Advan. Physiol. Edu. 29: 135-136, 2005;
doi:10.1152/advan.00008.2005
1043-4046/05 $8.00
ADV PHYSIOL EDUC 29:135-136, 2005
© 2005 American Physiological Society
ILLUMINATIONS
SELF-DIRECTED LEARNING
Reem Rachel Abraham1,
Subramanya Upadhya1 and
K. Ramnarayan2
1 Department of Physiology
Melaka Manipal Medical College
(Manipal Campus)
International Centre for Health Sciences
Manipal 576 104
Karnataka, India
E-mail: reemabraham{at}yahoo.com
2 Department of Pathology
Melaka Manipal Medical College
(Manipal Campus)
International Centre for Health Sciences
Manipal 576 104
Karnataka, India
E-mail: reemabraham{at}yahoo.com
This paper describes self-directed learning (SDL) sessions in teaching physiology for undergraduate medical students. It is important that a student become aware of how he or she is learning (2). When students are given the opportunity to learn by themselves, they develop learning skills to become self-directed learners (3). SDL is a process in which students take the initiative with or without the help of others in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes (1).
The undergraduate medical program (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery; MBBS) at Melaka Manipal Medical College (MMMC) (Manipal Campus), India is a 5-yr, intense academic program. In MMMC, the first-year MBBS physiology curriculum is divided into four blocks.
Block 1: Basic concepts, blood, nerve, and muscle physiology.
Block 2: Cardiovascular, respiratory, and gastrointestinal physiology.
Block 3: Endocrine, reproductive, and renal physiology.
Block 4: Central nervous system and special senses.
In each block, students had six SDL sessions of 2.5 h each, which included 2 h of presentation session, followed by 0.5 h of evaluation of the topic covered in the presentation. During presentation sessions, the class of 136 students were divided into four groups according to their roll numbers and each group was led by a faculty member. Students were asked to present the learning objectives individually. Due to time constraints, it was not possible for all students to present in all SDL sessions. But it was ensured that all students presented at least once in the entire block. For every learning objective presented, students were encouraged to go into discussion sessions to create group dynamics. The subject experts guided the students to focus on learning objectives whenever they deviated from it and also clarified their misconceptions. Two days after the presentation session, the evaluation was administered, which consisted of true or false questions, fill in the blanks, and short-answer questions. To determine the effectiveness of SDL, the average score obtained by the students for all of the six SDL evaluations in block 3 were compared with block 3 lecture exam scores using Student’s paired t-test. Lecture exam scores were significantly lower than SDL exam scores (72 ± 0.40 vs. 76 ± 0.21). These results suggest that SDL may be an effective learning tool. Furthermore, feedback from the students (Table 1 showed more of a positive approach to this strategy, even though a few students were negative. Based on the comments and performance, we consider that SDL helps students realize that learning is a life-long process and that they are responsible for acquiring knowledge in the vast field of medicine.
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References
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- Knowles M. Self-Directed Learning –A Guide for Learners and Teachers. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1975.
- Kopelman P. Learning skills and the acquisition of clinical skills. Med Educ 31, Suppl 1: 17–19, 1997.[ISI][Medline]
- Seale JK, Chapman J, and Davey C. The influence of assessments in students’ motivation to learn in a therapy degree course. Med Educ 34: 614–621, 2000.[Medline]
Copyright © 2005 by the American Physiological Society.
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