Introductions: Problem based learning is considered superior to the conventional didactic teaching for contextual learning, long term retention of knowledge, development of generic skill and attitudes. This study looked in to the students’ perception and preference of problem bases learning in a sixmonth introductory course in the beginning of undergraduate medical school program. Methods: A 20-item questionnaire with four-point rating scale (1-strongly disagree, 2-Disagree, 3-Agree and 4-Strongly agree) was administered to collect first year medical students’ perception on problem based learning during first six month introductory course (June 2010 to November 2010) of first batch of medical students. The questionnaire included 13-items for perception and seven for preferences. It also had an open-ended comment section. Results: Students showed positive reaction problem based learning irrespective of gender or educational background in providing contextual learning and retention of knowledge. Students agreed that it fostered generic skills (communication, group work, critical thinking, reasoning, reflectiveness and self-directed learning). Students wished for more such sessions in more subjects with short content assessment at the end of the sessions. Conclusions: Problem based learning is fun, provides contextual learning and imparts long term retention of knowledge through students’ active participation in a small group. It also promotes generic skills and self-directed life-long learning. Plain Language Summary: The study was conducted to see the effectiveness of problem based learning (PBL) in a six-month long ‘Introductory Course’ of undergraduate medical sciences program. The study found that PBL made topics interesting and created a fun-filled learning environment. It found PBL to be effective in fulfilling learning objectives and making the contents relevant. It also showed PBL to be effective in promoting a set of generic skills and attitudes. Thus, the curricular contents presented in context through PBL can impart meaningful knowledge and a set of generic skills that are important to develop of a habit of self-directed, life-long learning. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jpahs.v1i1.13023 Journal of Patan Academy of Health Sciences. 2014 Jun;1(1):64-68

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Introductions: Self-assessment enables medical students to self-evaluate their knowledge and seek timely assistance for effective learning from their peers and faculties. Self-assessment is an integral part of the student assessment system of School of Medicine, Patan Academy of Health Sciences.Methods: Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) and Structured Integrated Short Answer Questions (SISAQs) links were sent to the personal e-mail of medical students at the start of Principle of Human Biology I Block. These items were created and selected from various disciplines as per their curricular weightage in this block. Students’ scores and feedback were analysed once this 11-week long block was over.Results: The MCQ surveys had ideal difficulty levels and acceptable discrimination indices but they had poor internal consistencies. The criterion-referenced cut-scores of MCQs and SISAQ were higher than the conventionally used 50% pass-mark in Nepal. Students’ suggested to increase the MCQs and SISAQ numbers and match them in terms of their difficulty levels with the end-block and end-year summative assessments. Item analysis helped to identify the items to be retained, revised and discarded for the future use.Conclusions: Web-based self-assessment of knowledge was found to be an extremely useful tool to inculcate self-directed and life-long learning habits among medical students.Journal of Patan Academy of Health Sciences. 2014 Dec;1(2):58-63

Introductions: The newly established Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS) has incorporated the measurement of non-cognitive skills and behaviors into the summative assessment in the setting of problem based learning (PBL). This study was conducted to validate a PBL process assessment tool for PAHS. Methods: A list of 72 items of student behaviors observable in PBL tutorials was compiled from literature review. They were categorized under ten broad dimensions consistent with predefined PAHS Graduate Attributes. A series of PBL project committee meetings and expert inputs refined the list of 72 items to 47 and categorized them under eight dimensions. These 47 items, each with a 4-point rating scale, formed the Tutor Assessment of Student Tool (TAS-Tool). Twenty-four trained faculty members used the TAS-Tool to evaluate the performance of 41 senior high school students in PBL tutorials. Results: The internal-consistency of the TAS-Tool was very high (Cronbach’s α = 0.954). Removal of two inconsistent items further increased it to 0.975. Principal components analysis with varimax rotation applied to the remaining 45 items gave seven components and explained 69.47% of the variation between the components. These seven components (% variation) were: Immersed in the Tutorial Process (20.16%); Professional (12.71%); Communicator and Team Leader (11.25%); Critical Thinker (8.77%); Reflector (6.22%); Creative (5.95%), and Sensitive (4.41%). Conclusions: TAS-Tool was found to be reliable and valid instrument deemed applicable in formative PBL process assessment at PAHS starting with the pioneer cohort of medical students. Further validation of TAS-Tool through longitudinal study with PAHS students is required for summative purpose.