Meral Demirören

Perceptions of Students in Different Phases of Medical Education of Educational Environment: Ankara University Faculty of Medicine

Abstract The present study was undertaken to identify the perceptions of students about their educational environment in a newly restructured curriculum. The Turkish version of the DREEM questionnaire (total score: 200) was used to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum which is known to be a major determinant of educational environment. Five hundred fifty three students (years 1, 3, 5) voluntarily replied to the questionnaire. The mean DREEM score was found to be 117.63 (58.8%). The mean scores for the whole DREEM questionnaire and the five essential domains were found to be significantly different in different phases of medical education. The scores were found to be highest (123.65) for year 3 students and lowest (109.39) for year 5 students. The results are the first data of a curriculum reform obtained from the students about the educational environment and give important feedback to curriculum planners and change managers of the faculty for necessary improvement.

Turkish students’ perceptions of professionalism at the beginning and at the end of medical education: a cross-sectional qualitative study

Aim Medical students’ perceptions of professionalism might reflect the impact of the current educational processes on their professional identity development. This study focuses on Ankara University Faculty of Medicine students’ perceptions of ‘good doctor’ along with the factors effective on the formation of these perceptions. Method Six focus groups with 59 medical students from Grade-1 and Grade-6 were held. The transcripts of discussions were analyzed thematically. Results Results regarding ‘being a good physician’ mostly mirrored the findings of previous studies framing the medical professionalism concept. The thematic pattern of the discussions on the relation between professional development and medical education suggests that students suffer from a gradual erosion of perception during medical education. That the education cannot either change the person for the better or might downgrade the person instead of improving her/him were shared by participants from both grades. Students consider clinical practice and role models two main variables determining the persons qualification as a professional. Conclusions The formal and hidden programs determine the quality and efficacy of the professional education together. Attempts to restructure medical education must recognize the reciprocal dynamics between these two components and, thus, should carefully work out the practical aspect of the educational processes.Aim Medical students’ perceptions of professionalism might reflect the impact of the current educational processes on their professional identity development. This study focuses on Ankara University Faculty of Medicine students’ perceptions of ‘good doctor’ along with the factors effective on the formation of these perceptions. Method Six focus groups with 59 medical students from Grade-1 and Grade-6 were held. The transcripts of discussions were analyzed thematically. Results Results regarding ‘being a good physician’ mostly mirrored the findings of previous studies framing the medical professionalism concept. The thematic pattern of the discussions on the relation between professional development and medical education suggests that students suffer from a gradual erosion of perception during medical education. That the education cannot either change the person for the better or might downgrade the person instead of improving her/him were shared by participants from both grades. Students consider clinical practice and role models two main variables determining the persons qualification as a professional. Conclusions The formal and hidden programs determine the quality and efficacy of the professional education together. Attempts to restructure medical education must recognize the reciprocal dynamics between these two components and, thus, should carefully work out the practical aspect of the educational processes.

Medical students’ self-efficacy in problem-based learning and its relationship with self-regulated learning

Background Problem-based learning (PBL) is most commonly used in medical education to enhance self-regulated learning (SRL) skills. Self-efficacy beliefs affect students’ motivation through self-regulatory processes. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between medical students’ self-reported SRL skills and their self-efficacy in PBL. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with second (286; 83.1%) and third (275; 80.2%) year students at the Ankara University School of Medicine. The SRL perception (SRLP) scale and self-efficacy for problem-based learning (SPBL) scale were used in the study. Results The SRLP subscales were positively correlated with the SPBL subscales. There was a weak but meaningful correlation between the subscales of SRLP (with the exception of the lack of self-directedness scale) and the subscales of SPBL and the students’ views on benefiting from PBL. The female students’ mean score was higher for the ‘planning and goal setting’ subscale of SRLP (p=0.017), and the second-year students’ mean score was higher than that of the third-year students for the ‘lack of self-directedness’ subscale of SRLP (p=0.001) with small effect sizes (Cohens d is 0.17 and 0.27). There was no statistically significant difference between the year and subscales of SPBL. With regard to gender, the female students had higher scores than the male students on the ‘responsibility’ subscale of SPBL (p=0.003; Cohens d=0.26). Conclusions The study showed that medical students used SRL skills and believed in their ability to learn effectively in the PBL context and demonstrated the relationship between SRL skills and self-efficacy beliefs. Monitoring students’ development in these skills and giving them feedback could be beneficial for the cognitive achievement of students with learning difficulties and insufficient study skills. Further studies need to be undertaken to investigate issues such as the curriculum, learning environment, individual differences, and how these can affect the SRL process.Background Problem-based learning (PBL) is most commonly used in medical education to enhance self-regulated learning (SRL) skills. Self-efficacy beliefs affect students’ motivation through self-regulatory processes. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between medical students’ self-reported SRL skills and their self-efficacy in PBL. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with second (286; 83.1%) and third (275; 80.2%) year students at the Ankara University School of Medicine. The SRL perception (SRLP) scale and self-efficacy for problem-based learning (SPBL) scale were used in the study. Results The SRLP subscales were positively correlated with the SPBL subscales. There was a weak but meaningful correlation between the subscales of SRLP (with the exception of the lack of self-directedness scale) and the subscales of SPBL and the students’ views on benefiting from PBL. The female students’ mean score was higher for the ‘planning and goal setting’ subscale of SRLP (p=0.017), and the second-year students’ mean score was higher than that of the third-year students for the ‘lack of self-directedness’ subscale of SRLP (p=0.001) with small effect sizes (Cohens d is 0.17 and 0.27). There was no statistically significant difference between the year and subscales of SPBL. With regard to gender, the female students had higher scores than the male students on the ‘responsibility’ subscale of SPBL (p=0.003; Cohens d=0.26). Conclusions The study showed that medical students used SRL skills and believed in their ability to learn effectively in the PBL context and demonstrated the relationship between SRL skills and self-efficacy beliefs. Monitoring students’ development in these skills and giving them feedback could be beneficial for the cognitive achievement of students with learning difficulties and insufficient study skills. Further studies need to be undertaken to investigate issues such as the curriculum, learning environment, individual differences, and how these can affect the SRL process.

Oyunlaştırmanın temel mikrobiyoloji eğitiminde öğrenmeye etkisi: Pilot çalışma

Amac: Bu calismanin amaci, temel mikrobiyoloji egitiminde oyunlastirma yonteminin ogrenme hedeflerine ulasma ve ogrenmenin kaliciligina etkisini arastirmak ve yontemin ogrencilerin ogrenme algilarina etkilerini degerlendirmektir. Gerec ve Yontem: Arastirma, Ankara Universitesi, Saglik Hizmetleri Meslek Yuksek Okulu, Tibbi Laboratuvar Teknikleri Bolumu’nde egitim goren 19 ogrenci uzerinde yapilmistir. Ogrenciler rastgele olarak iki gruba ayrilmistir. Kontrol grubuna sunum yapilmis, deney grubundan kendilerine verilen cesitli kirtasiye malzemeleri ve renkli bakteri sablonlarini kullanarak gram pozitif veya gram negatif bir bakteri olusturmalari istenmistir. Gruplar on-test, son-test ve kalicilik testi ile degerlendirilmis ve anket uygulanmistir.Kalicilik testi ogrencilere iki ay sonra uygulanmistir. Istatistiksel analizde Kruskal Wallis H, Mann-Whitney U ve Wilcoxon Signed Ranks testleri kullanilmistir. Bulgular: Gruplarin on-test, son-test ve kalicilik testi skorlari arasinda fark olmamakla birlikte her iki grubun skorlari ders sonrasinda anlamli olarak yukselmistir. Anketler karsilastirildiginda, kontrol grubunun egitim yonteminin ogrenmeye ve ogrenme surecine etkilerine dair maddelere daha yuksek notlar verdigi gorulmustur. Sonuc: Oyunlastirmanin daha motive edici, destekleyici ve dinamik bulunmasi nedeniyle, kucuk gruplarda mikrobiyoloji egitimini zenginlestirmek amaciyla iyi yapilandirilmis oyunlardan yararlanilabilir

Self-perceptions of problem-based curriculum graduates about their professional competency and quality of medical education

Meetings are important for educational development. New technology is exciting, inevitably with technological advancements come new challenges, academia being no exception. Plagiarism is a problem in research and technology to a certain extent makes it easier and worse which here is referred to as ‘Techno-plagiarism.’ The problems of ‘self-plagiarism’ and ‘ghost authorship’ are well recognised (McCuen 2008) among academics today. However, conference presentations bring new challenges with e-posters and power point presentations being universal. Globally, there is a dependence on mobile phones and their various applications, which are at the disposal of the user. The cameras, voice typing software and video recording options on mobile phones shed new light on techno-plagiarism. Members of an audience nowadays record voices, film and take photographs of presentation slides and posters rather than writing down key points. This use of technology may have a positive impact on the environment by reducing carbon footprints with less paper being used. Nevertheless, because of the use of this recorded research work, sometimes unpublished data has great potential of being used unreferenced and hence plagiarised. Thus, no adequate future referencing of the author or authors’ work may be done or appropriate credit given for intellectual property. Authors therefore depend on the ethical intelligence of their audience when their data is used to be acknowledged and referenced. An alternative is for the author(s) to provide contact details for further information to be obtained. Techno-plagiarism potentially enables research material to be used not only at a ‘local’ level but also internationally through the World Wide Web. The internet copy and paste phenomenon referred to as ‘cyberplagarism’ (Eysenbach 2000) is still an ongoing problem. Education about plagiarism should be paramount at the undergraduate level and reiterated at the postgraduate level as the pressure to publish papers is ever increasing. With growing awareness and individual professionalism, techno-plagiarism and poor internet referencing in academic writing could be tackled. Plagiarism is considered as unethical practice (McCuen 2008). Clinicians, in particular, do not act in a way to be deceptive towards patients as this would be professional misconduct. This rule should also hold with the use and delivery of research and other scientific information to colleagues. Different types and ways of plagiarism will continue to evolve in today’s high-tech era. Therefore, solutions through awareness and possibly conferences rules such as ‘no filming or photography’ during presentations may need to be implemented. Maryam Alfa-Wali Imperial College London Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Academic Surgery, Room 3.14 369 Fulham Road London SW10 9NH, UK E-mail: m.alfa-wali@imperial.ac.uk

Bir Öğrenme ve Değerlendirme Yöntemi Olarak “Portfolyo” = Portfolio As A Learning and Assessment Method

Egitim alanindaki gelismelerle birlikte, ogrenme kavrami da gelismekte “yasam boyu ogrenme” boyutunda ele alinmaktadir. Egitimdeki bu yeni anlayis dogrultusunda, degerlendirme yaklasimlari ve degerlendirme sureci yeniden duzenlenmekte ve yeni degerlendirme yaklasimlarina ihtiyac duyulmaktadir. Alternatif degerlendirme basligi altinda yer alan degerlendirme yaklasimlarindan biri de portfolyodur. Portfolyo, tip egitiminde egitimsel ve profesyonel ciktilarinin degerlendirilmesinde geleneksel degerlendirme yontemlerinin kisitliliklarini gidermek amaciyla giderek daha yaygin sekilde kullanilmaktadir. Bu yazi portfolyonun tanimi, guclu yanlari ve sinirliliklari, kuramsal temelleri, kullanim amaclari, portfolyonun gelistirilme surecleri ve degerlendirilmesi konularini icermektedir.