Similar to research conducted by Laaksonen and colleagues (2014) and Sandefur and Gordy (2016), my students reported the journal club to be very advantageous suggesting that it helped them to gain new knowledge and improve their ability to search for, utilise and critique primary research (“They forced me to read which I wouldn’t have done otherwise’’ ‘‘Journal Club showed me how to read articles and pick out important information’’ “It was hard but I have to read for lots of modules so it was a big help”).
After implementing “Journal Club” for one year (2014/15) I felt it was paying dividends in relation to the standard of work in the assignments and the engagement of students in class discussions. It has been improved and reintroduced for the current academic year with more focused weekly topics to tackle. I feel the future for Journal club is bright and I hope it will continue to evolve and continue to help students navigate scientific literature.
References
Biswas, T. (2011) Role of journal clubs in undergraduate medical education. Indian journal of community medicine, 36(4), 309-310.
Colthorpe, K., Chen, X., & Zimbardi, K. (2014) Peer feedback enhances a ‘journal club’ for undergraduate science students that develops oral communication and critical evaluation skills. Journal of Learning Design, 7(2), 105-119.
Kleinpell, R. M. (2002) Rediscovering the value of the journal club. American journal of critical care, 11(5), 412-414.
Laaksonen, C., Paltta, H., Shantz, M. V., & Ylönen, M. (2014) Journal club as a method for nurses and nursing students’ collaborative learning. Health Science Journal, 7 (3), 285-292.
McDonough, V. (2012) Improving journal club: Increasing student discussion and understanding of primary literature in molecular biology through the use of dialectical notes. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, 40(5), 330-332.
Sandefur, C. I., & Gordy, C. (2016) Undergraduate journal club as an intervention to improve student development in applying the scientific process. Journal of college science teaching, 45(4), 52.