Análisis de los enfoques de aprendizaje de los estudiantes de la titulación de de medicina en la Universidad El Bosque

Abstract

The knowledge of students learning approaches should be seen as an opportunity to know the moment in which the student lives about the processes developed in the classroom. Understanding the different academic conditions of students and their differences emerges as an opportunity for the improvement of the academic, pedagogical and administrative management processes of an university. This study was aimed to identify the learning approaches adopted by students of medical degree in different components of the curriculum, as well as to identify possible relationships with a set of variables analyzed (sex, age, semester, state test score, academic average). In order to answer to the above, there were proposed five specific objectives, which focused on: analyzing the reliability and validity of the questionnaire used (CPE-R-2F) in the context of Colombian higher education; analyze the congruence between the learning approaches subscales; identify learning approaches adopted by the students of the medical program in the different components of the curriculum and their relationship with the demographic and academic variables; and analyze the evolution of students learning approaches according to the component and the semester. For the development of this doctoral thesis, there was a sample of 340 volunteer students of the degree in medicine of El Bosque University in Bogota (Colombia). The design used was a quantitative non-experimental type survey. The procedure included the bibliographic review; the definition of the research problem; the application of instruments for data collection; the analysis and interpretation of results and the extraction of conclusions and implications. The obtained results indicate that the questionnaire (CPE-R-2F) has good internal consistency, validity and high congruence between subscales; in relation with the learning approaches we conclude that the predominant approach is the deeply, followed by the indefinite and the superficial in all the components of the curriculum without being affected by the variables of age, semester, state test results and academic performance. In relation to the gender variable, in the three components of the curriculum predominate the deep focus in women and the superficial and indefinite approach in men. Regarding the analysis of the evolution of student learning approaches according to the component, there are differences in favor of the deep focus in the basic clinical component on the public health and primary care component and on the socio-humanistic component. In relation to the indefinite approach, there is a lower value in the Basic clinical component, followed by the public health and primary care component and by the socio-humanistic component. About the evolution of student learning approaches according to the semester, there are differences in favor of the deep focus in all semester groups being higher in the group of first semesters. Inverse situation is presented with the superficial approach where a lower value is evidenced in the group of the first semesters over the last ones. The knowledge contributed by the present research impacts the tasks of higher education and medical education, in the university and in the program of medicine. In addition, it identifies the possibility of strengthening the academic proposal searching to improve students' learning and the quality of the training process, through the design and implementation of pedagogical practices aimed to students and faculties, fitted with their needs.