Preliminary research in the application of integrated learning and teacher-centredness in undergraduate education in China

Figures & data

Table

Practice points

For many years, the traditional teaching approach in China is a very didactic approach from teacher to students, with undergraduate medical education often at the forefront of this style of teaching. The General Practice Department of Fudan University adopts the integrated learning and teacher-centred approach in the new undergraduate course, ‘Doctor–Patient Communication Skills’. The new course places emphasis upon tutor–student interaction, taking the form of group discussion, role-play, video analysis of students’ communication with patients and self-reflection exercises, together with practiced communication on standardised patients. Students’ comments have indicated that the new optional course has achieved a good effect, making teaching and learning an enjoyable and satisfying experience for its participants. As a new course, it still has some deficiencies in its teaching practice, and requires further improvement.

Table 1.  Educational pathways for medical education in China

Name of specialty	Years of study	Degree	Educational focus	Professional position
Basic medicine	7or 8	Masters/Doctors in medicine	Experimental medicine	Research
Clinical medicine	7or 8	Masters/Doctors in clinical medicine	Diagnosis and treatment of disease	Practice graduate medical education
Preventive medicine	5	Medical bachelor	Prevention, disease, hygiene control	Public health
Clinical medicine	5	Medical bachelor	General medicine/clinical skills	Hospital, clinics–rural
Stomatology /dentistry	5	Medical bachelor	Diseases of mouth and teeth	Clinics hospitals
Biological techniques	5	Medical bachelor	Bioinformatics and biological medicine	Teaching and research
Anesthesiology	5	Medical bachelor	Anesthesia related subjects/Skills	Hospitals
Radiological medicine	5	Medical bachelor	Radiology	Hospitals

Figure 1. Self-designed evaluation questionnaire.

Table 2.  Basic information of students

	Student number	%
Sex
Male	25	43.1
Female	33	56.9
Major
Clinical medicine	50	86.2
Non-clinical medicine	8	13.8
Grade
Grade 4 and above	16	27.6
Below Grade 4	42	72.4

Table 3.  Reliability of self-designed evaluation questionnaire

Aspect	Number of students	Cronbach alpha coefficient
Teacher's attitude to class	3	0.723
Teaching methodology	7	0.868
Classroom management and teaching content	6	0.819
Teaching effect	4	0.729
Interaction between teacher and students	8	0.856
Total	28	0.951

Table 4.  The validity of the self-designed evaluation questionnaire

	Teacher's attitude	Teaching method	Classroom management and teaching content	Effect of teaching	Interaction between teacher and students
Teacher's attitude	1.000
Teaching method	0.622**	1.000
Classroom management and teaching content	0.664**	0.764**	1.000
Effect of teaching	0.605**	0.639**	0.595**	1.000
Interaction between teacher and students	0.607**	0.853**	0.682**	0.679**	1.000

**p < 0.01.

Table 5.  Evaluation scoring at different evaluation aspect in percentages

	N	Mean	Median	Standard Deviation	Minimum	Maximum
Teacher's attitude	58	96.21	100.00	7.08	73.33	100.00
Teaching method	58	93.55	97.14	7.95	71.43	100.00
Classroom management and teaching content	58	92.70	96.67	8.36	63.33	100.00
Effect of teaching	58	91.98	95.00	8.93	70.00	100.00
Interaction	58	94.31	97.50	7.19	75.00	100.00

Table 6.  Assessment of student's degree of satisfaction with teachers

	Very satisfied	Satisfied	Ordinary	Deficient	Bad
Teacher is enthusiastic, energetic; loves teaching with positive attitude	86.96	11.30	1.30	0.44	0
Gaining students’ attention and interest	80	17.39	2.61	0	0
Explain difficult but important theories in simple language, illuminating	82.61	15.22	2.17	0	0
Explains the basic theories simply and accurately, gives importance to key areas, with clear thinking	80.43	17.83	1.74	0	0
Well versed in the course content and uses it freely	87.83	10.87	0.43	0.87	0
Provides enrichment to the teaching content, with a lot of information	85.22	11.74	3.04	0	0
Links content to the latest ideas, concepts and achievements	74.35	16.96	8.26	0.43	0
Enlightens students to think, to associate and to create new ideas	79.57	16.96	3.48	0	0
Adjusts student's moods, livens up the class	76.09	19.57	4.35	0	0
Makes good use of various teaching methods	79.13	17.39	3.48	0	0
Offers efficient and convenient means of communication with students	76.96	13.91	2.17	6.52	0.43