Introduction of student-led physiology tutorial classes to atraditional curriculum

摘要

The curriculum inthe University of Ruhuna Medical School is of the traditional type.Most teaching activities are faculty member-led activities. Sincestudent-centered learning processes are considered to improve certainskills and attitudes, we introduced student-led group classes (SGCs) inphysiology. Depending on the outcome of the SGCs, we planned todevelop it further. We designed this study to compare student percep-tions on newly introduced SGCs with traditional tutorials (TTs).Student perceptions were assessed using a mixed qualitative andquantitative method. Students recognized and appreciated some fa-vorable features of the SGC, such as the opportunity for discussion,quality of the knowledge, active participation, improvement of pre-sentation ability, and increased breadth of knowledge. However, themajority of students preferred the 'FT over the SGC despite thehighlighted benefits of the SGC. Students appreciated the focusedlearning for examinations, written preparation, and more tutor in-volvement in the TT. Students requested a hybrid of the TT and SGCby incorporating mandatory written answers to the SGC with greatercontributions from faculty members. Assessment methods that werenot aligned with the SGC and ingrained passive didactic teaching-learning methods by students and faculty members had a negativeeffect on the implementation of SGCs. Cultural and economicalfactors also contributed adversely. In the second step of this Plan-Do-Check-Act process, we are planning to introduce new formativeassessment to assess higher-order cognitive skills and a compulsorytutor training program. Some favorable components from the TT willbe incorporated to the SGC.