title: The relationship between assessment methods and self-directed learning readiness in medical education.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This research explored the assessment of self-directed learning readiness within the comprehensive evaluation of medical students' knowledge and skills and the extent to which several variables predicted participants' self-directed learning readiness prior to their graduation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five metrics for evaluating medical students were considered in a multiple regression analysis. Fourth-year medical students at a competitive US medical school received an informed consent and an online survey. Participants voluntarily completed a self-directed learning readiness scale that assessed four subsets of self-directed learning readiness and consented to the release of their academic records.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The assortment of metrics considered in this study only vaguely captured students' self-directedness. The strongest predictors were faculty evaluations of students' performance on clerkship rotations. Specific clerkship grades were mildly predictive of three subscales. The Pediatrics clerkship modestly predicted critical self-evaluation (r=-.30, p=.01) and the Psychiatry clerkship mildly predicted learning self-efficacy (r =-.30, p=.01), while the Junior Surgery clerkship nominally correlated with participants' effective organization for learning (r=.21, p=.05). Other metrics examined did not contribute to predicting participants' readiness for self-directed learning.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Given individual differences among participants for the variables considered, no combination of students' grades and/or test scores overwhelmingly predicted their aptitude for self-directed learning. Considering the importance of fostering medical students' self-directed learning skills, schools need a reliable and pragmatic approach to measure them. This data analysis, however, offered no clear-cut way of documenting students' self-directed learning readiness based on the evaluation metrics included.
authors.affiliation: Emory University, School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Monroe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002982:Clinical Clerkship; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D020377:Self Efficacy; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: assessment; evaluation; self-directed learning