active learning and competency preconditioning strengthen osteopathic medical student performance, physician attributes, and competency assessments

Background: medical education has been reliant on didactic lectures, which are predominantlyteacher-centered learning. competency-based education was introduced in north america andwith this came a paradigm shift in how schools conceptualize curricula and measure learningoutcomes. this modern approach started a change away from traditional lecture-based andteacher-centered curricula to a more student-centric approach using various tools. competencybasededucation is widely regarded as an outcome-based approach to design, implement andevaluate the curriculum using widely accepted competencies. authorities recommend sevencore competencies which have various indicators to address student performance. the mainpurpose of this research is to utilize active learning tools to enhance this approach and thenassess competencies in the first year of medical school to improve academic outcomes as wellas exposing students to competency domains on which they will be assessed and to ultimatelycreate a complete physician.methods: the study was conducted at a medical school during the first semester of medicalschool and included 145 students. various active learning tools, such as modified case-basedlearning, quizzes, and case discussions, were used to assess competency in a biochemistry andgenetics course, and these were compared to questions based on concepts delivered by thetraditional lecture method.results: student performance on high-stakes examinations after active learning sessions oncontent and concepts had statistically higher average percentages on the second, third andfourth examinations. the average diff (p) for the second, third, and fourth examination to thequestions being considered for the study were (diff p= 0.84, 0.83, and 0.92) with a positivemoderate correlation for the second examination (r= 0.535) and strong positive correlation forthe third and fourth examination (r=0.745 and r=0.856) for their final biochemistry grades.conclusion: the study shows some positive and significant results that active learning methodsare a useful and meaningful way to deliver a curriculum for a competency-based educationsystem, and may be better suited than traditional lectures for providing content and assessingcompetencies which are necessary to become a complete physician.