Adaptive expertise in medical education: Accelerating learning trajectories by fostering self-regulated learning

Abstract

Medical school is designed to provide students with the necessary education and training needed to be effective and safe physicians. Debates about how best to instruct medical students along this trajectory are abundant. Students learn through a planned curriculum as well as a self-directed one motivated by their own level of interest and ability to access and integrate the exponential growth of medical information available through technology. The rate of change in clinical findings means that some of what is learned in today’s classroom will likely be out of date by the time of graduation. To achieve and maintain expertise, students are faced with this challenge. This article explores ways to support medical students in acquiring the skills they need to become adaptive experts. In particular, instructional strategies for supporting the acquisition of fast, accurate, and superior reproducible performance are described with an emphasis on self-regulated learning where students learn to learn flexibly, seeking out opportunities to take knowledge to new levels.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Robert Glaser coined this phrase in his address to students when receiving his honorary doctorate at McGill University.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a grant held by the author awarded from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Notes on contributors

Susanne P. Lajoie

Dr. Susanne P. Lajoie, is a Professor and Canadian Research Chair in Advanced Technologies for Learning in Authentic Settings in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and a member of the Centre for Medical Education at McGill University. She uses theories of learning and affect to design advanced technologies for learning in medicine.

Maren Gube

Maren Gube, is a PhD student in the Advanced Technologies for Learning in Authentic Settings lab in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology at McGill University. Her research interests are the affective and motivational processes that support the development of adaptive rather than merely routine expertise.