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Table 4 Perceived Barriers for Using Active Learning in Continuing Medical Education Units in the U.S. and Canada During 2019 Using Descriptive Statistics and Cronbach’s alpha from Survey Questions

From: Making it stick: use of active learning strategies in continuing medical education

Barriers to Active Learning

Strongly Agree/Agree

Neither Agree nor Disagree

Disagree/ Strongly Disagree

Peers and colleagues are not familiar with AL teaching practices a

100.0% (1)

0.0% (0)

0.0% (0)

AL requires more preparation and planning as it is an unfamiliar teaching format for many presenters

93.9% (93)

1.0% (1)

5.1% (5)

Many lecturers / presenters are unfamiliar with AL teaching methods

82.9% (92)

12.6% (14)

4.5% (5)

Most presenters “grew-up” and studied in a predominately lecture-based system and it worked for them; so, they don’t see a need to change

63.6% (63)

20.2% (20)

16.2% (16)

Interaction with the audience may expose knowledge gaps of the lecturer/presenter

53.0% (53)

28.0% (28)

19.0% (19)

The culture of my institution is lecture-based

48.0% (48)

28.0% (28)

24.0% (24)

At my institution, there is a lack of administrative / secretarial support for AL

45.5% (50)

28.2% (31)

26.4% (29)

Course attendees are unfamiliar with AL

41.7% (5)

25.0% (3)

33.3% (4)

Learners dislike AL because it requires their participation

34.0% (35)

25.2% (26)

40.8% (42)

AL is incompatible with larger audiences

27.0% (30)

15.3% (17)

57.7% (64)

My institution does not offer faculty development opportunities for AL teaching methods

26.9% (29)

18.5% (20)

54.6% (59)

At my institution, AL is not considered a useful teaching tool in CME

15.9% (18)

22.1% (25)

61.9% (70)

AL is an inefficient way of teaching because increased interaction with the audience is time-consuming

12.7% (14)

14.5% (16)

72.7% (80)

Lectures require less preparation or planning by instructors a

0.0% (0)

100.0% (1)

0.0% (0)

Other barriers n = 7

Cronbach’s alpha

95% Confidence Interval

Lower Bound

Upper Bound

0.82

0.76

0.87

  1. a items excluded from Cronbach’s alpha analysis
  2. mean (SD) 3.09 (0.66)
  3. CME Continuing Medical Education
  4. AL Active Learning
  5. U.S. United States
  6. 95% CI 95% Confidence Interval
  7. Data are represented as % (n) of respondents