Abstract:

Human Histology is a second-year compulsory subject of the Medicine Degree at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Practical is focused on observation of histological slides to train students in recognizing general and differential microscopic characteristics of organs, laying the foundation for Pathology learning in the third-year. The Bologna plan involved a dramatic reduction in the number of practice hours, which along with the main role of the students in the European Higher Education Area, highlight the need to implement the practical part, particularly methodologies and the evaluation system. Teachers have been required to dedicate more time and effort for creating educational materials, designing individual or group tasks and learning virtual platforms environments. Students have taken an active role with works, presentations and peer-evaluations.
Nevertheless, seven courses after the introduction of the new medical curriculum, it has become evident that a large proportion of students does not use practical scripts nor consult the recommended bibliography, and so they go to practical sessions without knowing aims and tasks. In order to boost practical and to achieve a more effective work in the classroom, minitests were included in each session. They consisted of short tests with projected images asking for the organs, their histological features and staining techniques.
Minitests were planned at the beginning of each session. Participation in the minitests would be voluntary but teachers graded them. Provided a continued participation, the minitests’ grades could result in one extra point, but a final exam mark 7 out of 10 is required for adding the extra bonus. Therefore, only those students who demonstrate a good knowlegde in the final exam would benefit from the minitests’ mark. A Minitest Survey was set up at the end of the practical part to find out the level of satisfaction of the students. The following course, minitests were moved to the end of each session, that’s it, after the observation of histological slides under the microscope. This time, instead of the Minitest Survey, some questions were added to the Final Survey conducted at the end of the term.
Appraisals on continuous evaluation with minitests were clearly satisfactory. A large proportion of respondents in 2015/16 asserted that minitests forced them to prepare practical (90%), that they provide for a better understanding of microscopic observations (86%) and that they help to figure out the aims of each session (81%). Satisfactory opinions were once again collected in 2016/17: 86% of respondents rated minitests as good or very good, and 84% were satisfied with minitest continuous evaluation. When asking if minitests would help to improve their final practical mark, 61% agreed in 2015/16 and 79% in 2016/17. Cross-checking these opinions with real marks proved that 70% of the group improved the practice mark due to minitests bonus extra in 2015/16 and 85% in 2016/17. Those who most benefit (maximum score +1 point) rose from 28% to 65%.
Our main goal at practical was not to reduce the failure rate but to enhance learning. Minitests have become a driving force. Students are much better at organizing practical time and show a willingness to learn integrating images with theoretical concepts which should result in a formative learning.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Histology, practical learning, continuous evaluation, formative evaluation.