The Medical School Learning Environment’s Influence on Goal Orientation

Abstract

The medical school learning environment (MSLE) influences students experience, academic attainment, and trainees’ outcome. 1 Academic performance is influenced by emotions and motivations 2. Hence, MSLE Survey, 3 is widely used for research and institutional quality assessments. It is probable that the learning environment (LE) impacts medical student goal orientation. Goal orientation takes two dispositions: pursuing competency ‘Learning goal orientation’ or pursuing favorable judgment ‘Performance goal orientation’. 4 We aimed to study MSLE and its influence on goal orientation among medical students (year 1-year 6). Participants included medical students at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates (UAE) University. Students were grouped into four: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 & 4, Year 5 & 6. Student demographics along with MSLE and goal orientation questionnaires were collected using an online survey after piloting. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) assessed the latent factor structure of questionnaires. Reliability was measured using Cronbach’s alpha. A single factor ANOVA tested the significance of the LE and goal orientation across different groups. Pearson’s correlation analysis assessed the association between LE and goal orientation. All statistical tests performed at .05 level of significance. Medical students (n=377) completed the MSLE and goal orientation questionnaires along with demographic data. The EFA of LE scale revealed four-factors: - (i)Learning Experiences (∝=0.71), (ii)Students-Student Interaction (∝=0.69), (iii)Students-Faculty Interaction (∝=0.62), and (iv)Academic Support (∝=0.62). Learning experiences for Y3-Y6 are significantly lower than Y1 and Y2. Students-student interaction for Y2 is significantly lower than other years. Students-faculty interaction for Y1 is significantly higher than Y2. Academic support was significantly higher in Y1 compared with Y1-Y6. The EFA of the goal orientation scale revealed three factors (i)Learning goal orientation (∝=0.86), (ii)Performance goal orientation-prove (∝=0.83), and (iii)Performance goal orientation-avoid (∝=0.69). Results of the ANOVA test indicated no significant difference in all three dimensions of goal orientation between the different groups. A positive correlation existed between (i)Learning goal orientation with both learning experience and students-student interaction. (ii)Performance goal orientation-prove with learning experience. A negative correlation existed between Performance goal orientation-avoid with students-faculty interaction. In conclusion, this is the first study providing psychometric evidence of MSLE and goal orientation in the UAE. Our findings indicate that better learning experiences and students-student interactions have positive impact on LE. Therefore, medical schools are advised to consider enhancing student-to-student interactions and facilitating their learning experiences.