Remediation Trends in an Undergraduate Anatomy Course and Assessment of an Anatomy Supplemental Study Skills Course

Abstract

Anatomy A215: Basic Human Anatomy (Anat A215) is an undergraduate human anatomy course at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) that serves as a requirement for many degree programs at IUB. The difficulty of the course, coupled with pressure to achieve grades for admittance into specific programs, has resulted in high remediation rates. In an attempt to help students to improve their study habits and metacognitive skills Medical Sciences M100: Improving Learning Skills in Anatomy (MSCI M100) was developed. MSCI M100 is an undergraduate course at IUB which is taught concurrently with Anat A215, with the hopes of promoting academic success in Anat A215. This multifaceted study was designed to analyze the factors associated with students who remediate Anat A215, to predict at-risk students in future semesters, and assess the effectiveness of MSCI M100. The first facet involved analysis of Anat A215 students’ demographic information and class performance data from the spring semester of 2004 through the spring semester of 2010. Results of data analysis can be used by IUB instructors and academic advisors to identify students at risk for remediating, as well as provide other undergraduate anatomy instructors across the U.S. with potential risk factors associated with remediation. The second facet of this research involved analyzing MSCI M100 course assignments to determine if there are improvements in student study habits and metacognitive skills. This investigation involved quantitative analysis of study logs and a learning attitudes survey, as well as a thorough inductive analysis of students’ weekly journal entries. Lastly, Anat A215 exam scores and final course grades for students who completed MSCI M100 and students who did not complete MSCI M100 were compared. Results from these analyses show promising improvements in students’ metacognition and study habits, but further research will better demonstrate the efficacy of MSCI M100.