From Textbooks to Thinking:
How PCOM Encourages Active Learning with ScholarRx
Find out how faculty at PCOM encouraged active learning with ScholarRx and increased course scores by 8%.
Jason Walker, PhD, Associate Professor of Physiology at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), had a fantastic challenge ahead of him—shaping the curriculum at a brand-new medical school. He was particularly excited to be a part of the founding class, to imprint necessary qualities on those students, and to build a legacy.
There was just one issue: students don’t study like they used to. How can faculty adapt to better support their students on this tremendous journey?
The Challenge
Disengaged Students and the Textbooks They Don't Read
One of the pressing issues in modern medical education is the students' reluctance towards textbooks. This aversion often leads to a lack of engagement with the assigned readings, putting them at a disadvantage in class.
This new framework of undergraduate medical education is home to products that students would instead use – and there are so many options out there. Students would much rather go to these platforms than read the textbook. However, if faculty aren’t guiding the curriculum and ensuring the third-party resources connect with their school’s curriculum, students may not be focusing on the right things. Recognizing this challenge, Dr. Walker and his co-course director at PCOM, Dr. Shaw, turned to ScholarRx and its innovative Bricks to bridge this gap.
Dr. Walker was familiar with ScholarRx and knew what the Bricks were, but he had to introduce them to Dr. Shaw and the admin before he could roll them out in his classroom. One introductory meeting was all it took to get the team on board.
“I can sell a student on reading 15 minutes,” Dr. Walker told Nicole Dalton, Partner Account Manager at ScholarRx. “It will give you everything you need to know to achieve the numerical exam outcome you want.”
Rx Bricks: Interactive Modules to Strengthen Your Students' Foundations
Increased Productivity
Interactive modules that take fewer than 20 minutes to read? That's a win for students AND faculty.
High-Yield Information
A targeted and cohesive learning experience with basic and clinical science concepts.
Curriculum Alignment
If the library of 800+ Bricks doesn't meet your curricular needs, no problem. Create your own!
Helping students gain access to the right learning resources is critical to their success, faculty success, and institutional success.
The Solution
Bite-Sized Learning and Active Application
As soon as Dr. Shaw and Dr. Walker were on the same page, they began using Rx Bricks in their course at the South Georgia PCOM campus. They made it easy for students to find the Bricks - they included them on the title slides with: “Here’s what you should read for today’s class” and “Here’s how long it will take.”
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PCOM incorporated Rx Bricks into its curriculum to address the challenge of student disengagement with textbooks.
One of Dr. Walker’s favorite things about the Bricks is that you can transform them into whatever you want. Physiologists can’t even agree on the best textbook to use in a course, but you can take a Brick, make it your own, and quote your preferred source as an additional reference. This allowed them to meet students where they were and sell it that way to the administration.
To promote active learning and knowledge application, Dr. Walker incorporated Qmax question banks into his class. He selected challenging questions related to the lecture topics for end-of-week quizzes. This approach encouraged students to go beyond rote memorization and develop critical thinking skills.
The Results
ScholarRx Delivers: Measurable Improvement & Student Satisfaction
Rx Bricks Helped Learners:
Rx Bricks Helped Educators:
By combining targeted learning resources with active learning activities, Dr. Walker and Dr. Shaw created a successful learning environment that addressed the needs of today's medical students.
Summary
A Collaborative Success Story Looks Toward the Future
It’s hard to know what the future holds, but PCOM is actively exploring expanding the use of ScholarRx across all campuses, following the positive results observed at the South Georgia location.
ScholarRx is committed to developing additional resources that cater to medical students' evolving needs, building on our platform's success to bring open-access content to medical schools around the globe.