Abstract
Over the past few decades, medical education has seen increased interest in the use of active learning formats to engage learners and promote knowledge application over knowledge acquisition. The field of psychiatry, in particular, has pioneered a host of novel active learning paradigms. These have contributed to our understanding of the role of andragogy along the continuum of medical education, from undergraduate to continuing medical education. In an effort to frame the successes and failures of various attempts at integrating active learning into healthcare curricula, a group of educators from the A. B. Baker Section on Neurological Education from the American Academy of Neurology reviewed the state of the field in its partner field of medical neuroscience. Herein we provide a narrative review of the literature, outlining the basis for implementing active learning, the novel formats that have been used, and the lessons learned from qualitative and quantitative analysis of the research that has been done to date. While preparation time seems to present the greatest obstacle to acceptance from learners and educators, there is generally positive reception to the new educational formats. Additionally, most assessments of trainee performance have suggested non-inferiority (if not superiority). However, occasional mixed findings point to a need for better assessments of the type of learning that these new formats engender: knowledge application rather than acquisition. Moreover, this field is relatively nascent and, in order to ascertain how best to integrate active learning into psychiatry education, a framework for quantitative outcome assessments is needed going forward.
From the “Sage on the Stage” to the Flipped Classroom
Active learning is an emerging trend within higher education. It exemplifies a move away from the traditional teacher-centric approach of having an expert standing in front of the group and imparting knowledge (, ). Instead, new active learning (and teaching) strategies aim at moving beyond the lower-level cognitive process of knowledge acquisition and comprehension during class time and into application and analysis of the topics (). Despite a restructuring of the activities and time balanced between home and classroom, active learning does not necessarily imply the complete abandonment of the lecture format, but, instead, it refers to a range of activities. These include: pre-class reading assignments, problem-based learning, team-based learning, simulator-based learning, use of worksheets or personal response systems, Q&A sessions or mini-cases built into the lecture, small group tutorials, problem-solving sessions, or use of the flipped classroom.
The flipped classroom, also labelled as reverse, inverse, or backwards classroom (), is probably the most used among the active learning approaches (Figure 1). The learners are free to review the materials at their own pace and must be engaged in their learning process (). While time at home is spent being initially exposed to the teaching material, face-to-face class time is dedicated to student-centered activities promoting active learning, under the supervision of a facilitator (). Initially instituted in primary and undergraduate education, the flipped classroom has only recently made its way into the realm of medical education. Educators in various subspecialties are incorporating these methods into the curricula for students at all levels, from undergraduate to CME ().
Figure 1
The putative success of active learning has encouraged the medical education community to explore what has already been learned through research on these methods. Among the subspecialties that have reported on their efforts, transitions of curricula to incorporate these modern methods in medical education have often resulted in hybrid approaches in which students are exposed to both flipped classrooms and traditional didactics (
To this end, we provide a narrative review of active learning practices and highlight future perspectives related to their implementation and assessment along the andragogical spectrum of psychiatry education.
Methods
Because of the relative lack of publications providing quantitative assessments of active learning models in medical education, and because of the inconsistent methods used to evaluate novel educational model performance, we sought to perform a narrative review, highlighting relevant quantitative data, where appropriate. To identify papers providing an evaluation of the application of active learning in psychiatry, a PubMed and Web of Science literature search was conducted in December 2018. The search used the terms “adult learning,” “flipped,” and “active learning” as well as “psychiatry,” “education,” “curriculum,” “course,” “medical,” “clinical,” “student,” “doctor,” “physician,” “resident,” “assessment,” “outcome,” and “evaluation,” combined into the following query: (adult learning OR flipped OR active learning) AND psychiatry AND (education OR curriculum OR course) AND (medical OR clinical) AND (student OR doctor OR physician OR resident) AND (assessment OR outcome OR evaluation). Of the results, in English, containing the query elements in either the abstract or the title, the initial review was limited to those publications indexed as articles, proceedings papers, and reviews. This strategy yielded 462 publications. Through review of the abstracts, we then excluded articles that did not evaluate the application of active learning strategies in psychiatry education. Following review of these publications, we applied a snowballing strategy in which we reviewed the cited references of the primary publications in order to identify any other relevant articles regarding active learning applied to health professional education, resulting in a total of 28 primary articles, included in this narrative review, along with more contemporary references to the relevant literature provided through the review process.
Strategies for Incorporating Active Learning Models
Active learning offers the chance to develop students' higher-order cognitive skills and to engage them in processes that can improve health care delivery (
Team-Based and Problem-Based Learning
Team-based learning (TBL) enables active learning to be implemented within large classes (
In a different approach, students were involved in either a group discussion after assignment of reading (a problem-based learning approach) or passive instruction, followed by the making of a patient video as a team. While it was found that exam results were the same between the problem-based learning (PBL) and the lecture format group, medical students specifically cited increased readiness for the Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE) after the PBL exposure (
Book Clubs, Social Media, and Other Unconventional Approaches
Although many andragogical tools fall within the active learning label, an important distinction has been made over the past two decades between deep and superficial learning (
Activating Learners as Educators
Another novel way in which the psychiatry literature has commented on the effort to involve active learning relates to the role of Education Chief Residents, where senior residents in psychiatry have defined roles in the education of students engaged in active learning (
The Case for Active Learning Models
From a more general perspective, a meta-analysis of 225 studies in undergraduate courses showed active learning as students' preferred teaching and learning method (
Qualitative Perspectives
A relatively recent literature review analyzed four different reviews and meta-analyses of active learning in higher education (
At the medical student level, active learning approaches have generally been limited to the length of a clerkship—around 1 month. To accommodate the educational needs of students in a time-limited clerkship, one group applied “blended learning”: a series of video lectures were assigned to the students, which had an associated graded online discussion board as a forum for questions and explanations, followed by face-to face sessions with case-based teaching (
Quantitative Perspectives
An effort to improve the understanding of mental health concepts in baccalaureate nursing students introduced a number of active and self-directed learning methods—mental health scenario simulations aligned to classroom content and online, interactive case studies—into a curriculum (
While there are multiple possible explanations for this observation, including heterogeneity in the residency representation from year to year, and the diversion of studying time from neurology to psychiatry topics, one possible explanation may be that flipped classroom models are superior at teaching to application- or problem-based mastery rather than the fact regurgitation that standardized tests often capture (
Critical Discussion: Limitations, Challenges, and Opportunities
Here we sought to provide a narrative summary of the state of the field, with regard to active learning applications in psychiatry education. While the last two decades have seen a growth in the applications of validated strategies along the continuum of psychiatric education, active learning is not the panacea for all educational problems (
Nonetheless, a number of relevant insights can be derived from the existing body of literature that can help guide development and assessment of curricula integrating modern educational strategies into psychiatry education. Most learners seem to appreciate the new educational models, citing enthusiasm for the flexibility of content exposure, novel educational formats, and in-classroom engagement, but a number of limitations still exist. Most notably, the amount of time required to prepare for classroom sessions is a common complaint of learners, while lack of preparation for developing and implementing active learning curricula is a concern of educators. Reaching equilibrium between training requirements and personal interests might be a possibility to explore, especially given the focus of active learning on learner-driven educational change (
A further hidden dimension, accounting for many of the aforementioned examples, deals with the “cost” of active learning as well as its implementation—factors ranging from staff training to technological support and the creation of new didactic materials—which might have an impact on the overall feasibility and sustainability of these teaching approaches (
Finally, as modern educational formats have shown promise not only in psychiatry, but also in other healthcare-related fields, a first step to discern their true value relies upon a more consistent method of assessment. Regardless of the aforementioned design elements used, any significant curricular modification should incorporate objective metrics into their study design to ensure external comparisons and meta-analytic assessment of curricular performance. Beyond evaluating stakeholder perceptions, a few areas in which the field should focus its efforts include explorations of what content is most amenable to these modern educational formats (e.g., pharmacotherapies vs psychotherapeutic strategies), as well as what audience is most appropriate for them (e.g., those with foundational knowledge vs those without). In considering these outcomes, we must also bear in mind the evolving educational regulatory field, where performance is no longer strictly measured by scores on a test, but encompasses a number of valuable traits (e.g., professionalism) and abilities (e.g., application rather than fund of knowledge) that are currently difficult to measure.
Conclusions
In sum, the reception of modern educational formats in psychiatry has generally been positive, due to stakeholder satisfaction with curricular changes tending to outweigh the additional burdens imposed by these programs. However, the relative dearth of quantitative studies identified by this narrative review highlights a need for more rigorous evaluation of curricula to determine how to best apply active learning in psychiatry education.
Disclaimer
The contents do not represent the views of US Department of Veteran Affairs or United States Government.
Statements
Author contributions
SS and LS contributed to the conception and design of the study. SS, JB, CC, JC, ND, AF, JK, JO, GP, HS, DW, and LS contributed to the acquisition and analysis of data. SS, JB, CC, JC, ND, AF, JK, JO, GP, HS, DW, and LS contributed to drafting the text and preparing the figures.
Acknowledgments
SS would like to thank the Open Access Application Funding.
Conflict of interest
SS receives royalties from Oxford University Press (USA). JO receives honoraria for CME question writing from the journals Neurology and Continuum. HS has 5% support from the Michael J Fox Foundation, received clinical trial support from Biogen, Insightec, and Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals, and has received some internal funding from Cornell. She has also served on advisory boards for Merz and Amneal Pharmaceuticals and an independent video rater for Neurocrine Neurosciences. LS was supported by the Office of Academic Affiliations, Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness Research and Treatment, Department of Veterans Affairs.
The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Summary
Keywords
active learning, flipped classroom, psychiatry education, curriculum design, clinical reasoning, flipping the curriculum, flipping the classroom
Citation
Sandrone S, Berthaud JV, Carlson C, Cios J, Dixit N, Farheen A, Kraker J, Owens JWM, Patino G, Sarva H, Weber D and Schneider LD (2020) Active Learning in Psychiatry Education: Current Practices and Future Perspectives. Front. Psychiatry 11:211. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00211
Received
14 September 2019
Accepted
03 March 2020
Published
23 April 2020
Volume
11 - 2020
Edited by
Santosh K. Chaturvedi, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), United States
Reviewed by
Saeeda Paruk, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; Cynthia Y. Y. Lai, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
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Copyright
© 2020 Sandrone, Berthaud, Carlson, Cios, Dixit, Farheen, Kraker, Owens, Patino, Sarva, Weber and Schneider.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Stefano Sandrone, sandrone.stefano@gmail.com
This article was submitted to Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Rehabilitation, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry
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