Directed self-guidance, whereby trainees independently practice a skill-set in a structured setting, may be an effective technique for novice training. Currently, however, most evaluation methods require an expert to be present during practice. The study aim was to determine if absolute symmetry error, a clinically important measure that can be…

Health professions education is dealing with major transformations in light of the changing nature of the health care delivery system, including the use of technology for "just in time" delivery of care, evidence-based practice, personalized medical care and learning, as health professionals strive to integrate biomedical advances and clinical…

This reflection is based on the premise that clinical education can be improved by more widespread use of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and that a roadmap will enable more medical educators to begin using CAI. The rationale for CAI use includes many of its inherent features such as incorporation of multimedia and interactivity yet the use of…

Teachers' reflections are often narrowly focused on technical questions ("how to") and less on the underlying moral, political and emotional aspects of their functioning. However, for a better understanding of teaching practice it is important to uncover beliefs and values that usually remain implicit. Meeting with others is considered crucial for…

Qualitative insights about students' personal experience of inconsistencies in implementation of problem-based learning (PBL) might help refocus expert discourse about good practice. Aim: This study explored how junior medical students conceptualize: PBL; good tutoring; and less effective sessions. Methods: Participants comprised junior medical…

The Tutotest is one of the few structured instruments developed for the assessment of students' learning skills in a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum. This study was designed to validate the Tutotest in a hybrid PBL curriculum. Forty-four tutors completed 370 evaluations on second to fourth year medical students at the end of the first…

Objectives: To use methods from the field of marketing research to involve students in the redesign of McMaster University's small group, problem-based undergraduate medical education program. Methods: We used themes from a focus group conducted in an electronic decision support lab to compose 14 four-level educational attributes. Undergraduate…

We live in a celebrity-obsessed world and our medical students are no more immune to the glamour of celebrity than anyone else. When teaching medical students about a certain medical illness I used to tell them about a celebrity who suffers from this illness. I did this to get their attention and to stimulate their interest but even though the…

Aim: To assess the influence of a graduate-entry PBL (problem-based learning) curriculum on individual learning style; and to investigate the relationship between learning style, academic achievement and clinical reasoning skill. Method: Subjects were first-year medical students completed the Study Process Questionnaire at the commencement, and…

Firstly, the many characteristics of expertise are examined: they include aspects of pattern recognition, knowledge, skill, flexibility, metacognitive monitoring, available cognitive space and teaching abilities. Secondly, three educational models from different domains(Nursing, Surgical Education, Education) are analysed, compared and contrasted,…

Objective: To compare the effects of active and didactic teaching strategies on learning- and process-oriented outcomes. Design: Controlled trial. Setting: After-hours residents' teaching session. Participants: Family and Community Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics residents at two academic medical institutions. Interventions: We…