PubMed2002
OBJECTIVE: Each year 150 new medical students enter UCLA. During Foundations week they are introduced to the resources and services, which will support their studies, as well as to the problem-based learning (PBL) approach of instruction. The library is responsible for introducing print and digital resources and illustrating how these support the PBL approach. This has been a challenge, given students' belief that they already know about libraries and the limited time frame (roughly 45 minutes) allotted to us. This year we developed a collaborative, student-centered, active learning approach. Students were exposed to a variety of relevant resources and given the opportunity to critique them for appropriateness to their PBL case of the week. DESCRIPTION: Sessions were designed for 50 students at once in the instructional microcomputing facility (IMF), with two or three students sharing each workstation. Since the IMF is equipped with classroom control software, librarians could display resources on each workstation while discussing them. Since we wish to encourage students to begin at our Web page, we wore t-shirts with the logo "Start@Biomed" and our URL. Instruction started with a "Guided Tour of the Biomedical Library Web Page" during which we discussed general services, highlighted special features, including Web-based tutorials and subject guides, and illustrated how to connect to relevant resources such as PubMed, MDConsult, STAT!Ref, and MEDLINEPlus. The student groups then critically reviewed one resource identified by a card next to their workstation by answering the following questions in writing: Would this resource address your specific PBL learning issue? If not, what type of learning issue would it address? Describe an outstanding feature or a barrier to use for this resource? After ten minutes, students were asked to report to the entire group. The use of a hand-held mike, which we passed among the students, added an element of fun to the proceedings and simulated a talk show atmosphere. DISCUSSION: This emphasis on active learning, critical thinking, and problem solving was a successful way to introduce students to the library and its resources, and reinforced the library's role in PBL. The friendly, casual talk-show approach, coupled with our Start@Biomed t-shirts, created a setting in which we became real partners in the learning enterprise. Students reported they enjoyed the experience, and they are returning to us for additional help. Their written feedback, which we collected, summarized, and distributed to the entire class, illustrated a clear understanding of the resources and their usefulness. Both the medical school faculty and the librarians involved feel we have developed a useful, interesting, and appropriate way to reach beginning medical students, who often feel that they already know a great deal about using a library.