Purpose: Learning focus has shifted from conventional teacher-centered to student-centered; therefore, methods used to support and encourage learners must be considered. Meanwhile, the individual differences between learners should be taken into consideration by medical educators. Aiming to achieve a better learning experience, the current study investigates the relationship between personality traits and learning styles and their effect on students' academic achievement. Subjects and Methods: An analytical, cross-sectional study, encompassing a sample of 333 undergraduate first-year medical students, at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University in Egypt was conducted. The Big Five personality traits test and VARK learning styles questionnaires were used to assess students' personality traits and learning styles, respectively, in the medical education module which is a part of the Foundation II module. The former is five weeks' duration and is followed by a summative exam at the end. Students' academic achievement was determined from their grades in Foundation II module by the end of the semester. Results: Study findings generally indicate that the highest domain of learning styles among students is the kinesthetic domain. A statistically significant difference between males and females regarding their learning style preferences was detected. Also, there was a statistically significant relationship between auditory and kinesthetic learning styles and academic achievement. Though there was a significant relationship between kinesthetic learning style with both openness traits and academic achievement, no significant statistical relationship was found between any of the personality traits and academic achievement. Conclusion:This study concludes that learning style could affect students' academic achievement. It reveals that the kinesthetic learning style is the most preferred learning style among our medical students, also the agreeableness and openness traits were the most common personality traits among them. No significant relationship was detected between personality traits and academic achievement.

Background With the strike of Covid-19, an unprecedented rapid shift to remote learning happened worldwide with a paradigm shift to online learning from an institutional adjuvant luxury package and learner choice into a forced solo choice. This raises the question of quality assurance. While some groups have already established standards for online courses, teaching and programs yet very little information is included on methodology of their development and very little emphasis is placed on the online learning experience. Nevertheless, no work has been done specifically for medical education institutions. Aim To develop a set of descriptors for best practice in online learning in medical education utilizing existing expertise and needs. Methods This work utilizes a qualitative multistage approach to identify the descriptors of best practice in online learning starting with a question guided focus group, thematic analysis, Delphi technique and an expert consensus session done simultaneously for triangulation. This was done involving 32 institution in 19 countries. Results This materialized into the development of a set of standards, indicators, and development of a checklist for each standard area. The standard areas identified were organizational capacity, educational effectiveness, and human resources each of which listed a number of standards. Expert consensus sessions identified the need for qualification of data and thus the development of indicators for best practice. Conclusion Standards are needed for online learning experience and their development and redesign is situational and needs to be enhanced methodologically in axes that are pertaining to the needs of the education community. Taking such axes into consideration by educators and institutions will lead to planning and implementing successful online learning activities, while taking them into consideration by the evaluators will help them conduct comprehensive audits and provide stakeholders with highly informative evaluation reports.

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Background: One of the essential considerations while designing an OSCE exam is “standard-setting”, which refers to the score with which a student could be considered to pass or fail an exam. The selection of proper standard-setting method is based on different criteria, including the applicability of the method, the university bylaws, and the purpose of the test. Objectives: To examine the difference between four different standard-setting methods: the modified Cohen’s, borderline regression, Hofstee methods, and the fixed 60% arbitrary method in determining the passing score in ophthalmology OSCE exam. Methods: Two periodic ophthalmology OSCE were selected to examine the differences in failure rates and pass scores. The four standard setting methods were applied with a sample size that included 38 (year 5 undergraduate) students at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University. Results: Modified Cohen’s method resulted in the lowest passing score (54% and 58%), while the Hofstee method led to the highest passing score (69.2% and 75%). Comparing the percentage of students who are supposed to pass the exam, we can observe that there is no statistically significant difference among these standard-setting methods were used except for the Hofstee method. Conclusions: There is no single best method for setting the passing mark of an exam. We could obtain more practical outcomes if we considered more than one method and the average pass mark.

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