do not value attending in-person large group sessions. It is also not clear from prior research whether attendance at large group sessions impact on performance in medical school. The goal of this study was to assess the relationship between voluntary attendance in large group sessions organized as a “flipped classroom” in a new innovative curriculum and students’ mastery of clinical applications of basic science knowledge.MethodologyOur students’ ability to apply basic science knowledge to clinical problems is assessed via progress testing using three methodologies: a locally developed multiple-choice examination, written examination developed through the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Customized Assessment Services Program and post encounter questions included in a clinical skills examination. We analyzed the relationship between voluntary attendance at weekly large group “flipped classroom” sessions and the students’ performance on examinations given at four intervals over the initial 24-week module of the medical school curriculum.ResultsComplete data were available for 167 students. A total of 82 students (49.1%) attended all large group sessions, 65 students (38.9%) missed one or two sessions and 20 students (12.0%) missed three or more sessions. There were no difference between the students in the groups on their medical admission (MCAT) examination scores. The growth in performance from each time point until the next was statistically significant. There was no statistically significant difference in growth between the students who had no absences and those who had one or two absences. Students who missed three or more sessions performed significantly lower than their peers over the 24 week module and were more likely to score one or more standard deviations below the class mean on the assessments.ConclusionsWe found no relationship between attendance and MCAT scores suggesting the differences in performance on the progress tests was not due to initial differences in knowledge or reasoning skills. While the study was not experimental, it suggests large group sessions using a “flipped classroom” approach to provide reinforcement, feedback and practice may be effective for increasing learning and retention in the application of basic science knowledge among first year medical students.

scholarly journals Assessing Student Engagement and Higher Order Skill Proficiency During the First and Second Year of Medical School – A Comparison Between the Legacy and Recently Reformed Active Learning Curricula

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon Francis ◽  
Mari Hopper, PhD
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Higher Order ◽  
T Test ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Learning Assessment ◽  
First Year ◽  
Group Comparison ◽  
Unequal Variance ◽  
Second Year

 Background and Hypothesis: This study set-out to determine if:  students enrolled in Indiana University’s reformed curricula (RC) demonstrate higher levels of engagement (E) and higher order skill (HOS) proficiency than students prior to reform in the legacy curriculum (LC).   students increase E and HOS from first year of medical school (MS1) to second year (MS2).  students performing in lowest HOS quartile during MS1 will demonstrate greater gains in HOS by MS2 than students in higher quartiles.  Experimental Design or Project Methods: Determined E using a validated self-report survey (Ahlfeldt, 2007). Assessed HOS using the standardized Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+), professionally developed and validated by the Council for Aid to Education (https://cae.org/flagship-assessments-cla-cwra/cla/). Statistical analysis was preliminary; further analysis to be completed by statistician. Between group comparison of LC and RC via t test assuming unequal variance; paired t test for within group comparison MS1 to MS2 (significance p<0.05).  Results: Students in RC increased E significantly from MS1 (39.0±7.0) to MS2 (40.8±5.3) and demonstrate significantly higher E than LC MS2 students (36.3±5.3). There were no differences in HOS proficiency when comparing RC to LC, or MS1 to MS2. Students in RC in the lowest quartile for HOS during MS1 (1688.8±53.1) significantly increased when re-tested during MS2 (1809.5±86.8).  Conclusion and Potential Impact: Curricular reform resulted in higher E when compared to LC. Despite increased E, there were no related changes in HOS. Results from quartile analysis agreed with previous reports that active learning preferentially benefits lower performing students (Koles, 2010).

Alice in Simulation-Land

2020 ◽  
pp. 449-458
Author(s):  
Vanessa Bazan ◽  
Michael D. Jax ◽  
Joseph B. Zwischenberger
Keyword(s):  
Medical School ◽  
Surgical Simulation ◽  
Technical Skills ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
First Year ◽  
High Fidelity Simulation ◽  
Residency Programs ◽  
Training Techniques ◽  
Surgical Residents ◽  
Simulation Based

Surgical education has been compressed by integrated residency programs and restrictions on the number of hours surgical residents are allowed to work. Instilling basic technical skills as early as the first year of medical school can help maximize preparedness for surgical rotation and residency. This overview includes a detailed description of low, medium, and high-fidelity simulation-based training techniques and recommends introduction of surgical simulation early in the medical school curriculum. A personal vignette highlights this recommendation.

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