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Background: In response to growing concerns about conventional modes of teaching and learning in medicine, some medical schools in Saudi Arabia have converted to hybrid problem-based learning (PBL) curricula while others continue to implement traditional discipline-based curricula. Understanding students' perceptions of traditional versus PBL learning environments can be helpful for evaluating program strengths and weaknesses and should promote curriculum development. Aim: The purpose of this study was therefore to evaluate the educational environments of two medical schools in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from perspectives of graduating medical students using the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) inventory. Results: Compared to medical school implementing a hybrid PBL curriculum, the overall score on the inventory for the conventional school was statistically significantly less ( p < 0.001). In addition, students experiencing the hybrid-PBL curriculum held significantly higher perceptions in the learning, academic self-perception and atmosphere sub-domains of the inventory ( p < 0.001). Overall, our results align with previous studies pertaining to DREEM scores of other regional conventional and international PBL medical schools. Conclusion: We conclude that applying DREEM as a diagnostic tool provides important insights and understanding of learning environments where different educational strategies are adopted and which may be in need of development and change. Implications for curriculum development and improvement of learning environments in health professions education institutions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As more Masters of Medical Education programs (MMEPs) become available, the quality of these programs will be under increased scrutiny. Aims: We applied World Federation for Medical Education (WFME) quality standards in an internal evaluation process involving participants and faculty to determine: (i) if our MMEP met minimum quality standards (ii) if WFME standards provided a useful framework to evaluate minimum standards in our context and (iii) whether the program was perceived as developing future educational leaders. Methods: A cross-sectional researcher developed survey, interviews and secondary data analysis were utilized for data collection. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS version 16. Descriptive statistics were generated. Fisher′s exact test determined statistically significant differences between groups. Qualitative data were analyzed using a framework analysis. Results: All students attending the MMEP 2007-2010 ( n == 67) and faculty ( n == 11) were invited to participate; 48%% students and 91%% faculty responded. Quantitative and qualitative results demonstrated positive perspectives regarding all three aspects of our enquiry. Nevertheless, needed improvements were identified in the areas of availability of human and physical resources, feedback and aspects of the research experience. Conclusions: Impact on quality of health professions education in the Kingdom and participant educational leadership development are particularly important social responsiveness features of the program. Refinement of the evaluation instrument and WFME standards to ensure clarity and relevance to local contexts as well as a future expected imperative to move beyond social responsiveness to social accountability in health professions education, are future challenges discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess teaching in the Renal System Block of an integrated problem-based learning (PBL) undergraduate medical curriculum by the students' and tutors' according to their perceptions of relevance, stimulation and amount learned from the problems, a 16-item questionnaire focusing on these issues was distributed to a group of 1st year medical students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (n = 17) and their tutors (n = 3). Group ratings on Likert-type rating scales and open-ended comments were analyzed to determine median and qualitative differences. Students' and tutors had favorable, congruent perceptions of amount learned, stimulation and relevance of renal medicine problems to the Saudi Arabian healthcare context. Open-ended comments of both groups were highly supportive of the Block objectives, content and integrated teaching. It is concluded that exploring the congruence of students' and tutors' perspectives has been helpful in determining the necessity for renal medicine block modifications; emulating a PBL collaborative knowledge-building approach in curriculum development.

This report describes and explores the impact of a series of faculty-led faculty development programs underpinned by principles of distributed educational leadership. We aimed to prepare faculty for their roles as facilitators and assessors in a newly implemented problem-based (PBL) graduate entry medical program. We asked participants attending a series of faculty development programs to evaluate workshops attended using an in-house designed survey. Overall descriptive statistics for all workshops and qualitative feedback for PBL workshops alone were examined. It was concluded that clinical faculty who are not specialized in medical education can offer high-quality, well-accepted training for their peers. Faculty development, underpinned by a distributed leadership approach which supports learning organization tenets, imaginative, flexible and democratic approaches to developing and nurturing expertise at all levels of the organization, is likely to lead to improvements in medical education. Despite the limitations of the survey approach to evaluation of faculty development programs, the information provided is useful both as a basis for decision making and program improvement.

Objective: To explore junior and senior students' perceptions of their self-directed learning (SDL) capabilities in an innovative graduate-entry medical program and to determine the construct reliability of the survey instrument utilized., Methods: A cross-sectional survey design in which a self-report questionnaire was administered to undergraduate medical students (n=43) of King Saud bin Abdul Aziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh in October 2008 and March 2009; soon after entry and in their year 3 of an integrated problem-based learning (PBL) program. The questionnaire sought self-assessment on 14 SDL capabilities., Results: Questionnaire construct reliability was high (Cronbach's alpha=0.945). Respondents had medium to high perceptions of their self-directed learning capabilities in areas that are among the main building-blocks of self-directed learning. In comparison to junior students, senior students had statistically significantly higher mean scores on 11 of 14 self-assessed SDL competencies (p<0.05)., Conclusion: Consistent with other studies of SDL in a graduate-entry PBL curriculum, most students perceived themselves as having moderate to high SDL capabilities. Knowledge of learners' perceived levels of self-directedness is helpful for both students and medical educators. By understanding learners' conceptions of their self-directed learning capabilities we can design evidence-based program modifications that are likely to promote intended curriculum objectives. Longitudinal studies are needed observing the application and stability of perceived capabilities.