The self-directed osteopathic medical student: Bringing adult learning into the osteopathic manipulative technique lab

Utilizing self-directed learning methods in the medical school setting has become an increasingly popular way to encourage students to be lifelong learners. With the ever expanding and rapidly changing body of medical knowledge and technology, physicians need to be able to seek out, access information, and keep abreast of changes in medicine. Medical students have been largely taught in a pedagogical environment characterized by passive lectures. Gerald Grow's Staged Self-Directed Learning Model is presented as a means to transition students to an andragogical educational format. In order to introduce andragogy into as many areas of undergraduate medical education as possible, a track-lab concept is introduced. In this model, second year osteopathic medical students self-assess their osteopathic manipulative technique educational needs and choose to either review previously taught techniques or learn additional techniques. This track-lab concept shows promise as a method of introducing self-directed learning to the osteopathic manipulative technique lab setting.