K Ramnarayan

Students' perceptions regarding educational environment in an Indian dental school

Background: As one of Indias premier dental schools, the Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal, has strived to be in the forefront of dental education ever since its inception in 1965. But one of our main drawbacks has been the lack of students’ perceptions about the educational atmosphere in our institution. Aim: (1) To understand the students’ perceptions of the educational environment. (2) To compare the results with those of other dental/medical schools. Methods: Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) was used to gather information about the environment in our institution. The same was administered to first year and final year students (63 each). Results: The main area of convergence of both groups was that the social atmosphere was not very congenial. But the thought provoking finding was that both groups felt that the teachers were authoritarian. Conclusion: The lack of congenial atmosphere in our institution seems to be due to the attitude of the course organizers. A need for makeover in attitudes and approach on the part of the teachers to make the learning experience more pleasant for the students was made obvious by this study.

Learning approaches of undergraduate medical students to physiology in a non-PBL- and partially PBL-oriented curriculum

Melaka Manipal Medical College (Manipal Campus; Manipal, Karnataka, India) conducts the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery program, for which the admission intakes are during the months of March and September. The present study was undertaken to study the differences in learning approaches to physiology of undergraduate medical students in a partially problem-based learning (PBL)- and non-PBL-oriented curriculum. PBL was introduced as a curricular reform for the September 2006 batch of students (partially PBL group), whereas it was not incorporated for the March 2006 batch of students (non-PBL group). Learning approaches to physiology of both groups of students were compared using the short inventory of approaches to learning. Mean scores for deep and strategic approaches were found to be significantly higher for the partially PBL group compared with the non-PBL group. The results of the present study support the earlier observation that PBL promotes a deep approach to learning.

Effects of problem-based learning along with other active learning strategies on short-term learning outcomes of students in an Indian medical school

Background: Problem-based learning (PBL) is reported to improve general competencies such as problem solving. It also fosters the development of a scientific attitude in medical students. The present study explored perceptions of students at Melaka Manipal Medical College (MMMC), Manipal Campus, India regarding the extent to which PBL along with other active learning strategies has succeeded in improving a few short-term learning outcomes. We also determined graduation and attrition rates of seven and six batches of first- and second-year students, respectively, who were enrolled in MBBS program before and after the implementation of PBL. Materials and Methods: Students (n = 120) were requested to indicate their responses on a Likert scale in a questionnaire focusing on the 12 short-term learning outcomes. Additionally, a retrospective analysis of graduation and attrition rates of seven batches of first year and six batches of second-year students who were enrolled in MBBS program was done. Results and Conclusion: Out of the 12 learning outcomes, all were found to have a median score of 4, except time management, motivation for lifelong learning, and interest in pursuing medical profession. The graduation and attrition rates were found to be significantly high and low respectively for PBL students compared to non-PBL students in first year. In the second year too, PBL students outnumbered non-PBL students in terms of graduation rate. The attrition rate was found to be low for PBL students compared to non-PBL students. The present study revealed that PBL along with other active learning strategies such as self-directed learning (SDL) sessions employed in the curriculum right from first year culminated in improvement of almost all short-term outcomes.

Validating the effectiveness of Clinically Oriented Physiology Teaching (COPT) in undergraduate physiology curriculum

BackgroundIt has been proved that basic science knowledge learned in the context of a clinical case is actually better comprehended and more easily applied by medical students than basic science knowledge learned in isolation. The present study intended to validate the effectiveness of Clinically Oriented Physiology Teaching (COPT) in undergraduate medical curriculum at Melaka Manipal Medical College (Manipal Campus), Manipal, India.MethodsCOPT was a teaching strategy wherein, students were taught physiology using cases and critical thinking questions. Three batches of undergraduate medical students (n = 434) served as the experimental groups to whom COPT was incorporated in the third block (teaching unit) of Physiology curriculum and one batch (n = 149) served as the control group to whom COPT was not incorporated. The experimental group of students were trained to answer clinically oriented questions whereas the control group of students were not trained. Both the group of students undertook a block exam which consisted of clinically oriented questions and recall questions, at the end of each block.ResultsComparison of pre-COPT and post-COPT essay exam scores of experimental group of students revealed that the post-COPT scores were significantly higher compared to the pre-COPT scores. Comparison of post-COPT essay exam scores of the experimental group and control group of students revealed that the experimental group of students performed better compared to the control group. Feedback from the students indicated that they preferred COPT to didactic lectures.ConclusionThe study supports the fact that assessment and teaching patterns should fall in line with each other as proved by the better performance of the experimental group of students compared to the control group. COPT was also found to be a useful adjunct to didactic lectures in teaching physiology.

Collaborative learning in PBL.

At Melaka Manipal Medical College (MMMC), India, PBL was introduced in the curriculum in 2006 in accordance with the Maastricht ‘seven jump’ process (Wood 2003). Recently, the PBL committee at MMMC took initiative to explore students’ experience of engaging in collaborative learning prior to presentation session. Out of 10 PBL groups (n1⁄4 110), five groups were considered experimental groups (EG) and the remaining, control groups (CG). We encouraged EG to involve in collaborative learning prior to presentation session. Each PBL group (EG) was sked to meet two times prior to presentation session. After a brainstorming session, in the first meeting, each PBL group met and discussed the learning objectives which were identified in brainstorming session. Each member of the group volunteered to discuss about one objective when they meet for the second time prior to the presentation session. One or two members of the group took up the responsibility to retrieve additional information about the topic from other resource materials. After the first meeting, each PBL group was involved in self-directed learning, during which they had the freedom to interact with their team members. One week prior to the presentation session, students met for the second time and each one discussed about one learning objective and tried to solve the problem in a collaborative manner. At the end, each PBL group was asked to reflect on the collaborative learning process by responding to a questionnaire. Later, both CG and EG students were assessed by different facilitators using the PBL evaluation form and the scores were compared using paired t test. There was no significant difference in the scores between the groups; CG (Mean 13.98) and EG (Mean 13.60). However, EG students reflected that they enjoyed the collaborative learning process, and it made them more confident to present in the presentation session. They also felt that they could appreciate the multifarious modes of understanding a topic among the team members and the freedom of face to face interaction in the small group. Even though quantitative confirmation of the success of collaborative learning was not evident in our setting, students were urged to consciously get involved in collaborative learning prior to pbl presentation sessions.