Publication:

Undergraduate students’ perception and feedback on small group teaching sessions in a medical college in Tumkur

Background Small group teaching (SGT) is the most recommended method in the competency based medical education (CBME). As CBME is a learner-centric curriculum, the facilitator should familiarize with the students’ perspectives and challenges faced during small group learning to impart knowledge effectively.

Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among phase III part 1 students (n=150) in the department of community medicine, to assess the students’ perspectives and their feedback on SGT sessions conducted in the department of community medicine. Three SGT sessions using think-pair-share method were conducted. The feedback was collected from the students (n=80) using a semi-structured validated questionnaire administered through Google forms, after obtaining informed consent. The questionnaire consisted 19 questions having five-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics version 21.0.

Results The mean age of the students was 21.3 years (±1.02 year). It was found that only 28.8% students preferred SGT, while the majority 56.4% students, preferred interactive lecture. Overall, 33.8% strongly agreed and 61.3% agreed that SGT was interesting and educational. Around 28.8% strongly agreed and 66.3% agreed that the overall conduct of the SGT sessions by the facilitator was effective.

Conclusions Although small group discussion are interactive and interesting, the need of the hour is to find out the preference, comfort and challenges faced by students while participating in the newer teaching-learning methods like SGT for effective delivery of knowledge.