Student Information Resource Utilization in Problem-Based Learning

Abstract

Deretchin LF, Yeoman LC, Seidel CL. Student information resource Med Educ Online [serial online] 1998;4:7. Available utilization in problem-based learning. Abstract – Purpose: To examine the profile of medical students' resource use in a longitudinal problem-based learning course and to examine patterns of change. Method: Over a six-month period, 116 students indicated on resource checklists which resources they had used for independent research of learning issues identified in their problem-based learn-ing sessions. On the checklist, resources were categorized as printed, electronic, human, or physi-cal evidence (i.e., models, demonstrations). Results: Over the six-month period, the percentage of use (number of times a resource category was used / number of weekly reports submitted) declined from 64.0% printed, 81.7% electronic, and 4.3% physical to 44.0%, 69.8%, and 3.9%, respectively. Use of human resources increased from 29.1% to 36.6%. Use of a variety of resources (resources from ≥2 categories of resources) also declined. In medicine, the need to enhance information access skills has been intensified by the volume of new information being generated – information that modifies, reverses, or adds to the existing collective body of knowledge. A growth in the variety of re-source formats and methods of dispersion of infor-mation has had a compounding effect on skill level demands. It has become increasingly important for students, who are entering a profession with a life-long learning ethic, to develop an ability to seek out sources on their own and gain facility in exploring new resources. 1 In order for medical schools to nur-ture skills in information access and use, explicit at-tention needs to be paid to the students' patterns of resource use and habits in resource selection. Research has supported the contention that use of a variety of resources is associated with the use of deep learning strategies (i.e., learning strategies asso-ciated with seeking an understanding of information through critical self-directed inquiry). 2-3 Problem-based learning (PBL), which has self-directed learn-ing and independent investigation of learning issues as important curricular components, encourages deep approaches to learning. 4-6 Other research has shown that students in a PBL curriculum use a greater num-ber and variety of resources than students in a tradi-tional lecture-based curriculum.