Assessment of Medical Students’ Readiness for Self-directed Learning

Background:Importance of self-directed learning (SDL) has been discussed over a long time. More recently, SDL has been described as the most effective mode of learning for individuals in the information age as it is the way for coping with the constant changes in knowledge.Objective: This study aimed at exploring the SDL readiness of the students of the second year undergraduate medical students.Methods:The study was a descriptive cross-sectional one conducted at IbnSina National College for Medical Studies (ISNC) on all the second year medical students during the academic year 2014-2015. We used the self-directed learning readiness scale (SDLRS) developed by Fisher et al (2001) which contained 40 items grouped under 3 sub-scales: Self-management, Desire for Learning, and Self-control. Descriptive statistics together with regression analysis were applied using SPSS v.20.Results:The mean score for students in SDL readiness was 159.25
(range: 117 to 193), with 76.2% of students who got scores ≥ 150 and 23.8% of them who got scores < 150. Among three subscales, “Self-control” got the highest mean score (4.15) followed by “Desire for Learning” (4.07), while “Self-management” got the lowest mean score (3.69) on a 5-point scale. Females got higher SDLRS scores than males. There was a positive linear relationship between GPA and SDLRS score.Conclusion:Studentsin ISNC showed a satisfactory degree of readiness for self-directed learning, which was positively related to the academic achievement represented by GPA. Females showed significantly more readiness than males.