An explorative study into learning on international traineeships: experiential learning processes dominate Susan Niemantsverdriet, 1 Cees P M van der Vleuten, 1 Gerard D Majoor 2 & Albert J J A Scherpbier 3 OBJECTIVE To explore the learning processes of undergraduate medical students undertaking inter- national traineeships. METHODS Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 24 undergraduate medical students from Maastricht University Medical School, the Netherlands. The 24 subjects were selected by pur- poseful sampling. Research methods resembled the grounded theory method. Although the data were initially gathered for an earlier study, the richness of the data enabled renewed scrutiny. RESULTS The data yielded the following categories concerning the description of the learning processes: motivation, preparation, internal supervisor, external supervisor, assessment, and positive and negative incidents. The majority of supervisors’ influences on the learning process were facilitative or negligible. Socio-cultural differences between students and supervisors sometimes appeared to blur productive learning. The greater proportion of the students seemed to learn by Ôexperiential learningÕ, a smaller proportion learned by Ôactive learningÕ, and the learning of a very small minority of the students appeared to be ÔguidedÕ. DISCUSSION Although experiential learning seemed to be the dominant learning process, it is not clear whether this is also the most fruitful approach to learning. It could be argued that structuring learning outcomes by a more active learning process might be more effective. To guide the learning pro- cess and learning outcomes, it might be advisable to develop guidelines for writing international trainee- ship reports. Supervision of these reports should be more co-ordinated to prevent arbitrariness and to scaffold active learning. KEYWORDS education, medical, undergradu- ate ⁄ *methods; international co-operation; learn- ing ⁄ *methods; culture; Netherlands. Medical Education 2005; 39: 1236–1242 doi:10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02114.x INTRODUCTION In an earlier study we outlined why we thought the learning outcomes of international traineeships had yet to be examined. 1 In this earlier study we used a holistic and inductive approach to explore what undergraduate medical students learned from traineeships abroad. It resulted in an elaborate overview of learning outcomes. What students learned appeared to be unrelated to their year of study, type of traineeship or the country they visited. Some students performed very advanced tasks, whereas other students had very limited learning experiences. The findings led to the question: which factors affect the quantity and nature of learning outcomes in international train- eeships? On the basis of earlier findings regarding the learning environment, we hypothesised that factors related to the learning process might help to clarify this issue. 1 Therefore, we explored the nature of the learning process that takes place student learning 1 Department of Educational Development and Research, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands 2 Office for International Relations, Institute for Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands 3 Institute for Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands Correspondence: Susan Niemantsverdriet MA, Department of Educational Development and Research, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands. Tel: 00 31 43 388 1121; Fax: 00 31 43 388 4140; E-mail: S.Niemantsverdriet@Educ.Unimaas.nl Ó Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005. MEDICAL EDUCATION 2005; 39: 1236–1242 1236