Medical and Dental Institute Maps Barriers to Self-Directed Learning

A convergent mixed-methods study at a private medical and dental institute in Karachi found that faculty and students broadly agreed that access to suitable places for individual study and group discussion was central to implementing self-directed learning. Students identified inadequate study and discussion space as their leading obstacle, while faculty most frequently reported that students depended too heavily on teachers for course content. Despite positive views of self-directed learning, interviews suggested that it was often understood in practice as finding learning resources or attending guided sessions rather than taking responsibility for defining and managing one’s own learning needs.

The research combined an online questionnaire with qualitative interviews at the institute between August 2021 and January 2022. The quantitative component used a comparative cross-sectional design and included 331 students—187 in the MBBS program and 144 in the BDS program—and 111 faculty members, comprising 50 medical and 61 dental faculty. The response rate was 74.0% for faculty, representing 111 of 150 invited participants, but only 41.4% for students, with 331 of 800 invited people responding. The authors considered the student response rate a limitation. In the second strand, researchers conducted nine in-depth interviews with students and 10 with faculty, principals and educationists, then analyzed these accounts thematically using an inductive approach.

Among students, 73.4% (243 of 331) identified the lack of adequate space for studying or group discussion as a principal barrier. Faculty members pointed to a different problem: 73.9% (82 of 111) said students’ dependency on teachers for content was a barrier. These contrasting rankings were central to the study, because the qualitative and quantitative findings converged on physical learning space but diverged on teacher dependency. The second strand supported the questionnaire results through four themes: “To each their own,” “Facilitators,” “Challenges” and “Magic formula for success.” Participants also proposed possible session formats and frequencies, but those proposals were not evaluated and therefore cannot be treated as tested implementation models.

Availability of discussion rooms emerged as the most important enabler for students, endorsed by 74.9% (248 of 331). Faculty instead most often selected awareness of lifelong learning and the use of modern teaching strategies, both endorsed by 90.1% (100 of 111) of respondents. The study examined whether academic program or background was associated with reported barriers and drivers using chi-square tests, Fisher’s exact test where expected counts were small, and the Benjamini–Hochberg procedure to correct for multiple comparisons. Of 78 subgroup comparisons, 14 met nominal significance criteria, but only one remained significant after correction: all medical faculty endorsed faculty development workshops, compared with 78.7% of dental faculty (p = 0.0005, q = 0.040).

Participants described an assessment-driven curriculum, fixed syllabi, limited study space and the absence of clear ownership of self-directed learning as the main constraints. The study therefore frames the problem as predominantly structural rather than as a matter of individual motivation. Although respondents endorsed Knowles’s definition of self-directed learning on the questionnaire, their practical understanding was limited largely to identifying learning resources and participating in guided sessions. The authors concluded that simply allocating scheduled hours for self-directed learning is insufficient when the approach is introduced by mandate. They instead identified curricular placement, assigned responsibility, alignment with assessment and preparation of teachers as conditions that institutions and regulators can address, while cautioning that specific session designs and schedules require prospective evaluation.

Subject of Research: Perceived institutional barriers and enablers of self-directed learning among medical and dental faculty and students

Article Title: Perceived drivers and barriers to implementing self-directed learning among faculty and students of a private medical and dental institute: a convergent mixed-methods study

Article References: Saeed, S., Shah, N., Sarfaraz, S., & Shah, B. (2026). Perceived drivers and barriers to implementing self-directed learning among faculty and students of a private medical and dental institute: a convergent mixed-methods study. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-10502-5

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12909-026-10502-5

Keywords: self-directed learning, medical education, dental education, mixed methods, student learning, faculty development, learning spaces, curriculum design, assessment alignment, Karachi, Perceived, drivers