Table 1 Themes in First-Year Medical Students’ Planned Application of Self-Regulated Learning Skills

Accountability and Progress Tracking

Milestones such as mid or end-of-course assessments may be used to check in on progress, build on previous goals and target areas of weakness in knowledge and learning process.

Students strive to obtain and apply constructive, objective external feedback. Learners look to peers, mentors, and professors as a source of accountability.

“I could develop and check-in with my goals in conjunction with the periodic meetings I will have with my society advisor. These meetings could serve as useful benchmarks for progress towards my goals and could help me bring forward questions I may have or resources I need to achieve my goals.”

Goals for Growth

Students hope to set and achieve professional, academic, and personal goals, with the most important components of the goal achievement process including:

(1) Breaking down larger goals into smaller goals

(2) Celebrating progress and achievements

(3) Maintaining a growth mindset

“I plan to set smaller goals for each week in terms of the classroom material I need to do and to achieve the larger goals surrounding research and my medical career. Then once a month approximately, I would like to adjust the larger goals and ensure I am on the path I would like to be.”

“I always reflect on how I did a particular learning exercise and how I can improve in the future. I try to have a growth mindset throughout my learning process.”

Engagement Through Active Learning

Students anticipate using a variety of learning skills, tools, and resources throughout the semester specifically citing:

(1) Active recall

(2) Self-quizzing

(3) Spacing

(4) Consolidation

(5) Diagram and table creation

(6) Paraphrasing

(7) Interleaving

(8) Summarization

(9) Elaboration

(10) Talking through processes aloud

(11) Developing questions

(12) Using flash cards

(13) Engaging with efficient study groups

Students are mindful of resorting to less efficient, but potentially more comfortable learning habits such as re-reading, re-watching videos, and passively taking notes.

“I have already begun to change the way I approach prep as a result of the session. I am trying to really push myself in efficiency and challenge how I am absorbing the material. I realize a lot of what I was doing before felt secure and productive, as I would write down what the videos were saying but in terms of actual recall and encoding, the information was not as effective.”

“I love to turn notes into pictures and consolidated tables. I can attempt to convert my lengthier notes into a series of graphics that organize the concepts. It will probably take extra time investment up front, but I suspect it will pay off on the long-term.”

Routine Reflection

Students recognize a benefit in making reflection and goal setting a part of a regular learning routine and plan to commit to daily, weekly or monthly reflection. Learners see value in physically writing out reflections in a journal or portfolio as opposed to solely reflecting with thoughts. Many students plan to use the journal provided to them in class for reflection.

“Ongoing reflection will ensure my personal and professional growth. I am planning to utilize the notebook that we all received during last week’s session to jot down the most important moments of each month.”

“At the end of the week, I will take 15 minutes to think back to different parts of my learning routine - from efficiency, to retention, to my ability to see the bigger picture. This helps me consolidate my learning path, while also pushing myself to set goals for future steps I could take to enhance my learning.”

Adapting to the Curriculum

Students aim to use strategies already incorporated into the curriculum to their advantage (e.g., interleaving, self-quizzing).

“Evidence-based learning is something that we will need to continue throughout our profession so it’s important to start to learn now. Interleaving, retrieval practice and elaboration are all important learning strategies. These are all nicely incorporated into the way [basic science course] is set up. So as long as we follow the design, we should naturally use all of these strategies.”

Learning Plan Development

To achieve learning goals, students anticipate creating plans for learning. Plans may outline specific learning skills which will be employed, content which will be covered, estimated amount of time to be spent and/or the environment where learning and studying will take place.

Students use reflection and self-questioning to identify areas for growth which serve as the focus of learning plans.

“I want to establish a solid routine of preparatory work, going to class, consolidation, and review. In each of these, I will actively engage in the material and work on recall instead of passively interacting with the material and/or being prompted to remember.”