Learning Activities and Third-Year Medical Student Ratings of High Quality Teaching Across Different Clerkships

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To identify and compare learning activities that students associate with high quality teaching across clerkships. METHODS: For six months, 110 third year medical students recorded data on learning activities and teaching quality using personal digital assistants (PDAs) during five different required clinical clerkships. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the association between learning activities and student ratings of high teaching quality. RESULTS: 11,450 teaching interactions were recorded. Univariate analysis revealed that feedback was associated with perceptions of high quality teaching in all clerkships. Proposing a plan, formulating an assessment and giving an oral case presentation were associated with high quality teaching in 80% of the clerkships (p < 0.01). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that receiving high quality feedback was an independent predictor of student ratings of high quality teaching for all clerkships. CONCLUSION: Receiving high quality feedback is the learning activity most strongly associated with students' ratings of high quality teaching across four different clerkships.