Development of a supported self-directed learning approach for anatomy education

The ability to deliver sufficient core anatomical knowledge and understanding to medical students with limited time and resources remains a major challenge for anatomy educators. Here, we report the results of switching from a primarily didactic method of teaching to supported self-directed learning for students studying anatomy as part of undergraduate medicine at the University of Edinburgh. The supported self-directed approach we have developed makes use of an integrated range of resources, including formal lectures and practical sessions (incorporating gross anatomy specimens, medical imaging technologies, anatomical models, clinical scenarios, and surface anatomy workstations). In practical sessions, students are provided with a custom-made workbook that guides them through each session, with academic staff, postgraduate tutors, and near-peer teaching assistants present to deal with misunderstandings and explain more complicated topics. This approach retains many of the best attributes of didactic teaching but blends them with the advantages associated with self-directed learning approaches. The switch to supported self-directed learning-initially introduced in 2005-resulted in a significant improvement in anatomy examination scores over the subsequent period of five years, manifesting as an increase in the average anatomy practical spot examination mark, less students failing to obtain the pass mark and more students passing with distinction. We conclude that the introduction of supported self-directed learning improved students' engagement, leading to deeper learning and better understanding and knowledge of anatomy.     

Extending participation in standard setting: an online judging proposal

In order for standard setting to retain public confidence, it will be argued there are two important requirements. One is that the judges’ allocation of students to performance bands would yield results broadly consistent with the expectation of the wider educational community. Secondly, in the absence of any change in educational performance, that the percentages in the corresponding bands should be stable over time. It is argued that the use of a small team of judges makes it more difficult to satisfy these conditions. However the cost and logistics of organizing a larger number of judges in the time-pressured atmosphere of public examining can lead to sub-optimal standard setting. Two parallel systems of awarding performance bands are empirically compared, one based on teams of six judges, the other based on a population of teachers. It is shown that the latter system gives more stable results over time for the same large student population. A proposal is outlined for extending participation in standard setting through the web-based presentation of materials and the capturing of cutscores from a population of teachers.