Early in the last century, two important events in higher education in the Americas had different degrees of impact on Cuban medical education. The fi rst was Abraham Flexner's 1910 report on quality of medical training in the United States and Canada, [1] which had particular infl uence on curriculum. The second was Argentina's Cordoba Reform of 1918, which had a signifi cant impact on university and political life in Cuba,[2] but less infl uence on curricular reform. [3] Although the Flexner report recommended and presaged a shift in health care models towards more focus on health promotion and disease prevention,[1] the main infl uence of his work on 20thcentury curricula in Cuba and elsewhere was his insistence on the need to strengthen the biomedical scientifi c foundation of medical education. This was refl ected in a curricular structure and content oriented toward hospital-based training emphasizing curative treatment for individual patients.[4] As a result, the basic biomedical sciences became the foundation of medical school curricula, offered as independent courses in the fi rst years of training, as in the case of anatomy, histology, embryology, physiology and biochemistry.
INTRODUCTION Problem-based learning harmonized with education in and for the community is the cornerstone of the curriculum for the undergraduate medical degree at Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha, South Africa. In tutorials, students construct knowledge and learn to work collaboratively while interacting with one another in their search for solutions to a pedagogically modeled health issue based on a patient. Problems cover students' needs defi ned by the learning cycle of the second year medical curriculum, organized into four learning blocks.OBJECTIVES Determine student perspectives on which factors affect tutorial group functioning and detect the reported presence of these factors in the four learning blocks comprising the second year of medical studies at Walter Sisulu University.METHODS Twenty second-year medical students were chosen by stratifi ed random sampling and assigned to two focus groups. One group discussed factors that foster smooth functioning of the tutorial group; the other focused on factors hindering effective group work.Later, in a joint session, 17 items previously identifi ed by both groups were selected and included in a survey given to all 97 students at the end of second year. The survey assessed presence of each item in 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 of the learning blocks. RESULTSSurvey response was 93.8%. Mean reported presence of factors that infl uenced tutorials in the four learning blocks was 2.71 (SD 0.31) for the social dimension, 3.02 for motivational (SD 0.02), 3.00 for cognitive (SD 0.42), and 2.22 for self-directed learning (SD 0.79).CONCLUSIONS Tutorial group performance at Walter Sisulu University is positively infl uenced more by motivational and cognitive factors than by social and self-directed learning factors. Social dimensions should be prioritized when training tutors and self-directed learning stressed for students. The poor productivity of extra-tutorial group discussions suggests the need for a critical evaluation of this activity.
Las Ciencias Básicas pueden ser un reto para los estudiantes en los primeros años de la carrera de Enfermería. En la Universidad Walter Sisulu, África del Sur, la conferencia es el método de enseñanza de la Anatomía en el primer semestre, mientras que en el segundo, los alumnos aprenden esta materia de modo activo y en grupos de colaboración. El propósito de este trabajo fue investigar la evaluación que los estudiantes hicieron de variables que impactan en su nuevo ambiente de aprendizaje, así como incursionar en la relación que pueda existir entre ellas para su interpretación. Todos los estudiantes que finalizaron el primer año en los cursos 2014-16 recibieron un cuestionario con 16 ítems, y el 80.7% (n=168) de las encuestas entregadas fue incluido en este trabajo. Se calculó la estadística descriptiva de las 16 variables y el análisis factorial exploratorio con extracción de factores comunes y rotación oblimin. Los participantes evaluaron satisfactoriamente atributos sobre ellos mismos, sobre el resto de los integrantes de su grupo y acerca del diseño del curso. El análisis factorial exploratorio permitió agrupar las variables en dos dimensiones, una relacionada con las habilidades cognitivas del individuo y la regulación de su aprendizaje, y otra segunda dimensión referida a las relaciones e inter-acciones sociales que se despliegan entre los individuos cuando aprenden en colaboración. Learning Basic Sciences can be a challenge for first year nursing students. At Walter Sisulu University (South Africa), learning Anatomy is lecture-based in the first semester, but active and collaborative in the second semester. This paper investigated how students assessed their Anatomy learning environment of the second semester, as well as explored the possibility to group the variables studied. A questionnaire with 16 items was handed to all students at the end of academic years 2014-16, and 80.7% (n=168) of the total, was included in this study. Descriptive statistic of the variables was calculated and exploratory factor analysis with maximum likelihood extraction was the mean to explore the dimensionality of the scale. Participants satisfactorily assessed items related to attributes of the individual, attributes of the other members of her/his group, as well as the design of the course. Variables could be grouped into two dimensions: the first dimension being related to the cognitive strategies and skills that the individual as an agent displayed maximizing the learning opportunities afforded by the course, and, the other dimension related to the social relations and interactions that unfold among students when they learn in collaboration.
La inhibición a participar y su nexo con percibir una tutor ía diferente mayra gari, jehu iputo How do students who feel "not free to participate" perceived their tutorial sessions in problem based learning? (Rev Med Chile 2015; 143: 1191-1197
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