GRANT RECIPIENTS:

Joan McLaughlin, Medical Lab Technology, Medical Campus
jmclaugh@mdc.edu

This project was developed in response to the overall low academic performance of students pursuing a career in Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) at Miami- Dade Community College. The investigator formulated long term goals that address these academic performance issues and that are pivotal to promoting students’ academic success. The goals of this study are: to increase students’ retention by five percent, increase average pass rate among program students by twenty five percent and increase the national registry examination pass rate by twenty-five percent. The investigators proposed that these goals could be realized over the life of the program (20 months) if testing instruments are used as a means of assessing and evaluating students’ study skills and learning styles. The two tools used are the Learning and Study Strategies Instruments (LASSI) and the Learning Styles (LS), Dunn and Dunn Model. The LASSI measures the factors which determine the effectiveness of students’ test-taking abilities and study practices i.e. attitude, motivation, concentration, time management, anxiety, information processing, selecting main ideas, study aids, self-testing and test-strategies. It consists of pre and post evaluation surveys and intervention modules. The LS by Dunn and Dunn measures environmental, emotional, sociological, physiological and psychological factors that affect the way in which a person learns new information that is challenging (Appendix 1).
The Dunn and Dunn and Price Personal Productivity Preference Survey (PEPS) was administered to incoming MLT cohort freshmen (20) and faculty (4). Individualized learning styles report and group summary report were generated and interpreted by a learning styles consultant. The group summary report generated from the survey provided information to the faculty on four parameters that affect the way in which the majority of the students learn new and difficulty information. These are. Structure (59%), Authority Figure Present (71 %) and Tactile Perceptual Modalities (59%). The figure in parenthesis indicates the percent of students that need these parameters in order to learn new and difficult information. Additional information on the testing and results of Dunn and Dunn may be viewed in Appendix 2.
The Pre LASSI is a 77- question survey, which is used as a diagnostic tool. Following Pre- LASSI, intervention modules were administered to students obtaining low score on the survey. The Post LASSI survey that serves as a gauge of the effectiveness of the intervention modules was then used to examine if the intervention modules had produced an improvement. Results of the Pre LASSI survey indicated that at all twenty participants demonstrated at least one deficiency in the factors that determine the effectiveness of learning strategies. The intervention modules were completed by only forty five percent of the participants (9/20). The Post- LASSI surveys are assigned only to those students who completed LASSI intervention (Appendix 3).
At the completion of the Learning Styles Surveys and the Learning Strategy Surveys, the investigator wanted to know if the prescribed intervention strategies applied to the students, might be having any effect on the project goals. Results indicate that the retention rate of the students in the project is seventy-two (72%) percent as compared to seventy-one (71%) percent and seventy three percent (73 %) for 2001 and 2000 respectively. (Fig 1. Appendix 4).
Results for the pass rate for isolated courses that are usually offered to program freshmen indicated that there were no changes in the pass rate with moderate intervention.

Results:
Results indicate that there is a two percent (2%) increase in the retention rate and between four to seven percent (4-7 %) increase in the average pass rate between freshmen of 2002 and the two previous years. Although these results are not up to the projected goals of five (5%) and twenty five percent (25 %) respectively, they still provide some measure of success for intervention strategies. The investigator is still compiling results for the national registry examination, which will not be available until the students have completed the program. The results when obtained should satisfy goal # 3.
Detailed results supporting the goals are stated below:
Goal 1: To increase student’s retention by 5%
Figure 1, Appendix 4, refers to a comparison of the retention rates of in program freshmen covering the two major semesters: Spring and Fall 2000, 2001 and 2002. The results indicate that there was little or no difference in the retention rates between the cohort group and the freshmen of previous years. No data is available for those students who withdrew from the course (or program) within the first week of instruction. Results are consistent in the period studied and demonstrates that intervention strategies used have very little demonstrable effect to date. However, with continued intervention the investigator predict positive results. As evidenced by the data, not enough time was assigned to the project for the teaching and learning strategies to be effective.
.Goal 2: To increase the average pass rate among program students by twenty five percent.
Table 1, Appendix 5 refers to a compilation of the pass rates of the freshmen students of the following courses: Hematology lecture, Hematology laboratory, Urinalysis lecture/laboratory, Introduction to MLT and Laboratory Mathematics/ Quality Control over the last 3 years (2001-2003). Theses courses are offered to the all-incoming freshmen during the first semester of the program. These results vary from year to year with no set pattern of predictability. The data from the year 2002 included those freshmen that did not participate in the study and so did not benefit from intervention. However, when these figures were corrected to include only the cohort group, the percent pass rate increased slightly in most courses evaluated. The investigator has concluded that it is too premature to believe that intervention might have played a role in some of these results even though positive. Instead, the results from this project will provide a baseline, from which future outcomes may be measured.
Goal 3: To increase the National registry examination pass rate by twenty five percent.
This goal can only be measured at the end of the program after the students have graduated from mdc and have taken the national registry examination.
Discussion
Intervention, which is the cornerstone of this project, started with the application of the individualized LS survey reports by students in the cohort group in September 2002. However, intervention of LASSI proved to be more challenging and time consuming for the students than previously anticipated. Some students were still working on the modules up to January 2003. Furthermore, less than fifty percent of the cohort completed the modules; the majority acceded only after bonus points and extended time were offered as motivators. The feedback from surveys conducted (Appendices 6 and 7) showed that students considered that LASSI time consuming that required detailed well-thought out answers. Only two percent of the students polled considered English as their primary language. It is noteworthy, that the students, who completed the modules, are highly self-motivated and are the ones that usually pass their courses. The investigators are aware that in order to reap the full benefit of intervention, enough time is needed for the students to completely assimilate and integrate the knowledge gained from intervention tools. The ultimate test, however, will lie in the results of the national registry examination (ASCP) which will then be correlated to scores of the College Proficiency Test (CPT). The CPT scores (Appendix 8) will also be compared to students” ASCP results of the two previous years to provide a measure of success.
Recommendations:
• The investigator is suggesting that intervention and monitoring should be continued with the cohort group. A comparative evaluation should be carried out at the end of every semester until the completion of the project in order to fully appreciate whether intervention was adequate and successful.
• Early Intervention similar to the ones used in this project would probably not affect the outcomes of the grades and hence the retention of some of the more challenging courses studied. The investigators are suggesting that some students were not prepared academically in terms of not having all the prerequisites courses. Furthermore, it is well documented that learning styles instruments such as LASSI and Dunn and Dunn do not measure cognitive abilities. All efforts should be made to ensure that a student is prepared for a challenging course by insisting that all core requirements are met before allowing the student to proceed in the program.
• Some of the more challenging courses should be divided into two sections to reduce the enormity of the course work to the freshman. The more difficult courses should be offered in the second year of the program or broken down into two levels