Classroom audit: student self-performance, group performance, and tutor performance in a problem-based learning tutorial

The educational industry has been the subject of a number of enquiries throughout this century. Although some changes have been made in medical education in recent years, many improvements are still needed. Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of the innovative changes that have been made in many universities all over the world; the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Medical Centre has also adopted it as one of its major teaching modalities. A fundamental aspect of the effectiveness of PBL is classroom interpersonal skills. To investigate these interpersonal skills in terms of self-, group, and tutor performance, a questionnaire survey was administered to a group of ten first semester medical students at UKM Medical Centre during mid-2009. In terms of self-performance in decision making, this study revealed that the students made decisions by consensus, while 80% of the students understood other team members and asked questions to clarify. Furthermore, 70% of the students were aware of differences in thinking styles, while 90% were patient listeners. In regard to group performance, 90% of the students felt the group was discussing knowledge, and 100% felt that the group was sharing knowledge. Regarding tutor performance, all students were of the opinion that the tutor established rapport, demonstrated the ground rules of PBL well, and created a non-threatening learning environment. The characteristics of interpersonal skills required in PBL were maintained in this classroom. However, many more students should be aware of the differences in thinking styles among themselves to avoid conflict, and the role of the tutor is very important in this regard. This study reflects the audit of a single PBL classroom. Further audits involving other classrooms are recommended in order to promote organisational performance

Feedback in Work-Place Assessment: Lecturers’ Intentions and Final Year Medical Students’ Interpretations

This research evaluates the similarities and differences between lecturers’ intentions in providing performance feedback and how low and high achievers interpret this feedback. The research examines the discussions with the lecturers and students as to the sources of misinterpretations and the solutions which they agree on. In this mixed method case study, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. For the quantitative data, a population of 246 final year medical students were selected to answer a questionnaire to identify their expectations of their assessment lecturers’ feedback in the mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (Mini-CEX). 33 mini-CEX feedback sessions given by 14 Family Physician lecturers involving the selected students were audio recorded and analysed, both quantitatively and qualitatively, to determine feedback strategies. Three further sets of qualitative data were collected: the 14 Family Physician lecturers who gave the feedback to the students were interviewed. Also interviewed were 16 low achievers and 17 high achievers who were selected using stratified purposive sampling. Semi-structured telephone interviews identified the students’ interpretations of their lecturers’ feedback. Quantitative analyses showed that more than 90% of the students had high expectations towards all questionnaire statements related to the feedback except the statement about praise. Six themes emerged from the lecturers’ intentions and the low and high achievers’ interpretations. These are feedback as promoting self-regulated learning, feedback as increasing student motivation, feedback for positive reinforcement, feedback improves power sharing, feedback preserves fairness, and feedback as an opportunity. Each of the feedback strategies used by the lecturers may have more than one intention and interpretation. There are misinterpretations which were evident among the low and high achievers towards the lecturers’ feedback. For example, although the intention of adopting self-assessment is to promote self- iii regulated learning, several low and high achievers interpreted it as perceiving fairness in feedback. Low self-efficacy, test anxiety, lack of clarity of the assessment criteria, and learning culture are the four reasons that made the students disagree with the feedback. Discussions between lecturers and students highlighted seven sources and solutions of misinterpretations. This empirical study assists in creating understandings about the similarities and the differences of students’ interpretations of performance feedback. In practise, it also contributes new findings regarding sources and solutions to eliminate misinterpretations. Implications are offered for future research involving other populations of students in different years, faculties, institutions and learning culture

Audit Upon Graduation: UKM House Officers’ Competencies

AbstractAssessment of graduates’ competencies is an important part of continuous quality improvement of the medical curriculum and is aimed to ensure that graduates are well prepared. High quality medical education is vital to ensure high quality medical care. A cross sectional study was carried out in mid 2010 to investigate the UKM medical graduates’ perception about their competencies on different broad areas. Sample size consisted of 112 graduates who participated in this study. Data was collected by administering a questionnaire that contained different attributes of graduates’ confidence level in different broad area of competencies. Rating scale used in the questionnaire against each of the competencies was ranged from 1-10. The highest mean score obtained was 7.69 with SD 1.33, accredited to appropriate attitude, ethical understanding and legal responsibilities of the graduates while the lowest mean score was 7.26 with SD 1.26 that was accredited to the patient management skills of the graduate. The other components of skills measured were self directed learning, communication skills, clinical skills, personal development, patient investigation, appropriate information handling skills and appropriate decision making skills, clinical reasoning and judgement. UKM graduates perceived that they were well prepared for their role as house officers. However educational managers, especially the clinical teachers need to give particular attention to improve the patient management skills of the graduates

Self-evaluation in problem-based learning

Problem-based learning (PBL) was introduced to the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), in 1987. Since then, it has been improved and has become one of the faculty’s main teaching and learning methodologies. Self-evaluation is one of the most important elements in PBL. Through self-evaluation, one is able to appraise one’s own performance in terms of strengths and identify areas for improvement. However, developing the self-evaluation skill is difficult, and there are many factors that contribute to it. This study was designed to assess the self-evaluation skill and its contributory factors among 105 first-year UKM medical students. The level of self-evaluation skill was measured by mean marks discrepancies between the final marks given by students in their self-evaluation forms and those given by facilitators in their student evaluations over four modules in the first year. Students’ perceptions of their self-evaluation skills were obtained via self-administered questionnaires. Results from this study revealed that female students have better self-evaluation skill (69%) than male students (62%), although female students tend to significantly underrate their performance while males overrate theirs. Furthermore, self-evaluation skill improves with time. In conclusion, female students are better than male students at self-evaluation

The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on obstetrics & gynaecology specialist training in Malaysia: perception of clinical postgraduate students

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic that strucked the world had changed the global health system and caused changes in clinical practice and practitioners’ exposure. The aim of this research is to study the perception of UKM Obstetrics and gynaecology postgraduate students about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on their specialist training. Methods: The survey had been carried out through Google Form among students enrolled in Doctor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (DROG) program in UKM and consist of three sections; socio-demographic information, changes in role during COVID-19 and perception towards training. Quantitative analysis performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: Out of 47 respondents, 13 were working in MOH hospitals, 17 in UKM Hospital and 17 in both MOH and UKM hospitals. Total of 32 students (68.1%) felt increment in seeing obstetric patients and 31 students (65.9%) performed more obstetric procedures during COVID-19 pandemic. For gynaecology, 29 students (61.7%) claimed had been seeing less gynaecological patients and 40 students (85.1%) performed less gynaecological surgeries. Total of 35 students (74.5%) agreed that COVID-19 pandemic had affected their mental well-being and 42 students (89.4%) agreed their social well-being had been affected. Total of 43 trainees (91.5%) agreed that COVID-19 pandemic had negatively impacted their surgical skills in gynaecology and 38 students (80.1%) claimed their overall learning opportunities had been affected. Mean for training perception score is 52.53 and there is no significant difference in score mean among students according to difference in study year and training hospitals. Conclusion: COVID-19 pandemic had caused negative impact to the specialty training among Obstetrics & Gynaecology postgraduate students in UKM

Conceptualizing critical thinking learning transfer model: A qualitative approach

Purpose: Although there is a growing interest in Critical Thinking Learning Transfer (CTLT), previous studies have presented less detailed information regarding the transfer. Besides, a few pieces of literature have been focusing on medical contexts. In Malaysia, there are small number of reviews regarding the concept compared to other countries. This issue raises the question: How do the medical undergraduates in Malaysia transfer their critical thinking learning? Thus, the authors sought to explore CTLT process among medical undergraduates in Malaysia. Then, the authors synthesized the CTLT model which presented the types of CTLT. Methodology: This study adopted a qualitative case study approach. Eight medical undergraduates in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia were selected using two sampling strategies under the purposive sampling. Data obtained using in-depth interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: The findings showed three types of CTLT, namely near transfer, far transfer, and integrated transfer. Each types of the transfer were specified into components. In summary, the medical undergraduates’ conceptions on the CTLT process led to the development of a model. The model presented the types of CTLT that provide a better understanding about the extension of occurrence of CTLT among the medical undergraduates. Significance: The CTLT model presented extra value to the description of the CTLT process. This model led to a better understanding of the extension of critical thinking learning transfer occurrence among students especially in the context of early clinical year medical programme. Besides, the model may influence the future development of critical thinking pedagogies

Implementing Formative Assessment at the Workplace: A Retrospective Analyses

[EN] Nurturing formative assessment at the workplace is worthwhile to enhance students’ learning in real performance. Mini Clinical Evaluation Exercise (mini-CEX) is a work based assessment conducted at the community clinic during Family Medicine posting at the Faculty of Medicine of The National University of Malaysia. As part of formative assessment, students would be given immediate feedback after performing the first mini-CEX to improve their performance in the following mini-CEXs examination. This study was designed to evaluate the final year medical students’ achievement in formative assessment at the workplace. A quasi-experimental with repeated intervention methodological design by analysing a the scores of a group of 232 final year medical students who performed in mini-CEX 1 without receiving a feedback (intervention), and the scores after receiving a feedback in mini-CEX 2 and mini-CEX 3. This study was conducted at the Family Medicine Department in Faculty of Medicine, The National University of Malaysia. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 19.0. A One-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA was conducted to compare mean scores in three mini CEXs (mini-CEX 1 and mini-CEX 2 and mini-CEX 3). The mean score of the students’ achievement was 5.35±0.84 on the mini-CEX 1; 5.8±0.82 on the miniCEX 2; and 5.79±0.78 on the mini-CEX 3. The ANOVA showed that the mean scores were significantly different, F(2,462) = 34.36, p<0.0005). Further analyses showed that there were significant improvement of the students’ achievement in mini-CEX 2 or mini-CEX 3 compare to mini-CEX 1 (p<0.0005). However, result showed a non-significant improvement between mini-CEX 2 and mini-CEX 3. We concluded the element of feedback at the end of mini-CEX’s in the formative assessment may contribute to the improvement of the students’ achievement. The authenticity of the mini-CEX assessment and the reliability of the mini-CEX scores might explained to the poor students’ achievement. Further analyses are critical to explore the content of the feedback and its relation to the students’ achievement.Awang Besar, MN.; Ahmad, S.; Yaman, MN.; Kamarudin, MA.; Bujang, SM.; Davies, M.; Taras, M. (2015). Implementing Formative Assessment at the Workplace: A Retrospective Analyses. En 1ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HIGHER EDUCATION ADVANCES (HEAD' 15). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 613-619. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd15.2015.44661361