Mohammed K Khalil

University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville · Biomedical Sciences

The role of a flipped classroom (FC) instructional method has been expanding in medical education. Despite recent interest in FC pedagogy, little is known about optimal FC implementation strategies in medical education and their impact on learning outcomes. This article aimed to outline the educational theories that guide the design of the flipped...

The National Institute of Health R25 Research Education Program was evaluated in the second year of implementation. Twelve mentors and 20 underrepresented minority students (URMs) scholars from partnerships and collaborations among five colleges and universities were added to the program to provide a more diverse research experience. Findings revea...

Background Evaluation of students’ learning strategies can enhance academic support. Few studies have investigated differences in learning strategies between male and female students as well as their impact on United States Medical Licensing Examination® (USMLE) Step 1 and preclinical performance. Methods The Learning and Study Strategies Inventor...

Background In this study, we investigated the association between motivation, cognitive load, difficulty, and performance in a stroke education outreach program implemented for middle school students. Methods Various interactive instructional activities were developed to engage students throughout the program to assess cognitive and intrinsic load...

Despite recent progress, statistics show an urgent need for growth in the numbers of underrepresented minority (URM) students in STEM fields. An individual development plan (IDP) has been used to assist Ph.D. trainees in exploring career paths, developing short- and long-term career goals, and creating action plans to achieve these goals. The Natio...

Histological observation under light microscopy has long been used in human cadaveric studies. However, it can distort the interpretations of findings if not used appropriately; there is no guide for its proper use. The aim of this article is to revisit and discuss the correct use of histology in human cadaveric studies, following discussions with...

Introduction This study examines the effect of educational interventions on strategic learning and self-regulation variables of underrepresented minority students (URMs) who participated in the NIH R25 Research education program. Methods The LASSI instrument was administered to 21 URMs who participated in the intervention over 2 years. We collecte...

IntroductionMany medical schools have implemented near-peer tutoring (NPT) programs based on the substantial benefits of these programs to both tutors and tutees. This study correlated the frequency of attending weekly NPT sessions to students’ academic performance, and also compared performance of high and low attending students.Methods Twenty-one...

The term Metaverse (“meta” defined as beyond, transcendence or virtuality, and “verse” meaning universe or world) denotes a “virtual reality space” for anatomy teaching. To ascertain how many anatomists are familiar or are using this adjunct in teaching, we conducted a short survey at the 2022 annual meeting of the American Association of Clinical...

The Research Education Program (REP) is an NIH R25-funded training grant designed to increase the pipeline of underrepresented minority (URM) students entering graduate programs and pursuing biomedical research and health care careers. Each week, students participated in different academic enrichment activities during morning sessions. Research act...

Purpose: This study examined the relationship between attendance at weekly near-peer tutoring (NPT) sessions offered in the second year of medical school and academic performance on basic science and USMLE Step 1 examinations. Methods: Twenty-four weekly NPT sessions were delivered across all modules in the second year of medical school. Attenda...

The world has changed rapidly since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the education community has not been immune to these changes. With abrupt school closings and a rapid transition to online teaching and learning, the educational technologies have been stretched to their limits and pedagogic approaches blossomed. As the world strives to...

For the last 20 years, undergraduate medical education has seen a major curricular reform movement toward integration of basic and clinical sciences. The rationale for integrated medical school curricula focuses on the application of knowledge in a clinical context and the early ability to practice key skills such as critical thinking and clinical...

Background The integration of patient encounters into the first year of the medical school curriculum is known to be of vital importance in the development of critical thinking and communication skills. We investigated whether exposure of first year medical students to patient encounters during a first year medical school neuroscience course result...

Recently, academic health professionals have been increasing collaboration with peers at a distance for activities such as research, scholarship, and faculty development. Novel virtual technologies enable academic professional teams to overcome time and distance barriers to facilitate collaboration, but little research is available to guide academi...

Objectives This study examines differences in the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) 10-subscale scores between low and high academically performing medical students relative to internal and external examinations. Methods The LASSI instrument was administered to 180 medical students from three classes (2016, 2017, and 2018). To measur...

Identification of cadaveric structures during anatomy summative practical examinations is a challenge for first‐year medical students. To assist in cultivating this skill, we offered 12 formative laboratory activities (anatomy boot camps [ABCs]) that approximated the summative practical examination format using reciprocal and near‐peer teaching. St...

Implementing educational activities, such as a wet lab with cadaveric brain dissection, is known to have a direct impact on medical students' motivation. These activities demonstrate the clinical relevance of concepts taught in the classroom setting. The correlation between motivation and academic performance is not clear. First year medical studen...

Background: Performance on United States Medical Licensing Exam® (USMLE®) Step 1 examination (Step 1) is an important milestone for medical students. It is necessary for their graduation, and selection to interview for the National Resident Match Program®. Success on Step 1 examination requires content alignment, and continuous evaluation and impr...

Background This study examines the strength of association between 10‐subscale scores LASSI and student performance on the anatomical sciences (gross anatomy, histology, and embryology) and USMLE Step 1 examinations. LASSI assesses learning and study strategies based on 10 subscale measures. These subscales included three components of strategic le...

In response to the projected shortage of physicians and the needs of traditionally underserved communities, medical schools are opening regional medical campuses (RMCs). However, faculty members on RMCs face unique professional development issues, such as lack of access to distant university resources and colleagues. At the same time, access to use...

Blended learning is the integration of different learning approaches, new technologies, and activities that combine traditional face-to-face teaching methods with authentic online methodologies. Although advances in educational technology have helped to expand the selection of different pedagogies, the teaching of anatomical sciences has been chall...

Objectives To enable early identification and intervention for students at risk for academic failure and for failure on the USMLE Step 1 Examination, three predictive models (pre-matriculation, end of M1, and end of M2) were developed that include both behavioral attributes (Learning and Study Strategies Inventory: LASSI subscale scores) and perfor...

Much of the content delivered during medical students' preclinical years is assessed nationally by such testing as the United States Medical Licensing Examination® (USMLE®) Step 1 and Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination® (COMPLEX-USA®) Step 1. Improvement of student study/learning strategies skills is associated with academic su...

Introduction: Healthcare professional schools across the world are implementing near-peer tutoring (NPT) programs owing to numerous benefits to both tutors and tutees. This study determined whether higher attendance at NPT sessions led to improvements in course grades for high and low performing students. Methods: Fourth-year medical students us...

Objectives This study examines how the timing of Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) administration affects scores on the 10 LASSI subscales, and whether or not there is a difference in the strength of association between subscale scores and student performance. Methods The LASSI instrument was administered to 128 students during orient...

The setting for medical practitioners typically involves collaborative and interdisciplinary teams. Medical schools have embraced many teaching methods that use a group of learners to facilitate learning. However, the actual learning benefits of these methods require additional inquiry in the areas of team cognition and team processes. There is lim...

Motivation and learning are inter-related. It is well known that motivating learners is clearly a complex endeavor, which can be influenced by the educational program and the learning environment. Limited research has been conducted to examine students' motivation as a method to assess the effectiveness of dissection in medical education. This stud...

Faculty members in higher education are involved in many instructional design activities without formal training in learning theories and the science of instruction. Learning theories provide the foundation for the selection of instructional strategies and allow for reliable prediction of their effectiveness. To achieve effective learning outcomes,...

In the present study, we describe the innovative use of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Comprehensive Basic Science Examination (CBSE) as a progress test during the preclerkship medical curriculum. The main aim of this study was to provide external validation of internally developed multiple-choice assessments in a new medical school...

This is a reflective essay based on the experience of developing a structure and function module within a new integrated medical curriculum. Our hope is that the insights we gained during a 4-yr journey in a new medical school will be transferable to others engaged with curriculum development. Here, we present an interpretive analysis of our person...

Interactive virtual human (IVH) simulations offer a novel method for training skills involving person-to-person interactions. This article examines the effectiveness of an IVH simulation for teaching medical students to assess rare cranial nerve abnormalities in both individual and small-group learning contexts. Individual (n = 26) and small-group...

This article describes the development of an interactive computer-based laboratory manual, created to facilitate the teaching and learning of medical histology. The overarching goal of developing the manual is to facilitate self-directed group interactivities that actively engage students during laboratory sessions. The design of the manual include...

Online quizzes are simple, cost-effective methods to provide formative assessment, but their effectiveness in enhancing learning and performance in medical education is unclear. The purpose of this article is to determine the extent to which online quiz performance and participation enhances students' performance on summative examinations. A retros...

Strategies of presenting instructional information affect the type of cognitive load imposed on the learner's working memory. Effective instruction reduces extraneous (ineffective) cognitive load and promotes germane (effective) cognitive load. Eighty first-year students from two veterinary schools completed a two-section questionnaire that evaluat...

This study used qualitative and quantitative approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of self-learning modules (SLMs) developed to facilitate and individualize students' learning of basic medical sciences. Twenty physiology and nineteen microanatomy SLMs were designed with interactive images, animations, narrations, and self-assessments. Of 41 medi...

Researchers have claimed that successful team performance depends on shared mental models. While there are a number of techniques that have been employed to measure shared knowledge, Johnson and colleagues (2007) developed and validated an instrument for measuring team-related knowledge. This chapter focuses on the application of the Team Assessmen...

Working in teams is an important aspect of clinical practice and medical education. Medical educators have embraced instructional strategies that use multiple learners to facilitate learning. However, the learning benefits of these strategies should be substantiated by additional inquiries in the area of team cognition and team processes. There are...

This research is an effort to best utilize the interactive anatomical images for instructional purposes based on cognitive load theory. Three studies explored the differential effects of three computer-based instructional strategies that use anatomical cross-sections to enhance the interpretation of radiological images. These strategies include: (1...

Working in teams is an important aspect of learning in various educational settings. Although education has embraced instructional strategies that use multiple learners to facilitate learning, the benefits of team-based learning need to be substantiated. There are limited efforts to evaluate the efficacy of learning processes associated with teams....

Many researchers have explored how people share and construct similar mental models in teams. They have claimed that successful team performance depends on a shared mental model of team members about task, team, equipment and situation. Most of the literature has illustrated simplified relationships between a team's mental model and their performan...

In improving the teaching and learning of anatomical sciences, empirical research is needed to develop a set of guiding principles that facilitate the design and development of effective dynamic visualizations. Based on cognitive load theory (CLT), effective learning from dynamic visualizations requires the alignment of instructional conditions wit...

With the increasing use of computers in the classroom and the advancement of information technology, a requirement to investigate and evaluate different strategies for the presentation of verbal information in interactive and dynamic visualizations has risen to a high level of importance. There is a need for research efforts that apply cognitive lo...

This study evaluated the use of computer-based interactive imagery on students' achievement scores when compared with paper-based static imagery. It also assessed students' perceptions about the two imagery strategies and their different components. Sixty-four freshmen veterinary students (50 females, 14 males), enrolled in a comparative anatomy co...

This study measured the effect of using anatomical cross-sections to enhance the interpretation of radiological images. It examined the effectiveness of using magnetic resonance (MR or MRI) images presented side-by-side with their corresponding cross-sectional images, as compared to using only the MR images. Student aptitude to identify anatomical...

In an effort to design and implement effective anatomy educational programs, this study was conducted to evaluate students' perceptions toward using two computer-based self-directed instructional modules (e.g., digestive system and canine skull) that were designed utilizing interactive imagery strategy for teaching and learning veterinary anatomy....

Many researchers have paid attention to the potentiality and possibility of the shared mental model because it enables teammates to perform their job better by sharing team knowledge, skills, attitudes, dynamics and environments. Even though theoretical and experimental evidences provide a close relationship between the shared mental model and succ...

Authors' Notes: This work was funded in part by a grant from the Indiana Higher Education and Telecommunications System. We gratefully acknowledge the time and effort donated by our participants as well as the assistance of Marilyn Glick and Sinem Senol during data collection and analysis.

Observations from extratesticular rete-ligated, mature goats indicated that epithelial morphology in the tail of the epididymis can be maintained without any input from testicular fluid (Goyal et al., Acta Anat., 1994;150:127–135). Hence, the objective of this study was to determine whether the tail of the epididymis and/or other regions of the mal...

Since androgens and/or estrogens must bind with specific receptors in order to elicit a response at the target organ(s), it is important to understand factors that regulate expression of androgen receptors (AR) and estrogen receptors (ER). Hence, the objective of the study is to determine the relative significance between circulating androgen (CA)...

Background Since androgens and/or estrogens must bind with specific receptors in order to elicit a response at the target organ(s), it is important to understand factors that regulate expression of androgen receptors (AR) and estrogen receptors (ER). Hence, the objective of the study is to determine the relative significance between circulating and...

Background Because of the significance of androgens and estrogens in prenatal and postnatal differentiation of the testis and excurrent ducts, it is important to understand the developmental pattern of androgen receptor (AR) and estrogen receptor (ER) in these organs.Methods Tissues from 1–23-week-old goats were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde and emb...