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First year medical student performance on weekly team-based learning exercises in an infectious diseases course: insights from top performers and struggling students

BACKGROUND: In Team-Based Learning (TBL) preparation of relevant coursework during self-directed learning time is evaluated by the individual readiness assurance test (iRAT). We recently reported that student performance on iRATs is strongly correlated with final examination scores in an infectious...

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Autores principales: Carrasco, Gonzalo A., Behling, Kathryn C., Lopez, Osvaldo J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6547496/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31159880
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12909-019-1608-9
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author Carrasco, Gonzalo A.
Behling, Kathryn C.
Lopez, Osvaldo J.
author_facet Carrasco, Gonzalo A.
Behling, Kathryn C.
Lopez, Osvaldo J.
author_sort Carrasco, Gonzalo A.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: In Team-Based Learning (TBL) preparation of relevant coursework during self-directed learning time is evaluated by the individual readiness assurance test (iRAT). We recently reported that student performance on iRATs is strongly correlated with final examination scores in an infectious diseases (ID) course. We now investigated how student preparation for each individual iRAT exercise relates to course performance. METHODS: Two-hundred and sixty medical students were enrolled in this three-year study. Student TBL iRAT scores were collected and correlated with final examination scores using Kruskal-Wallis One-Way ANOVA and Newman-Keul’s statistical methods. RESULTS: Students performing in the upper and middle 33rd percentile on the final examination showed highly significant (p < 0.01) weekly improvements in their iRAT scores. However, students performing in the lower 33rd percentile did not show improvement in their iRAT scores until the last week of the course. Although there was a highly significant correlation between final examination and iRAT scores amongst all students participating in the study, this correlation was stronger in students performing in the lower 33rd percentile. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that students who do not consistently prepare for TBL, as evidenced by low iRAT scores, exhibit poorer performance on the final examination. This lack of preparation likely interferes with the efficacy of this learning method. iRAT scores can also be used for early identification of struggling students in need of additional supports. Additionally, changes in TBL incentive structure may provide more tangible rewards for pre-class preparation in particular for struggling students.
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spelling pubmed-65474962019-06-06 First year medical student performance on weekly team-based learning exercises in an infectious diseases course: insights from top performers and struggling students Carrasco, Gonzalo A. Behling, Kathryn C. Lopez, Osvaldo J. BMC Med Educ Research Article BACKGROUND: In Team-Based Learning (TBL) preparation of relevant coursework during self-directed learning time is evaluated by the individual readiness assurance test (iRAT). We recently reported that student performance on iRATs is strongly correlated with final examination scores in an infectious diseases (ID) course. We now investigated how student preparation for each individual iRAT exercise relates to course performance. METHODS: Two-hundred and sixty medical students were enrolled in this three-year study. Student TBL iRAT scores were collected and correlated with final examination scores using Kruskal-Wallis One-Way ANOVA and Newman-Keul’s statistical methods. RESULTS: Students performing in the upper and middle 33rd percentile on the final examination showed highly significant (p < 0.01) weekly improvements in their iRAT scores. However, students performing in the lower 33rd percentile did not show improvement in their iRAT scores until the last week of the course. Although there was a highly significant correlation between final examination and iRAT scores amongst all students participating in the study, this correlation was stronger in students performing in the lower 33rd percentile. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that students who do not consistently prepare for TBL, as evidenced by low iRAT scores, exhibit poorer performance on the final examination. This lack of preparation likely interferes with the efficacy of this learning method. iRAT scores can also be used for early identification of struggling students in need of additional supports. Additionally, changes in TBL incentive structure may provide more tangible rewards for pre-class preparation in particular for struggling students. BioMed Central 2019-06-03 /pmc/articles/PMC6547496/ /pubmed/31159880 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12909-019-1608-9 Text en © The Author(s). 2019 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
spellingShingle Research Article
Carrasco, Gonzalo A.
Behling, Kathryn C.
Lopez, Osvaldo J.
First year medical student performance on weekly team-based learning exercises in an infectious diseases course: insights from top performers and struggling students
title First year medical student performance on weekly team-based learning exercises in an infectious diseases course: insights from top performers and struggling students
title_full First year medical student performance on weekly team-based learning exercises in an infectious diseases course: insights from top performers and struggling students
title_fullStr First year medical student performance on weekly team-based learning exercises in an infectious diseases course: insights from top performers and struggling students
title_full_unstemmed First year medical student performance on weekly team-based learning exercises in an infectious diseases course: insights from top performers and struggling students
title_short First year medical student performance on weekly team-based learning exercises in an infectious diseases course: insights from top performers and struggling students
title_sort first year medical student performance on weekly team-based learning exercises in an infectious diseases course: insights from top performers and struggling students
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6547496/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31159880
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12909-019-1608-9
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