Student
Learning IS Enhanced by Condensing Objectives and Providing Explicit
Richard E. Klabunde*,
PURPOSE: At our institution, first year medical
students have had more than 70 learning objectives per week for a cardiovascular
course. There were many indications that
this number of objectives was unmanageable and detracted from student
learning. We decided to broaden and reduce
the number of objectives to fewer than 15 per week, and to provide explicit textbook
readings to define the scope of their learning.
The goals were to 1) enhance student learning, 2) increase reading of
textbooks, and 3) discourage the use of a student “objective exchange.”
METHODS: Three weeks after the course ended,
students were asked to complete a brief, anonymous online survey regarding
their experience with this new objective format.
RESULTS: Student reaction to this change in
faculty-directed learning was mixed during the course and immediately after the
course, in large part, because of concerns that they might not be as prepared
for the final exam. The reflective survey
results taken 3 weeks after the course, however, showed that 80% or more of the
class felt that having broader and fewer objectives with explicit readings
enhanced their learning, and caused them to dig deeper into important concepts;
98% of the class admitted to reading more than for other courses.
CONCLUSION: Fewer learning objectives per week
(<15) with explicit reading resources enhanced student learning compared to
having 5-times that number of detailed objectives without explicit
readings. Furthermore, students were
more motivated to read textbooks instead of relying on student-generated objective
exchanges.