Key Literature in Medical Education Podcast Review

Reviewer: Linda Snell

Date broadcast:

Have  Motivation  Theories  Guided  the  

Development  and  Reform  of  Medical  
Education  Curricula?    
A  Review  of  the  Literature.  
Reference:
Kusurkar RA1,2, Croiset G2, Mann KV3, Custers, E1, Ten Cate O1. Have Motivation Theories Guided the
Development and Reform of Medical Education Curricula? A Review of the Literature. Academic Medicine;
87(6):735-743.

Author Institutions:
1
Center for Research and Development of Education, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The
Netherlands.
2
VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
3
Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine Clinical Research Centre, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia,
Canada.

PubMed URL

Tags

Educational domain
Curriculum
Education Theory

Background

Medical education curricula and curricular models have evolved significantly over the
past few centuries. Medical students’ learning processes can be mapped onto
cognitive, affective and metacognitive dimensions; there is a relationship between
the affective (motivational) dimension and learning that has not been fully explored.
It is not known if curricular reforms have been affected by knowledge of motivation
theories.

Purpose

To determine if aspects of student motivation have helped guide curricular change.

Specifically to explore how the motivation dimension of learning has guided curriculum
development in medical education with the research question: Has student motivation
been an important element in guiding curricular changes and reforms in medical
education?

Type of paper

Literature Review
Key Points on the Methods

1. A literature review (not comprehensive or systematic) of the history of motivation

theories, refined into a list with brief description of each theory following discussion
and consensus of authors

2. Development of a list and descriptor of the major curriculum reforms of the past
few centuries, using expert opinion and consensus of authors.

3. Use of the LOT (Learning oriented teaching) model to rate the descriptions of each
reform according to how much it was oriented toward cognitive,
motivational/affective, and metacognitive elements of learning. The motivational
element was scored on the basis of implicit or explicit mention of consideration of
student motivation in the design of the model.

Key Outcomes

1. A narrative review of motivation theories, with recommendations for education

(see summary in table 1).
2. A list and brief description of the major curriculum models.
3. An assessment of Curricular Trends and their orientation to the 3 components of
the LOT model.

Key Conclusions

The authors conclude 1. In general, curricular developments have been largely based
on improving the cognitive component of learning; 2. Recent curricular developments
like PBL may also improve the metacognitive regulation component of learning; 3.
The motivational component in many curricular changes has usually been implicit 4.
Student motivation has not been a predominant driver of curriculum reform and may
be undervalued by curriculum designers.

Spare Keys – other take home points for clinician

educators

This article nicely reviews motivational theories to provide the basics for a
CE. However, the literature review was neither systematic or
comprehensive, so we do not know if their list is complete.

It also provides a good list of the major curricular reforms that can help
inform our thinking about future curricular change. The authors suggest
that specifically integrating stimulation of student motivation (both its
quality and quantity) into the way medical education is planned, delivered,
and assessed could be a useful educational philosophy for the future.
However they do not suggest how this could be done - a ripe field of study
for a CE!