Doctorates by thesis and publication in clinical medicine: an analysis of examiners' reports

National and institutional policies to escalate the production of doctorates have raised concerns about the quality of PhDs in South Africa. This study evaluates examiner reports of doctorates by thesis and publication in clinical medicine to ascertain the criteria that examiners used to define a successful doctoral thesis. A qualitative hermeneutic approach through document analysis was taken, involving 54 national and international examiner reports of 18 doctoral theses, half of which were by publication. The examiners rated the majority (81%) of these theses to be of a high quality. Our results show a scatter of positive and negative aspects distributed across all 18 theses, with corresponding commendations and criticisms. Notably, almost equal emphasis was placed on conceptual and communication issues. Ratings per thesis were not always concordant, with five theses each given widely divergent ratings by three respective examiners. The study also found differences in ratings between examiners, based on whether they were medical or non- medical, international or national, and with or without PhDs themselves. While no single criterion was identifiable as being diagnostic of doctoral quality, the identified strengths and shortcomings of these theses serve as a useful platform for supervisors and students aspiring to cross the doctoral threshold

“For most of us Africans, we don’t just speak”: a qualitative investigation into collaborative heterogeneous PBL group learning

Collaborative approaches such as Problem Based Learning (PBL) may provide the opportunity to bring together diverse students but their efficacy in practice and the complications that arise due to the mixed ethnicity needs further investigation. This study explores the key advantages and problems of heterogeneous PBL groups from the students’ and teachers’ opinions. Focus groups were conducted with a stratified sample of second year medical students and their PBL teachers. We found that students working in heterogeneous groupings interact with students with whom they don’t normally interact with, learn a lot more from each other because of their differences in language and academic preparedness and become better prepared for their future professions in multicultural societies. On the other hand we found students segregating in the tutorials along racial lines and that status factors disempowered students and subsequently their productivity. Among the challenges was also that academic and language diversity hindered student learning. In light of these the recommendations were that teachers need special diversity training to deal with heterogeneous groups and the tensions that arise. Attention should be given to create ‘the right mix’ for group learning in diverse student populations. The findings demonstrate that collaborative heterogeneous learning has two sides that need to be balanced. On the positive end we have the ‘ideology’ behind mixing diverse students and on the negative the ‘practice’ behind mixing students. More research is needed to explore these variations and their efficacy in more detail

Overcoming cross-cultural group work tensions: mixed student perspectives on the role of social relationships

As universities worldwide rapidly internationalise, higher education classrooms have become unique spaces for collaboration between students from different countries. One common way to encourage collaboration between diverse peers is through group work. However, previous research has highlighted that cross-cultural group work can be challenging and has hinted at potential social tensions. To understand this notion better, we have used robust quantitative tools in this study to select 20 participants from a larger classroom of 860 students to take part in an in-depth qualitative interview about cross-cultural group work experiences. Participant views on social tensions in cross-cultural group work were elicited using a unique mediating artefact method to encourage reflection and in-depth discussion. In our analysis of emergent interview themes, we compared student perspectives on the role of social relationships in group work by their academic performance level. Our findings indicated that all students interviewed desired the opportunity to form social relationships with their group work members, but their motivations for doing so varied widely by academic performance level

Students' and junior doctors' preparedness for the reality of practice in sub-Saharan Africa

Item does not contain fulltextBACKGROUND: Evidence tailored to sub-Saharan Africa on outcomes of innovations in medical education is needed to encourage and advance their implementation in this region. AIM: To investigate preparedness for practice of students and graduates from an innovative and a conventional medical curriculum in a sub-Saharan African context. METHODS: Using mixed methods we compared junior doctors and fifth-year students from two Mozambican medical schools: one with an innovative problem- and community-based curriculum and one with a conventional lecture- and discipline-based curriculum. A questionnaire on professional competencies was administered, semi-structured interviews were conducted, and work diaries were collected. The findings were integrated in a conceptual model. RESULTS: Six areas of tension between global health care ideals and local health care practice emerged from the data that challenged doctors' motivation and preparedness for practice. Four elements of the innovative curriculum equipped students and graduates with skills, attitudes and competencies to better cope with these tensions. Students and graduates from the innovative curriculum rated significantly higher levels on various competencies and expressed more satisfaction with the curriculum and its usefulness for their work. CONCLUSION: An innovative problem- and community-based curriculum can improve sub-Saharan African doctors' motivation and preparedness to tackle the challenges of health care practice in this region