Alignment between learning needs and learning goals of Mini-CEX in clerkships

Background: Defining learning goals (LG) in alignment with learning needs (LN) is one of the key purposes of formative workplace-based assessment, but studies about this topic are scarce. Summary of Work: We analysed quantitatively and qualitatively how often trainer-student pairs identified the same LN during Mini Clinical Evaluation Exercises (Mini-CEX) in clerkships and to what degree those LNs were in line with the recorded LGs. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to predict LGs by identified LNs, controlling for context variables. Summary of Results: 512 trainers and 165 students conducted 1783 Mini-CEX (98% completion rate). Concordantly, trainer-student pairs most often identified LNs in the domains ‘clinical reasoning’ (23% of 1167 complete forms), ‘organisation / efficiency’ (20%) and ‘physical examination’ (20%). At least one ‘defined’ LG was noted on 313 student forms (18% of 1710), with a total of 446 LGs. Of these, the most frequent LGs were ‘physical examination’ (49% of 446 LGs) and ‘history taking’ (21%); corresponding LNs as well as context variables (e.g. clinic size) were found to be predictors of these LGs. Discussion and Conclusions: Although trainer-student pairs often agreed in their identified LNs, many assessments did not result in an aligned LG or a LG at all. Interventions are needed to enhance the proportion of (aligned) LGs in Mini-CEX in order to tap into its full potential not only as a ‘diagnostic’ but also as an ‘educational tool’. Take-home messages: The sparseness of LGs, their dependency on context variables and their partial non-alignment with students’ LNs raise the question of how the effectiveness of Mini-CEX can be further enhanced.

Social skills as predictors of communication, performance and quality of collaboration in project-based learning

The assumption that social skills are necessary ingredients of collaborative learning is well established but rarely empirically tested. In addition, most theories on collaborative learning focus on social skills only at the personal level, while the social skill configurations within a learning group might be of equal importance. Using the integrative framework, this study investigates which social skills at the personal level and at the group level are predictive of task-related e-mail communication, satisfaction with performance and perceived quality of collaboration. Data collection took place in a technology-enhanced long-term project-based learning setting for pre-service teachers. For data collection, two questionnaires were used, one at the beginning and one at the end of the learning cycle which lasted 3 months. During the project phase, the e-mail communication between group members was captured as well. The investigation of 60 project groups (N = 155 for the questionnaires; group size: two or three students) and 33 groups for the e-mail communication (N = 83) revealed that personal social skills played only a minor role compared to group level configurations of social skills in predicting satisfaction with performance, perceived quality of collaboration and communication behaviour. Members from groups that showed a high and/or homogeneous configuration of specific social skills (e.g., cooperation/compromising, leadership) usually were more satisfied and saw their group as more efficient than members from groups with a low and/or heterogeneous configuration of skills.

Learning styles vary among general surgery residents: analysis of 12 years of data

PURPOSE: Understanding the learning styles of individuals may assist in the tailoring of an educational program to optimize learning. General surgery faculty and residents have been characterized previously as having a tendency toward particular learning styles. We seek to understand better the learning styles of general surgery residents and differences that may exist within the population. METHODS: The Kolb Learning Style Inventory was administered yearly to general surgery residents at the University of Cincinnati from 1994 to 2006. This tool allows characterization of learning styles into 4 groups: converging, accommodating, assimilating, and diverging. The converging learning style involves education by actively solving problems. The accommodating learning style uses emotion and interpersonal relationships. The assimilating learning style learns by abstract logic. The diverging learning style learns best by observation. Chi-square analysis and analysis of variance were performed to determine significance. RESULTS: Surveys from 1994 to 2006 (91 residents, 325 responses) were analyzed. The prevalent learning style was converging (185, 57%), followed by assimilating (58, 18%), accommodating (44, 14%), and diverging (38, 12%). At the PGY 1 and 2 levels, male and female residents differed in learning style, with the accommodating learning style being relatively more frequent in women and assimilating learning style more frequent in men (Table 1, p < or = 0.001, chi-square test). Interestingly, learning style did not seem to change with advancing PGY level within the program, which suggests that individual learning styles may be constant throughout residency training. If a resident's learning style changed, it tended to be to converging. In addition, no relation exists between learning style and participation in dedicated basic science training or performance on the ABSIT/SBSE. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggests that learning style differs between male and female general surgery residents but not with PGY level or ABSIT/SBSE performance. A greater understanding of individual learning styles may allow more refinement and tailoring of surgical programs.