Authentic Learning, Authentically Lived: Student Insights from a Medical Education Scholars Program

Hands-on experience with medical education research, scholarship, and practice allows medical students to develop valuable skills, such as project design, evaluation, time management, and communication. The Medical Education Scholars (MES) Program at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth is one such opportunity for medical students to obtain hands-on experience. Six learners from the program, including five past MES leaders, engaged in a reflective approach on their experiences in MES under the guidance of a past MES faculty advisor. During this process, we found the Theory of Authentic Learning by Hill and Smith to be a helpful tool in making sense of our experiences. The lessons learned from learners' experiences, such as those included here, offer a unique, yet resonant, perspective to enrich the medical education literature.