Self-learning and the role of the teacher as a motivator in a Medical School in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

Introduction: Critical and reflective analysis, promoted by a teacher who motivates students who practice self-learning, should be assumed as a constant dynamic, which allows them to generate applied knowledge.

Objective: To determine the teaching interventions in self-learning and its role as a motivator in a medical school in the Dominican Republic, in 2022.

Method: A prospective, cross-sectional, descriptive, non-experimental study was carried out, using the inductive method, through the application and analysis of a survey with 2 open questions and 36 closed questions, completed through an online form by 109 students and 21 teachers.

Results: It was found that 73.08% of the study participants fully agreed that self-directed learning and motivation must go hand in hand. On the other hand, 90.48% of teachers and 66.97% (p = 0.028) of students fully agreed that the strategies used by teachers will facilitate students’ active involvement in educational processes both inside and outside the classroom environment.

Discussion: The participating students considered that the projection of confidence, empathy and teaching methodologies used by teachers can greatly help students feel motivated and committed to assuming self-learning effectively. Thus, motivation on the part of teachers and the use of strategies that encourage self-learning seem to guarantee the holistic development of the same and will generate responses to the various situations that may arise of an academic or social nature.

Conclusions: The teacher must be an agent of change, continually motivating his students to seek knowledge autonomously and using all the innovative tools that guarantee the achievement of this objective.