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Abstract
Background: Conceptions of medical teachers regarding learning and teaching affect their teaching practice. Therefore conceptions should be addressed in faculty development.
Aim: To facilitate this, we constructed the Conceptions Of Learning and Teaching (COLT) instrument.
Method: The COLT was adapted based on experts’ comments during a meeting and interviews, followed by a Delphi procedure (Part I). It was administered to teachers from two Dutch medical schools with different traditions in student-centred education (Part II; N = 646). The data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis.
Results: 324 Teachers (50.2%) completed the questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis did not confirm the underlying theoretical model, but an alternative model demonstrated a good fit. This led to an instrument with eighteen items reflecting three underlying factors: ‘teacher centredness’, ‘appreciation of active learning’, and ‘orientation to professional practice’. We found significant differences in COLT scores between the faculty of the two medical schools.
Conclusions: The COLT appears to be a construct valid tool resulting in reliable scores of teachers’ conceptions of learning and teaching, in student-centred medical education. Two of the three factors are new and may be specific for student-centred medical education. The COLT may be a promising tool to improve faculty development.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank all participants in this study: the experts, the teachers who participated in the interviews, the Delphi panel and the 324 teachers from VUmc and MUMC who filled out the questionnaire. We are also grateful to Mereke Gorsira for her support in editing this paper's English. Furthermore we thank Antoinette Vestdijk, Gabby Reinders and Louise van der Neut for their contribution to the data collection.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.