Integrated Interactive Tutorial for Dental Students to Teach Medical Subjects - An Innovative Approach to Effective Learning

Abstract

Background: The students in medical and dental courses are usually focused on achieving good grades in the examinations. They tend to forget the knowledge gained in pre and paraclinical subjects and hence application of knowledge to the practical life situations suffers. There is a need to change this attitude of “learning only for exams” to “learning for applying the knowledge” for good care of the patients. It is well known that integrated teaching leads to better understanding of the topic than the traditional teaching. Aims and Objectives: Aim was to promote active self learning and develop skills of integrating knowledge. The objectives were to: (1)Introduce the integrated interactive learning method through two departments, (2) To obtain feedback from the students and faculty. Methods: An innovative approach of integrated interactive tutorial was tried among second year students of Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course. Students were asked to prepare the Physiology and Pathology of a common clinical condition over a week’s time. During the session, students asked questions on physiology and pathology of that condition from each other. The teachers acted only as facilitators. These sessions were conducted for three consecutive years. After each session, the authors obtained the feedback of students and faculty on their satisfaction and learning experience of this alternative learning strategy. Results: Majority of students felt that this method of learning helped to develop reasoning skills, motivated them towards active self learning and leads to better and deeper understanding of the topic. Conclusion: Integrated interactive tutorial proves to be an easy and learner centred approach to effective learning.