Back to the Future: What Learning Communities Offer to Medical Education

Abstract

Learning communities (LCs) have increasingly been incorporated into undergraduate medical education at a number of medical schools in the United States over the past decade. In an Association of Medical Colleges survey of 140 medical schools, 102 schools indicated that they had LC (described as colleges or mentorship groups; https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/cir/425510/19a.html). LCs share an overarching principle of establishing longitudinal relationships with students and faculty, but differ in the emphasis on specific components that may include curriculum delivery, advising/ mentoring, student wellness, and community. The creation of LCs requires institutional commitment to reorganize educational processes to become more student centered. LCs are beginning to show positive outcomes for students including benefits related to clinical skills development, advising, and student wellness, in addition to positive outcomes for LC faculty.

The influence of mixing international and domestic students on competency learning in small groups in undergraduate medical education

“…PBL is known to facilitate students’ Communication, Collaboration, and Leadership competencies development [ 15 – 17 ]. Another example of an instructional design that uses small group learning is the use of Learning Communities (LCs), which are known to improve interaction and relationships between students and faculty [ 18 ]. Students construct knowledge by interacting with fellow students and create meaningful connections between their experience and classwork [ 19 ].…”

Predictors of Student Engagement in Learning Communities

“…1,2 Medical schools have adopted LCs in increasing numbers in recent years as a way to address the need for longitudinal relationships between students and faculty in small groups, promote professional identity formation, improve the learning environment, and decrease student social isolation. 3–6 Addressing these needs through LCs requires not only change to the structure of a school’s educational program but also change in the culture of the school. Such cultural changes are often motivational in nature and rely heavily on student engagement in LCs during all years of the curriculum.…”

The learning community faculty experience: how longitudinal relationships with learners enhance work meaning

“…As learning communities become an increasingly common among medical schools, it is important to continue to expand our understanding of this educational model. We have already seen the learning community literature expanding beyond early descriptive and demographic studies about learning communities toward general outcomes for learners and faculty [12][13][14][15][16]. Our work is a first step a deeply exploring the learning community educational model within medical schools.…”

“…One educational model that is gaining significant traction within medical education is the adoption of learning communities for mentoring and advising, curriculum delivery, community service, and social connections; as of 2012, over half of American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) member schools had incorporated learning communities into their medical student educational programs [12][13][14]. Learning communities are uniquely designed as a relationship-centered educational structure, with groups of students working together longitudinally with one or more faculty mentors.…”