138 Chapter 7 Students’ perspectives on active learning Students’ perspectives on active learning was addressed in Chapters 2, 3, and 4. In Chapters 2 and 3, medical students’ appreciation of small-group active learning was explored. In Chapter 4, we studied the process of in-class student engagement. Chapter 2 reported on a Q-methodology study we conducted among first-year students to explore when and why students appreciated active learning as an element of their medical training (1). Fifty-two participants completed the Q-sorting procedure and answered questions to elaborate on their opinions, resulting in the identification of four student profiles. Each profile represented a shared viewpoint of a subset of students, characterized by specific study motives and preferences for learning from small-group active learning. The four profiles were: 1) Understanding-oriented, 2) Assessment-oriented, 3) Group-oriented, and 4) Practice-oriented. Table 7.2 summarizes these profiles, delineating the perceptions of students within a profile regarding their roles and responsibilities, their study groups, their tutors, and their expectations of their medical school. Students in this study reported increased motivation and engagement when their educational experiences aligned with their viewpoint. This study offered insight into the challenge teachers face in engaging all students in a class: students’ motives and preferences are varied and can be conflicting. In Chapter 3, we invited the same participants of the Q-methodology study, three years after their original contribution, to participate in a study that repeated the study procedure of the previous study. The objective was to explore if, how, and why their appreciation of small-group active learning had changed (2). Twenty students participated in this second Q-methodology study, of which seven partook in an additional interview to reflect on the reasons for changes (or lack thereof) in their appreciation. We identified two additional student profiles: 1) Success-oriented and 2) Development-oriented. The summary of these profiles can be found on the right side of Table 7.2. The interviews revealed that changes in student appreciation of active learning could be attributed to personal growth, realization of the importance of interpersonal aspects of learning, experiences with different teachers, and curricular factors. These changes in appreciation of active learning translated into different expectations from the learning process (i.e., different expectations of themselves, their peers, teachers, and their medical program), necessitating a modified educational approach. This study illustrated the dynamic nature of student appreciation of active learning, indicating the value of regular discussions with students to understand their motivation and drivers for engagement to stimulate their engagement.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw