Background: Logbooks are widely used to set learning outcomes and to structure and standardize teaching in clinical settings. Experience shows that logbooks are not always optimally employed in clinical training. In this article, we have summarized our own experiences as well as results of studies into twelve tips on how to successfully implement logbooks into clinical settings. Methods: We conducted both a workshop concerning the importance of logbook training to exchange experiences in teaching practice, organization, didactic knowledge and a literature research to compare our own experiences and add additional aspects. Results: Tips include the process of developing the logbook itself, the change-management process, conditions of training and the integration of logbooks into the curriculum. Conclusions: Logbooks can be a valuable tool for training in clinical settings, especially when multiple sites are involved, when you take our tips into consideration.

Progress testing as a longitudinal method allows us to better understand the development of knowledge during formal undergraduate education. The main difference between traditional and problem-based medical education seems to be provoked by the high-stakes national examination undertaken in the traditional course (the Physikum).

Participants in computer-based tests are not at a disadvantage in terms of their test results. The computer-based test required less processing time. The reason for the longer processing time when using the paper-pencil version might be due to the time needed to write the answer down, controlling for transferring the answer correctly. It is still not known why students using the computer version (particularly low-performing students) guess at a higher rate. Further studies are necessary to understand this finding.

Low stakes assessment without grading the performance of students in educational systems has received increasing attention in recent years. It is used in formative assessments to guide the learning process as well as in large-scales assessments to monitor educational programs. Yet, such assessments suffer from high variation in students' test-taking effort. We aimed to identify institutional strategies related to serious test-taking behavior in low stakes assessment to provide medical schools with practical recommendations on how test-taking effort might be increased. First, we identified strategies that were already used by medical schools to increase the serious test-taking behavior on the low stakes Berlin Progress Test (BPT). Strategies which could be assigned to self-determination theory of Ryan and Deci were chosen for analysis. We conducted the study at nine medical schools in Germany and Austria with a total of 108,140 observations in an established low stakes assessment. A generalized linear-mixed effects model was used to assess the association between institutional strategies and the odds that students will take the BPT seriously. Overall, two institutional strategies were found to be positively related to more serious test-taking behavior: discussing low test performance with the mentor and consequences for not participating. Giving choice was negatively related to more serious test-taking behavior. At medical schools that presented the BPT as evaluation, this effect was larger in comparison to medical schools that presented the BPT as assessment.

BackgroundLow-stakes tests are becoming increasingly important in international assessments of educational progress, and the validity of these results is essential especially as these results are often used for benchmarking. Test scores in these tests not only mirror students’ ability but also depend on their test-taking effort. One way to obtain more valid scores from participating samples is to identify test-takers with low test-taking effort and to exclude them from further analyses. Self-assessment is a convenient and quick way of measuring test-taking effort. We present the newly developed Test-taking Effort Short Scale (TESS), which comprises three items measuring attainment value/intrinsic value, utility value, and perceived benefits, respectively.MethodsIn a multicenter validation study with N = 1837 medical students sitting a low-stakes progress test we analyzed item and test statistics including construct and external validity.ResultsTESS showed very good psychometric properties. We propose an approach using stanine norms to determine a cutoff value for identifying participants with low test-taking effort.ConclusionWith just three items, TESS is shorter than most established self-assessment scales; it is thus suited for administration after low-stakes progress testing. However, further studies are necessary to establish its suitability for routine usage in assessment outside progress testing.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-018-1196-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Recently, medical students’ scientific thinking skills have been identified as an important issue in medical education. Scientific thinking cannot be imparted in conventional lectures, but rather requires actively involving students. We modified a practical course in physiology. A study was designed to test whether the new course fosters scientific thinking without impairing the transfer of physiological knowledge. The study group consisted of 226 first-year medical students at the Medical Faculty Mannheim of Heidelberg University. Written consent to participate in the study was obtained from all participants. The group was then randomly divided into two groups (traditional vs. modified course). The subject of both courses was a laboratory experiment in skeletal muscle physiology. In the traditional course, the students addressed topics already presented in lectures. In the modified course, students dealt with the same topics as in the traditional course, but the experiment was expanded to include one issue not taught before. When working on this issue, the students were instructed in scientific thinking. All participants filled out a questionnaire with 15 multiple-choice questions addressing the physiological subject matter and four open-ended questions addressing the criteria of scientific methodology. Physiological knowledge in both groups did not differ [ F(1) = 2.08, P = 0.15]. Scores in scientific thinking in the modified course were higher (mean = 4.20, SD = 1.89) than in the traditional course (mean = 2.04, SD = 1.91) with F(1) = 70.69, P < 0.001, η2 = 0.24 (large effect). Our study demonstrates that small adjustments to courses in medical education can promote scientific thinking without impairing knowledge transfer.

Since 2006 the practical year in the Mannheim Reformed Curriculum Medicine (MaReCuM) is divided into four quarters: the two required subjects (surgery and internal medicine), one elective and one of four offered fields in ambulatory medicine. Therefore students can more intensively focus on their preferences in the practical year. In the present article we describe the provided surgical training sites, the organisation of the practical year, the surgical training itself and the quality management. We provide answers to the following questions: does dividing the practical year into quarters have a (negative) influence on the grades of final exams; how interested, motivated and satisfied are students in the different (surgical) quarters of the practical year and in which quarter(s) can new generation staff be recruited? We used results of the final exams of three cohorts of the traditional Mannheim track and three cohorts of MaReCuM, as well as the results of the Mannheim Questionnaire of Satisfaction with Training Conditions in the Practical Year of Medical Education from the regular evaluation of three practical year cohorts within two years. Dividing the practical year into quarters is possible and can be organised together with the new "mandatory subject" ambulatory medicine. The introduction of quarters has no negative effects on the results of final exams. The assignment in the surgical field from students' perspectives with regard to motivation, interest, knowledge and satisfaction with training is comparable to surgical electives. Therefore recruitment of new staff is possible either in the surgical elective or in the surgical area of ambulatory medicine.