Abstract
Objective: To explore perceptions of students and teachers about learning and teaching strategies used in the delivery of Surgery Module in a relatively newly established medical college.
Methods: The mixed-methods research with convergent parallel design was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine in Rabigh, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from January 2017 to February 2018. Students in the study completed the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire on the basis of which correlation analyses were conducted to determine the association among study variables and final scores. For qualitative part, 2 focus group discussions and 3 interviews were performed with students and teachers respectively. Their verbatim responses were recorded and analysed. Themes were generated.
Results: There were 47 students in the study. There were positive correlations between learning strategies, cognitive and metacognitive and resource management, with final grades of students (p<0.001). Items of the questionnaire showed positive correlation with each other. Some of the major themes were elaboration, organization, critical thinking, self-regulatory learning, group and peer learning, and focus of learning. Some important subthemes were personal notes, concept map, goals, think out of the box, life-long learning, open discussion, feedback, deep learning and alignment.
Conclusion: High achievers were found to be using learning strategies effectively. Both students and teachers favoured critical thinking, deep and conceptual learning, and learners' active participation.