Assessment of medical students’ learning and study strategies in self-regulated learning

Abstract

Introduction: Research on medical students shows that adoptingself-regulation of effort, time, and study strategies can positivelyinfluence academic achievement. The purpose of the current studywas to assess learning and study strategies in medical students.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in 2014-2015at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The sample size wasdetermined 360 students based on the results of a pilot study on 30members of the study population. Medical students in the first tofourth year of their studies were selected through simple samplingrandomly. A valid and reliable Persian translation of Learningand Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) questionnaire wascompleted by the students. It measures three latent factors of selfregulatedlearning: Skill, Will, and Self-Regulation. It consistsof 80 questions in ten different scales (each scale including eightquestions and a variable score of 8-40). Data were analyzed usingt-test, correlation analysis, and ANOVA.Results: Considering the ten LASSI scales, the highest meanscore belonged to test strategies (28.67±4.44), and the lowestmean to self-testing (21.91±4.91). The results showed significantstatistical differences between male and female students inselecting the main idea, attitude, and self-testing. ANOVA andpost hoc Tukey tests showed a significant difference between themean scores of different areas of LASSI among students withdifferent grade point average (GPA) in the university. In all areasexcept the study aids, the mean scores of students with GPAhigher than 17.5 were significantly higher than those of studentswith GPA lower than 14.5.Conclusion: The results showed that students need help andconsultation in most areas of learning and study strategies. Using10 areas of LASSI can determine the strengths and weaknesses ofstudents in various areas. Knowing their own limitations, studentswill be able to improve their study habits. Hence, it is suggestedto evaluate the students when enrolling at universities and designeducational programs based on the students’ characteristics.Keywords: Learning; Medical student; Assessment