Setting Students Up for Success: A Short Interactive Workshop Designed to Increase Effective Study Habits

INTRODUCTION: Research shows that students generally utilize ineffective learning techniques such as massed practice and rereading. We developed an interactive workshop to teach first-year medical students highly effective learning techniques. Students often believe they know what works best for themselves. To impart effective strategies, we must disprove any current ineffective strategies. During the workshop, we employ activities designed to keep students engaged and reveal flaws in common study practices. METHODS: The workshop occurred during the first week of an integrated basic science course that provides a foundation for our integrated curriculum. In addition to presenting evidence supporting effective techniques, we also realized a practical aspect that needed to be addressed—the limited time available to medical students. Thus, we concluded the workshop by distilling principles into approaches they could immediately put into practice—before, during, and after lecture. Focusing on the most effective techniques made the approaches more palatable to students facing vast quantities of preparatory material. RESULTS: A postworkshop survey requested feedback for improvement and also included a table allowing students to indicate their interest and help needed for implementing each technique. This gave our Director of Academic Success invaluable insight as she developed additional workshops for first-year students. DISCUSSION: Although study skills workshops are commonplace, this module is distinct in that it forces students to evaluate the effectiveness of their learning strategies and provides scaffolding for adopting highly effective study techniques. Ultimately, the goal was to educate our new students on implementing effective study techniques.