Can Individualized Learning Plans in an advanced clinical experience course for fourth year medical students foster Self-Directed Learning?

Maribeth B Chitkara,Roderick A Go,Howard Fleit,Latha Chandran,Wei-Hsin Lu,Daniel Satnick

doi:10.1186/s12909-016-0744-8

Maribeth B Chitkara, Roderick A Go + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-016-0744-8

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Abstract

BackgroundResidency programs have utilized Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs) to customize resident education while undergraduate medical education has not done so in a meaningful way. We discuss the use of ILPs within a fourth year medical school course to facilitate self-directed learning (SDL).MethodsAt Stony Brook University School of Medicine, an ILP component was added to the Advanced Clinical Experience (ACE) course for fourth year students. Each completed an ILP outlining personal learning goals and strategies to achieve them. An adaptation of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) (Duncan T and McKeachie W, Educ Psych 40(2):117-128, 2005 and Cook DA et al., Med Ed 45:1230-1240, 2011) was used to measure success of ILPs in improving SDL. Qualitative data analysis was conducted on the ILPs and self-reflections.ResultsForty-eight students participated. Two of the four SDL sub-domains identified on the MSLQ showed improvement; self-efficacy (p = .001) and self-regulation (p = .002). ‘Medical Knowledge’ was the competency most frequently identified as an area of concentration (90 %) and professionalism was selected least frequently (4 %). A higher percentage (83 %) of students who reported complete achievement of their ILP goals also reported feeling better prepared for entering residency.ConclusionsILPs improve SDL strategies among medical students and may serve as useful tools to help shape future learning goals as they transition to residency training.

Highlights

Residency programs have utilized Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs) to customize resident education while undergraduate medical education has not done so in a meaningful way
Of the 84 students enrolled in the selected Advanced Clinical Experience (ACE) courses during the 2012–2013 and the 2013–2014 academic years, 48 students volunteered to participate. (n = 48; 57.14 % participation rate); twenty-three were in the Internal Medicine ACE (48 % of the 48 participating students) and twenty-five were in the Pediatrics ACE (52 % of the 48 participating students)
Results from our study indicate that inclusion of ILPs in undergraduate medical education improves self-directed learning (SDL) strategies among students

Summary

Introduction

Residency programs have utilized Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs) to customize resident education while undergraduate medical education has not done so in a meaningful way. When planning an educational experience faculty should consider the diversity of learner interests, motivations, and learning strategies [4]. An increasing number of residency programs have found success utilizing Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs) to customize education experiences with respect to interests, motivations, and learning strategies [2]. ILPs provide a specific format for trainees to identify contentbased learning objectives, outline strategies for implementation of goals, and routinely re-assess progress. Goals can be short-term or long-term, knowledge-based; “I will focus on learning developmental milestones during my pediatric primary care week by performing developmental assessments on children of different ages”, or process-based; “I will practice my oral presentations on daily rounds and seek feedback at the end of each week from supervising physicians”

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