panacea Final 2014


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   Learning depends on several factors but a crucial step is 
engagement of the learner. Medical students experience a 
variety of learning activities in the environment of the 
medical school/ college. The environment is usually complex 
and unique & its most important determinant is curriculum. 
The learning environment is primarily affected by 
curriculum. The learning environment is not only an 
important determinant of curriculum but is also a striking 
index of the behaviour of both students & the trainers 
because teaching is not only related to giving information & 
sharing experiences but producing a contextually or /and 
environmentally related learning as well. 

  Curriculum's most significant manifestation is the 
environment both, educational & organisational, which 
includes everything that is happening in the medical 
school/college.

   A good learning environment is vital for the delivery of 
quality training. There has been a proven connection between 
the environment & the valuable outcomes of the students' 
achievement, satisfaction& success. Positive environment & 
positive outcome appears to go together.

   As the learning environment affects students motivation & 
achievement it is important to get feedback from the students 
on how they are experiencing their learning environment on a 
regular basis & the results should be used to guide strategic 
planning & the institutional focus of optimum utilisation of 
available resources.

    The undergraduate MBBS curriculum in India is still in the 
traditional mode. Generally it is teacher centred, discipline 
based, information gathering & hospital based with no option 
or elective module.

   But education is a dynamic process& it needs to change its 
pattern to suit the changing demands of the health care 
system of the society & the nation. A continous improvement 
in the educational environment of a curriculum is possible 
only by defining its strengths & weaknesses. Thus monitoring 
the perception of students about the educational 
environment is critical as successful management of any 
change is only possible with systemic feedback.

    Every now & then we cannot change the curriculum but 
the feedback obtained can also be used to optimise the same 
curriculum to suit majority of the students & to 
accommodate each & every student. For higher quality of 
learning it is required to enrich learning environment by 
identifying its weaknesses. So more importance should be 
given to perception of students to improve educational 
environment as perceptions are associated positively with 
learning approach, learning outcomes & attitude towards 
studying.

  So the principal areas for further development of 
educational environment could be teaching methods, 
teachers behaviour with students, the classroom atmosphere, 
the social & academic environment, support system during 
stress, commitment of the institute towards students with 
facilities like favourable accomodation, mentorship 
programmes etc. It is also the need of the hour to create a non 
threatening environment in the classroom teaching&to give 
more opportunities to the students for self learning by 
incorporating new methods of teaching learning and 
assessment.

   Worldwide perception of students has been used to know 
the educational environment in variety of circumstances. To 
quote a few, in Melaka Manipal Medical College Manipal 
India, students' perception of the learning environment was 
studied and based on the feedback received. Problem Based 
Learning sessions were implemented in the curriculum. Also 
short term students research projects were introduced to 
make the students independent learners. Personal and 
Professional development sessions were implemented and 
the number of summative examinations were reduced to 
reduce stress (1). 

  Students' perception was also utilised to compare 
traditional curriculum with the Early Clinical Exposure 
program in Iran(2) & with Problem Based Learning in Saudi 
Arabia (3). Students perception was used in a medical school 
of UAE experiencing curricular transition from discipline 
based to organ based curriculum and the students not only 
reinforced the justification of the course organisers about the 
new curriculum but also identified remedial interventions in 
the form of new strategies in assessment (4). In this issue of 
Panacea   we   have   included   an   original   research  article 

PJMS- Volume 4 Number 1: Jan - June 2014

EDITORIAL

Optimizing Medical Education 
1

Gade Shubhada

1
Asstt. Professor, Physiology

FAIMER Fellow, Secretary MET 
Unit NKPSIMS & RC 
Digdoh Hills, Hingna Road 
Nagpur 440019
shubhagade@gmail.com



depicting   educational   environment   of   NKPSIMS  &  
RC Nagpur, the students' perception about the learning 
environment and to identify our strengths & weaknesses.

References:

1. Abraham R ,Ramnarayan K, Vinod P, Torke S. Students' 
perception of learning environment in an Indian medical 
school, BMC Medical Education .2008;8:20.

2. Ebrahim S, Kojuri J. Comparison of two educational 
environments in early clinical exposure program based on 
Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure  J.Adv 
Med & Prof 2013;1(1), 36-37. 

3. Rukban M, Khalil M, Al-Zalabani A. Learning environment in 
medical schools adopting different educational 
strategies.Educational Research and Reviews.March 2010; 
Vol 5 (3):126-129. 

4. Shahnaz Syed Ilyas,Sreedharan Jayadevan. Students' 
perception of educational environment in a medical school 
experiencing curricular transition. United Arab Emirates.
 Medical Teacher. 2011; 33:e37-e42.

PJMS- Volume 4 Number 4: Jan - June 2014

EDITORIAL

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