Rosenbaum Marcy E, Schwabbauer Marian, Kreiter Clarence, Ferguson Kristi J
Office of Consultation and Research in Medical Education, University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa 52240, USA.
Acad Med. 2007 May;82(5):508-15. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e31803eae29.
In 1999, the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine (UICCOM) established a student management model consisting of four student-style learning communities (LCs), each comprising one quarter of the students from each class, with the goal of fostering student connection, excellence, learning, leadership, and service. The authors present results of a prospective evaluation of medical students' perceptions of emerging LCs and their impact on medical student life at UICCOM.
A two-page questionnaire, administered in 1999 and again in 2003 to all second-through fourth-year and MD/PhD students, assessed connections among students from different years of study, students' participation in activities, anticipated/perceived benefits of LCs, concerns about LCs, and the impact of LCs on students' perceptions of the learning environment. Questions were open ended or Likert scaled; statistical analyses were descriptive, parametric, and nonparametric.
Comparison of results between 1999 and 2003 demonstrated increased connections between students and participation in LC activities, positive perceptions of the overall learning environment, increased access to faculty and staff, and increased involvement in leadership and service activities. Student concerns included continued obstacles to involvement in LCs for third- and fourth-year students.
This prospective evaluation demonstrates that LCs can contribute to more positive perceptions of the learning environment and increased interaction between students throughout medical school. LCs seem to increase student leadership development and engagement in the broader community. Further investigation is needed to determine how these potential benefits of LCs can be maximized and made more accessible to all students.
1999年，爱荷华大学罗伊·J.和露西尔·A.卡弗医学院（UICCOM）建立了一种学生管理模式，该模式由四个学生风格的学习社区（LCs）组成，每个社区包含每个班级四分之一的学生，目标是促进学生之间的联系、卓越表现、学习、领导力和服务意识。作者展示了一项对医学生对新兴学习社区的看法及其对UICCOM医学生活影响的前瞻性评估结果。
1999年和2003年向所有二至四年级学生以及医学博士/哲学博士学生发放了一份两页的问卷，评估不同学习年份学生之间的联系、学生参与活动的情况、对学习社区预期/感知到的益处、对学习社区的担忧以及学习社区对学生学习环境认知的影响。问题为开放式或李克特量表式；统计分析采用描述性、参数性和非参数性方法。
1999年和2003年结果的比较表明，学生之间的联系增加，参与学习社区活动的情况增多，对整体学习环境有积极看法，与教职员工的接触增加，参与领导和服务活动的程度提高。学生的担忧包括三、四年级学生参与学习社区仍存在障碍。
这项前瞻性评估表明，学习社区有助于对学习环境形成更积极的看法，并增加整个医学院学生之间的互动。学习社区似乎能促进学生领导力的发展，并使他们更多地参与更广泛的社区活动。需要进一步调查以确定如何最大限度地发挥学习社区的这些潜在益处，并让所有学生都能更方便地受益。
