Theme
8BB Teaching and learning: Principles
INSTITUTION
Queen Mary University of London - Medical Education - London - United Kingdom
Bridging the transition between secondary and undergraduate medical education can be challenging for many first-year medical students. Although 'active learning' has emerged as a tenet of education theory in recent decades, ironically, the 'active learner' has been largely ignored in this mix - there is little evidence of interventions designed to support students' metacognitive development, i.e. their ability to plan and undertake their studies using a wide range of techniques.
The failure to adapt to the medical school workload has been attributed to many factors, including a lack of requisite study skills, 'competencies associated with... organizing, synthesizing, remembering and using information'1. There is scarce literature regarding evaluations of study skills support offered by medical schools2 3.
STUDY AIMS
This study aimed to add to the existing knowledge base in the following domains:
1. To measure the value of a study skills course aimed at first-year undergraduate medical students at a UK medical school, in terms of impact on academic performance and participant perceptions
2. To measure the value of integrating study skills with the content of the medical curriculum
THE STUDY SKILLS COURSE
The course was 5 weeks in duration, with weekly sessions; it was targeted at first-year students who had performed poorly in the first assessment of the year.
The sessions involved group discussions and collaborative activities, and were facilitated both by university teachers with educational experience, and senior medical students. Sessions included problem-based learning and concept maps.
An example of a concept map produced collaboratively by students during Session 4
MIXED-METHODS EVALUATION OF THE PROGRAMME
QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION
- Attendance rates were monitored throughout the course
- In-course assessment results: mean changes in students' post-intervention assessment scores were compared from baseline (pre-intervention assessment scores), according to the number of course sessions attended.
QUALITATIVE EVALUATION
- Focus groups were undertaken with students and teachers of the course (including senior medical students), to illuminate perceptions of the course in terms of purpose, design, delivery and perceived outcomes.
- E-mail survey - an e-mail was sent to students who had not attended sessions, to understand their reasons for poor attendance.
Student engagement with this short study skills programme yielded positive short-term results in supporting the early stages of medical students' development as self-directed learners:
- Students gained an insight into different learning techniques and were encouraged to experiment with these approaches, to manage the demanding workload of the course
- This effect may have contributed to the improvement of aspects of students' assessment scores post-intervention.
When planning an intervention to support medical students' development as lifelong learners from the earliest stages of their training:
- HARNESS the power of senior student role models, using their experiences to guide and reassure struggling junior students
- UNDERSTAND the negative impact of the preclinical hidden curriculum6 on students' willingness to seek help in their studies
- SHARE RESULTS so that struggling students benefit from robust, evidence-based interventions
- Hoover, J.J. and Patton, P.R. (1995) Teaching students with learning problems to use study skills: A teacher’s guide. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
- Ferguson, E., James, D. and Madeley, L. (2002) Factors associated with success in medical school: a systematic review of the literature. British Medical Journal; 324: 952-957
- Cleland, J., Leggett, H., Sandars, J., Costa, M.J., Patel, R. and Moffatt, M. (2013) The remediation challenge: theoretical and methodological insights from a systematic review. Medical Education; 47: 242-251
- Winston, K.A., van der Vleuten, C.P.M. and Scherpbier, A.J.J.A. (2010) An investigation into the design and effectiveness of a mandatory cognitive skills programme for at-risk medical students. Medical Teacher; 32: 236-243
- Winston, K.A., van der Vleuten, C.P.M. and Scherpbier, A.J.J.A. (2010) At-risk medical students: implications of students’ voice for the theory and practice of remediation. Medical Education; 44: 1038-1047
- Hafferty, F.W. (1998) Beyond Curriculum Reform: Confronting Medicine’s Hidden Curriculum. Academic Medicine; 73(4): 403-407