One Room Schoolhouse: A Novel Intervention for Inspired Academic Half-Day Learning in Distributed Campus Settings

INTRODUCTION: Some studies on academic half days (AHDs) suggest that learning in this context is associated with a lack of educational engagement. This challenge may be amplified in distributed campus settings, where geographical disadvantages demand reliance on videoconferencing or considerable time spent travelling to in-person learning events. Concerns about the educational effectiveness of AHDs by learners within our distributed campus setting led to the development and evaluation of the One Room Schoolhouse (ORS), a unique, evidence-informed, community-based curriculum that partially replaced the AHD sessions delivered at the main campus. It was hypothesized that creating an AHD experience that was clinically reflective of the community in which residents practiced and where residents were given the autonomy to implement novel pedagogical elements would result in better test scores and improved learner satisfaction among ORS learners. METHODS: The ORS was implemented at McMaster University’s Waterloo Regional Campus in 2017. Residents across training cohorts (N = 9) engaged in co-learning based on scenarios co-developed from clinical experiences within the region. The learning approach relied on multiple, evidence-informed pedagogical strategies. A multi-method approach was used to evaluate the ORS curriculum. Between-subject analyses of variance were used to compare scores on practice exams (COPE and PRITE), in-training assessment reports (ITARs), and objective structured clinical exams (OSCEs) between learners who took part in the ORS and learners at the main campus. A semi-structured focus group probing residents’ experiences with the ORS was analyzed using interpretive description. RESULTS: ORS learners significantly outperformed learners at the main campus on the November OSCE (p = .02), but not on the COPE, PRITE, ITARs, or September OSCE (p’s < .05). Qualitative themes suggested advantages of the ORS in inspiring learning, engaging learners, and improving self-confidence in knowledge acquisition. These findings are aligned with the broader literature on learner agency, social development, and communities of practice. CONCLUSION: While the quantitative data only showed a significant difference between the 2 curricula on 1 measure (ie, the November OSCE), the qualitative findings offered an opportunity for educators to reimagine what medical education might consist of beyond the confines of a “traditional” AHD. Creating opportunities to enhance personal agency when acquiring knowledge, inspiring engagement about patient-related problems, and incorporating interdisciplinary learning through community engagement were critical pedagogical elements that were attributed to the success of the ORS.