Development and Implementation of a Learning Community in the Curriculum for Undergraduate Medical Students / 의학교육논단

ABSTRACT

Learning communities in medical education have demonstrated favorable outcomes in terms of students’ learning, professional development, and wellness. Despite these strengths and the widespread adoption of learning communities in US medical schools, there has been little interest in medical learning communities in Korea. In this context, the present study examined the development and implementation of the Yonsei Medical Learning Community (YMLC) and analyzed its outcomes and areas of improvement. The Yonsei University College of Medicine has operated a learning community as part of the undergraduate medical education curriculum since 2014. The YMLC is the first program of its type in Korea. The overall structure of the YMLC consists of four distinct communities (pillars), which are named after four distinguished alumni, and each pillar is organized into five learning community classes. Each class is vertically integrated across students in different medical school years, and one faculty advisor is matched to about 30 students. As the YMLC focuses on fostering reflective practice in students and providing them with opportunities to build teamwork and experience social relatedness, two educational approaches have been adopted reflective writing and mentoring and community activities. In this study, we obtained and analyzed second-year students’ feedback on the YMLC curriculum and identified its achievements, merits, and areas that need improvement. The results have shown that over 75% and 60% of respondents reported satisfaction with reflective writing and mentoring and community activities, respectively. The educational activities of the learning community helped students regularly reflect on their learning and progress and establish close relationships with faculty advisors. However, several areas of improvement regarding content, format, and logistical issues were also identified. The present findings may provide valuable information for other institutions to develop learning communities relevant to their own context.