Developing a Research-Focused Learning Community at One Medical School

Abstract

This report describes the development of a research-focused learning community at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio (USA). At its outset, the collaboration among students, faculty, and administrators was not perceived to be a learning community. It formed around the goal of helping students to find faculty research mentors for student-initiated elective courses and extracurricular projects. It brought together peer-based academic support efforts and student services provided by the medical school administration. Over time it developed into a series of meetings, lectures, workshops, and symposia where students and faculty could discuss research and career issues in professional settings. In the past year, the collaboration was named the Research Learning Community (RLC) as the organizing principle for two new student research elective courses. With its emphasis on research experiences for students, the RLC represents a new application of a learning community model at a medical school, and it suggests promising directions for educational research about student and faculty engagement in the learning environments.