Obtaining Impactful Feedback from Students: A Continuous Quality Improvement Approach to Enhance the Quality of Students’ Feedback.

Academic institutions collect student feedback to improve their curriculum and teaching quality. At the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (YLLSoM), National University of Singapore (NUS), the feedback is also used to disburse funds to clinical teaching sites as well as to make decisions on faculty performance. There are studies on the benefits and uses of measurement tools (e.g. student ratings) to evaluate university courses, however, studies evaluating the process of effecting changes to the system are few. In this study, the authors discuss the limitations of the student feedback system/processes and the way new changes were instituted to overcome these limitations at YLLSoM, NUS. This study highlights the importance of constantly reviewing the feedback mechanism to obtain better inputs for improving the learning environment. Our findings are particularly useful for the training of clinical teachers in Asian and new medical schools, who can learn from our strengths to meet the required standards.

Hybrid PBL – Hub format an innovative design for effective small group learning.

Designing effective small group learning can be a challenge for any institution involved in higher education. Problem Based Learning (PBL) has been in existence as an innovative and student centred learning method for the past five decades. From its simple origin at McMaster University, Canada, PBL has spread across the globe and its complexity has also evolved as a learning system. Due to limitations in resources, many Medical and Health Professional schools have incorporated PBL with other didactic teacher centred learning modalities. This is known as the hybrid curricula model. However, the hybrid model sometimes creates unwarranted competition between PBL and other modalities of teaching, leading to ineffective learning and tutor dissatisfaction. Using the hybrid PBL model to contextualize and integrate subject matter learnt through didactic and teacher led teaching learning modalities could circumvent these limitations. This is known as the “Hub format” of the hybrid model. The Hub format while allowing integration of content matter, allows the learner to discover relevant new knowledge for future learning and practice. It also facilitates the teachers to align student assessment to their learning, leading to improved student engagement in PBL and their motivation for learning.

Professionalism as inspiration and discernment in educating medical students and trainees.

We propose that the various meanings of ‘professionalism’ in the literature can usefully be grouped as 1) professionalism denoting ‘excellence in medical practice’ and 2) professionalism as it relates to ‘meeting certain standards.’ These groupings lead to two complementary pedagogical goals and teaching strategies in terms of inspiration and discernment. These strategies address both the need for an aspirational goal, and for achievable standards in attaining clinical competence, understanding of ethics, and skills in communication. Achieving these standards then provides a base for the eventual expression of professionalism which is understood in terms of virtues—such as excellence, humanism, accountability and altruism. Some of the implications for medicine as a profession are discussed if it is to claim these virtues in professional practice. We suggest that disciplinary issues be dealt with separately from teaching programmes as they relate (in most cases) to a small proportion of students and clinicians who have difficulty in maintaining required standards of professionalism. We illustrate this approach to teaching professionalism by reference to a programme at the Yong Lin Loo School of Medicine in the National University of Singapore.

Strategies for planning and designing medical curricula and clinical teaching.

Student learning is an active and constructive process. The role of a teacher is to provide an environment in which students are able to actively engage with subject matter in order to learn it. This article examines the principal features of good curriculum, course and lesson design and discusses ways in which doctors, in their roles as teachers of medical students and medical trainees can ensure that their teaching prompts learners’ engagement in the learning process.