An exploratory study of goal orientations of traditional block and longitudinal integrated clerkship students

Achievement goal theory links goal setting, motivation, and learning and describes three orientations: 'mastery' (seeking learning), 'performance' (seeking positive judgments), and 'performance-avoidance' (avoiding negative judgments). Mastery orientation is considered most adaptive. The authors investigated goal orientations of traditional block clerkship (TBC) and longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC) students.

This was an exploratory study conducted at one US medical school. Three hundred and twenty students completed an anonymous survey consisting of three tools with validation evidence: Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey, Task-choice Goal Measures, and Questionnaire Goal Choice Items. The authors analyzed the data using regression analyses, Chi-square, and Wilcoxon's rank-sum tests.

While all students rated mastery items most highly on the five-point Likert scale (mean 4.58/5.00), LIC students rated performance-orientation lower (β = -0.36, p = .04), chose personal mastery-orientation items more frequently (92% vs. 64.4%, p = .005), and perceived their learning environment as promoting less performance (β = -0.60, p = .002) and performance-avoidance (β = -0.78, p < .001) compared to TBC students.

LIC and TBC students differed in their report of personal and clerkship goal orientations. These differences may inform educational design and future research to promote students' mastery orientation.