Virginia Research Day 2021

Learning to Thrive: Learning Strategies for Medical School & Beyond Caitlyn Martin 1 , Jeni McGlauflin 2 , and Scott Severance, PhD 3 1. OMS-II student; 2. Academic Support and Success Center; 3. Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Sciences

Future Directions  Analyze survey results  Analyze the sessions • Why did attendance drop throughout the 6 weeks? • Were there too many sessions? • Were there too few sessions? • If sessions need to be removed, which were the most beneficial and should remain?  Analyze results to determine if participation in LtT… • affects exam grades & class rank.

Post-session survey 1. Based on the title of the session, how helpful did you think the information presented in the session was going to be before you attended? 2. After attending the session, how helpful do you think the information presented in this session actually was? 3. How likely are you to incorporate the information presented in the session in your learning? 4. Was the main point of the Learning to Thrive session clear? Results

Abstract Many students entering medical school struggle with adjusting to the volume and pace of material that is taught. In addition, students struggle to understand and retain the material versus memorization of the material for an exam. The Learning to Thrive program was developed to help med students adjust to the challenges of medical school. Introduction Medical school presents multiple unique challenges: • Increased volume and pace of material • Learning consists of more than just memorizing • Memorizing everything is no longer feasible • Previous study methods are not as effective • The goal is no longer earning high grades Methods Participation in the eleven sessions of LtT was voluntary, yet students were asked to sign a consent form since they were asked to complete a survey concerning each session and since future plans include monitoring their grades and class rank and comparing them to students who did not participate in the LtT sessions. All sessions included advice from an OMS-II or OMS-III student and a follow-up handout about the topic. 1. How to Learn After Class 2. How to Learn Before and During Class 3. How to Approach a Multiple-Choice Exam 4. How to Learn Effectively on the Weekend 5. How to Learn From + With Others 6. How to Know When You Have Learned the Material 7. How to Plan to Learn Effectively 8. How to Learn in a Semester-Long Course 9. How to Learn in Spite of Distractions 10. How to Use Resources to Learn 11. How to Learn in a New Block Course

• increases extracurricular involvement • affects performance in OMS-II courses. • improves COMLEX scores.  Analyze the results to determine merits of… • offering LtT to OMS-II students • requiring sessions for OMS-I students

Session #

# of Students in Attendance

# of completed surveys

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

136 124 118

100

89 64 56 50 59 38 38 22 20 22

• Encouraging faculty to incorporate proven educational methods into learning activities.

99 99 91 76 70 42 45 50

References Karpicke JD, Bauernschmidt A. Spaced retrieval: absolute spacing enhances learning regardless of relative spacing. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn . 2011;37(5):1250-1257. doi:10.1037/a0023436 Augustin M. How to learn effectively in medical school: test yourself, learn actively, and repeat in intervals. Yale J Biol Med . 2014;87(2):207-212. Published 2014 Jun 6. Kebaetse MB, Kebaetse M, Mokone GG, et al. Learning support interventions for Year 1 medical students: a review of the literature. Med Educ . 2018;52(3):263-273. doi:10.1111/medu.13465 Freeman S, Eddy SL, McDonough M, et al. Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A . 2014;111(23):8410- 8415. doi:10.1073/pnas.1319030111 This study is conducted with LU IRB approval (Protocol # 2911.012318).

10 11

Possible Impacts on the Study • It is possible virtual sessions lowered attendance and participation as it can be harder to engage virtually • Eleven sessions might be a lot to attend, especially at the beginning medical school or if you were struggling at the end of the course. Perhaps fewer more concise sessions would be more beneficial. • It is possible students didn’t view the sessions as practical or helpful enough. • Perhaps each session lasted too long. • The incentives were not distributed throughout the initiative. Rewards might be important in keeping interest.

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