Table 4 Themes, categories, and sub-categories emerging from interviews

Consumer oriented learning

Hearing the voice of residents (learners) in education

Alignment of instructional materials and strategies with residents’ preferences and learning needs

Pursuing experiences and learning opportunities to better address the desired learning needs and goals of residents

Focusing on individual residents’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills needs

Personalized learning and learning management

Creating an enriched and needs-based learning environment for residents

Selection of instructors based on residents’ interests, needs, and accessibility

Progressing in learning at a pace and rhythm suitable for individual learning

Coverage of content and objectives beyond the prescribed or predicted curriculum in graduate and residency training

Changing the perspective of teaching and learning

Not attributing mere learning and academic progress to formal education

Providing content and guidelines to address cognitive, emotional, and psychological imbalances resulting from formal education among residents

Remedial strategies to address residents’ knowledge, skill, and attitude gaps

Preventing overreliance on formal education (formal curriculum and hidden) for the development of residents’ capabilities

Coverage of content encompassing task-oriented objectives in assistantship training for job success

Promotion of self-directed learning

Creating internal motivation, commitment and responsibility in learning

Flexible instructional design and involvement of residents in determining learning objectives and content

Quick progression from easy content and tasks to challenging content and tasks

Promoting intrinsic value of learning over grade acquisition.