Assessment of students’ perception on self-directed learning, alignment and integration in competency-based medical education curriculum among first year medical undergraduate students

Background: The introduction of competency-based medical education curriculum in India has endorsed many new concepts, like foundation course, self-directed learning, early clinical exposure, etc. There has been paradigm shift from teacher centered to student centered learning. Integration of the curriculum has been evolved as an important strategy in the current system of Competency based medical education and SDL is essential to enable medical students to develop independent learning skills, increased responsibility, assertiveness and accountability which are key attributes to a medical professional’s career. Literature search could not retrieve many studies in Indian context, hence this study was conducted to determine the perception of students’ on self-directed learning, alignment and integration in CBME curriculum among first year medical undergraduate students. Methods: It was a cross sectional study conducted among first year medical students. After obtaining informed consent, data was collected using a pre-validated questionnaire having SDL instrument and proforma to assess the students’ perception on alignment and integration. Students were asked to rate on a 5-point Likert scale. A total of 174 students completed the questionnaire. The data is expressed as means and percentages. Results: In the present study students opined that SDL helped them to establish their learning goals. Students also opined that alignment and integration is beneficial for in depth understanding of the subject and also to prepare for exams. Conclusions: Incorporation of SDL and aligning and integrated curriculum has helped students in better understanding and correlation of subjects across the phase. The joint efforts by the facilitators and students themselves may be helpful to make students independent and lifelong learners