2017 Abstracts – Innovations

109 – TEAM-BASED LEARNING (TBL) WITH EMBEDDED MENTORSHIP
Peggy M Mohr, Amy Elbert

Background: Interdisciplinary team work is essential in medical and allied health professions.  Experiential learning, mentorship, and team based learning pedagogy are strategies used to provide students guided practice in solving “real-world” issues common in medical professions. The purpose of this study was to promote student acquisition of team skills required for professional practice and mentorship in the application of course content to clinical practice.

Description: A traditional team-based learning approach was implemented in a physical therapy pediatric course.  Fifteen students and four clinicians participated in the elective course.  Clinicians were selected from different areas of pediatric physical therapy practice (medical pediatric clinic, school system, early intervention program, and pediatric physical rehabilitation center). Clinicians were embedded as “consultants” on each team and their mentorship was delivered through in-class visits, student observations of consultants at practice sites, consultant feedback on team application assignments, and email communications.  De-briefing sessions followed each of four clinical observations and reinforced the application of course content to clinical practice. Survey research was used to determine students’ perspectives regarding the influence of the team-based learning with embedded mentorship.

Results: Students (93.33%) reported the team-based learning approach promoted their learning and participation.  Regarding embedded mentorship, students reported a positive influence on their application of the course concepts (100%), clinical decision-making (86.7%), completion of course assignments (86%), and team problem solving (86.6%); and that submitting assignments to clinical mentors was beneficial (86.67%).  Student confidence in their ability to practice in pediatrics prior to the course was at a low (60%) or medium-high (33.34%) confidence level and was “increased” (66.67%) or “markedly increased” (33.33%) at the completion of the course.  Students indicated the team-based mentorship approach was beneficial regarding their preparedness for practice in pediatric (99.9%) and non-pediatric environments (80%).


Poster Award Nominee
111
– A TBL-Based Medical Ethics Curriculum for Pediatric Residents: Promise and Potential Pitfalls
Ashley K Fernandes, Rena Kasick, Sandra Spencer, Lisa Humphrey, Sheria Wilson, John D. Mahan

Background: Implementing TBL-based curricula in postgraduate resident education, while successful in clinical sciences, has been limited. Peer-reviewed studies evaluating the effectiveness of TBL in resident bioethics education have been scant.

Pedagogical barriers to teaching bioethics in residency include: (1) a relative lack of “outcomes” data; (2) attitudinal barriers; (3) “situational factors” such as trainee work hours; (4) the ambiguity inherent in bioethics; (5) a lack of familiarity with TBL; and (6) incentives for learners to prepare when “grades” are not a motivator.

Methods: We utilized D. Fink’s “Principles of Significant Learning” (2003) and the AAP/ABP’s core objectives in ethics to design a TBL-based ethics curriculum for residents. A core team of expert faculty first developed and implemented a pretest (2015-2016, n= 129). Statistical analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance by ranks. Three required TBL sessions were held during the year (n =103). Each session was evaluated via Likert scales and qualitative remarks.

Results Pretest scores from residents demonstrated no significant difference between levels of pediatric training (p=0.4735, ?=0.05) with overall mean pretest score of 70.55% (SD 2.63). Qualitative evaluations from the three TBL sessions in year one were very positive. Residents believed the sessions were valuable to their learning (mean 4.51, SD 0.73) and an effective format for learning ethical concepts and applications (mean 4.38, SD 1.08).

Conclusion  TBL-based curricula in ethics allow many of the difficulties with teaching bioethics to be ameliorated. Results suggest that knowledge deficiencies in ethics exist at all levels of training; yet qualitative comments suggest that TBL is well liked, effective, and preferred to traditional didactics. Future plans are to require participation in 3 TBL sessions per year (eventually, 6 out of 9 across their 3-year training), with a post-test administered in their last year.


114 – Overcoming the Limitations of Quiz Design in Learning Management Systems for Enhancing Pre-Class Self-Learning in Team-Based Learning
Taeyeol Park

BACKGROUND: GUSOM course instructors used a learning management system (LMS), either Blackboard or Canvas, to deliver their course content. Adopting team-based learning (TBL) for GUSOM’s curriculum reform, they worked on creating online multiple-choice question quizzes in the LMS for pre-class individual preparation in TBL. The instructors wanted these quizzes to allow students to see why answers were correct or incorrect. Although they could create quizzes with answer explanations in the LMS, the students were only allowed to review each question after completing the quiz. Reviewing answer explanations was also limited to only the answer that was selected for a question.

DESCRIPTION: Using two e-learning authoring software applications, Adobe Captivate and Articulate Storyline, ITDD created answer feedback designs for the instructors to overcome the limitations of quiz design in the LMS. The feedback designs allowed for students to select answers and instantly view individual answer explanations until they got a correct answer. In addition, when the correct answer was chosen, students were given the option to view all answer explanations. The instructors applied the feedback designs to the online quiz development for 2nd year and graduate courses. ITDD evaluated the applicability and effectiveness of the feedback designs through individual consultation sessions and observations of the course instructors through the quiz development process.

RESULTS: The instructors’ feedback ensured that they were able to create more sophisticated quiz designs for enhancing their students’ pre-class self-learning with more customizable answer feedback design options than their LMS offered.

CONCLUSION: The results of the study provided valuable information for online quiz designs that enhance pre-class preparation in TBL of future courses.


115 – Team Unique Peer Assessment System
Richard R. Lindquist

Peer evaluation is the essential “fourth practical piece of Team Based Learning” (Sweet & Michaelsen 2012).

Although peer evaluation is critical for the success of TBL, many find it to be the weak link in TBL. Students are reluctant to critically evaluate their team peers.

Lane (2012) attributes the lack of acceptance and commitment to peer evaluation to the “unfortunate” use of assessment criteria originating from teachers using standard assessment forms.

Sweet & Michaelsen suggest that including student determined criteria for peer evaluation may maximize student acceptance of peer evaluation. Lane advocates that the best way for student commitment and buy-in to peer evaluation is for teams themselves to develop their own team criteria to be used in their team peer evaluations.

In order to facilitate the creation of team generated criteria for individual team use, a web based application following the strategy of Lane was written to accomplish this task easily and with minimal facilitator effort.

First the individual team members input into the database issues that made their previous group experiences successful or unsuccessful.

Second, while being shown the data obtained in step 1, all individual members of the team individually select those criteria that they are comfortable with in using to evaluate their team members.

Third, at a team meeting, team members, as a group, are presented with an alphabetical dump of all of the criteria individually approved by all of the individual team members. From this list of criteria the team discusses each criterion and selects those that the team wants to use for their peer evaluations. For each criterion, the team develops a rubric for assigning points on a 1-10 basis to each criterion.

Using the criteria selected by each team for peer evaluation, the app generates a web form unique for each team.

Because different teams may have a different number of criteria used their peer evaluations the possible total points awarded to each team member is normalized to 100.


116 – Is TBL Ready For Gamification?
Richard R. Lindquist

Gamification is the application of game practices and structures to non-game activities. Gamification should not be confused with game based learning (GBL) which uses real games for learning.

TBL with its instant feed back and points, key structures of games, already is somewhat gamified and is fertile ground for adding additional game structures in the form of leader boards. Leader boards rank a student’s performance against other students.

Two leader boards: one for ranking teams and one for ranking individuals could be added easily to TBL.

While I have not used leader boards in TBL, I have used them in flipped histology classes, which utilized iRATs, tRATs & Peer review, and they were overwhelmingly favored by students. Our students found that the leader boards with prizes added excitement and fun to the class

Anonymous Likert based survey revealed very favorable student attitudes to this gamification called Histogame: I look forward to participating in the Histo Game: Likert mean 4.2 (1= Strongly Disagree, 5=Strongly Agree) distributed as: 1=0; 2=1; 3=4; 4=7; & 5=11. Rate the idea of adding the histogame to the histology laboratory: Likert mean 4.2 distributed as: 1=0; 2=0; 3=7; 4=5; & 5=12.

Specific comments volunteered by students indicate that the gamification called HistoGame made the laboratory fun & exciting and helpful in learning microanatomy; however, there were some negative comments. The specific comments include: fun and helpful., It tests our knowledge so we know where we are in learning the material., it is entertaining and it helps me with learning, I like games., encourages participation, It is fun., adds some more excitement| keeps us on task, being able to share an answer and get immediate feedback, Good idea It encourages participation., Penalized for taking time to think, Speed of response is included in how you get points., It will make lab more competative, makes me afraid to give a wrong answer– as long as it is not linked to evaluations, The [Aperio] software is already buggy and I don’t like the idea of having to interact with it more or be judged by elements that are out of my control.

TBL students may also find more fun and excitement with the gamification of TBL as well as leading to greater engagement and learning.


117 – Innovation in Occupational Therapy Education: Combining Team-Based Learning and Problem-Based Learning within a Multimodal Learning Environment
Jayne Yatczak, Sharon Holt

The purpose of this presentation is to describe revisions to a graduate level occupational therapy course to achieve more effective student learning. We moved from a problem-based learning (PBL) approach to a course that combined problem-based learning with team-based learning within a multimodal learning environment.

In this presentation we will discuss how we incorporated the use of cases, Readiness Assurance Tests, consistent student teams, application activities, simultaneous reporting, clinical documentation, peer feedback, and simulations. PBL provides students with an opportunity to solve problems that mirror the real world.  In occupational therapy education the real world problem is presented as a clinical case. Team-based learning elevates the standards and expectation of material learned and fosters peer respect, supports critical thinking, the feedback process, and development of soft skills. The course learning environment provides students with multiple opportunities to attend to the verbal, visual, audio, spatial and behavioral. All of these communicative forms play a role in influencing a student’s developing identity as an occupational therapist. The main contribution of our approach to combining these pedagogies lies in its ability to enhance student learning to best prepare students for clinical practice.

We will also address how we critically examined the strengths and weaknesses of the course and how through the revision process we addressed the following issues; 1) poor student to faculty ratio for facilitation using problem-based learning, 2) students learning content for the exams but lacking understanding of content needed for working through the case, 3) supporting the development of professional skills and soft skills needed to work on teams, 4) how to infuse clinical documentation throughout the course in a meaningful way, 5) a lack of congruence between the structure of the course and assessment of student learning,  and 6) lack of implementation of intervention plans, lack of clinical relevance.


 118 – The TBL format is an ideal pedagogic method for primary research literature discussions in large classrooms
Adam Gromley, Zeynep Gromley, Jason Fowler

BACKGROUND:  The incorporation of primary research literature discussions into graduate-level courses is a standard practice.  The most common approach is to assign students a presentation topic, typically a research paper, and have the students read and present it in front of the class.  With a small class size, this method usually works well.  However, in classes of more than 20 students, this can present as a challenge.  In this case, it is more efficient if the instructor groups the students and lets them work outside of the classroom to prepare a presentation that they will give to the class.  This is one of the more popular approaches to the large classroom dilemma.  Unfortunately, with this method there is typically less engagement of the class and fewer opportunities for the students to display their critical thinking skills.

DESCRIPTION:  For our graduate course Advanced Cellular Biochemistry at Lincoln Memorial University, we have begun using the active learning modality known as TBL for our primary literature discussions.  We have established a hybrid curriculum with this course which utilizes both traditional lectures and these TBLs.  The lectures are designed to introduce and/or review specific basic science topics to the students, whereas the TBL exercises provide the students with the opportunity to discuss related primary literature articles in a small team setting, as well as promote discussions among the entire class.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS:  Our main goal in using the TBLs for primary article discussions is to encourage the students to improve their critical thinking skills, express their ideas with both small and larger groups, and to teach their peers.  We have found that this approach has increased student engagement in our course as well as contributed to their overall satisfaction with the course.


Poster Award Nominee
119
– If You Build It, They Will Come; an approach to creation of a dedicated TBL space, from design to use
Lindsey S. Pershern, Christopher Faulkner

BACKGROUND: Shifting from a traditional lecture-based learning environment to a team-based learning environment can offer many different challenges. Often space considerations prove to be the ultimate challenge when attempting a group activity in a lecture hall. Institutions may approach this challenge by considering the creation of an ideal TBL learning space.

DESCRIPTION: At our institution, we endeavored to use the core principles of TBL to create such a space. This TBL Classroom spans over 17,000 square feet and was designed to meet the active learning goals and objectives of our reformed curriculum. Since the room opened in August 2015, adoption has been very high with over 300 events. While most of the events feature a team-based learning component, the space is flexible to accommodate different learning activities. Due to our large medical student class size,( > 230 students per year), special considerations were needed so that each group could operate as efficiently as possible. Additionally, due to the technology requirements in the room, its development and completion required institutional and cross-departmental support to effectively meet our lofty goals.

We will present our process from start to finish, including initial planning and modifications to design in response to evolving needs of our learners and teachers.

RESULTS/CONCLUSION: We have created a space that truly exemplifies the needs of a group-based learning environment. With sophisticated and dynamic technological design, individual group conversations can become entire class-wide conversations in mere seconds. Through flexibility and technology with a low learning curve, we have been able to maximize the use of the room for many groups. Many participants that utilize the room, particularly students, have given overwhelmingly positive feedback. As a result, the TBL classroom now features state-of-the-art technology in a modern-style learning environment with the flexibility to meet a variety of group-based needs.


Poster Award Nominee
120
– Practice Makes Perfect: Using a Dress Rehearsal to Apply TBL in a Dietetic Internship
Janet S. Johnson, Erin Bergquist, Laurie Kruzich, Alison St. Germain, Tonya Krueger, Holly Bender, Jean Anderson

BACKGROUND: A dress rehearsal solidified training in Team Based Learning (TBL) for the instructors of the Dietetic Internship (DI) at Iowa State University (ISU). ISU offers the largest distance DI program in the country. Interns attend a 1-week orientation on campus before returning to their home locale to complete the 6-month program enabling their eligibility to be a Registered Dietitian. DI instructors wanted to convert traditional lectures to TBL as well as present a polished use of TBL for interns, utilizing the 4 – S’s approach. A dress rehearsal allowed concepts and pre-work to be modified in advance of interns arriving on campus. The TBL format was also used to provide a preceptor training.

DESCRIPTION: Prior to coming to campus, interns complete an on line case study. Lectures on Nutrition Assessment were converted to activities using Readiness Assurance Process (RAP). Participants in the dress rehearsal included preceptors, department staff who were unfamiliar with TBL classroom as well as faculty both experienced and novice at using TBL. Delivery of the Individual Readiness Test (IRAT) utilized software to capture responses electronically allowing discussion to be adjusted on the fly.  Using TBL with preceptors enabled better understanding of the concepts taught to the interns during the orientation week.

RESULTS: Following the dress rehearsal, Instructors included a guided worksheet to practice the 4-S. Interns reported significantly higher levels of self-confidence in applying the NCP after the TBL activities (pre-n=82, post-n=71, p.005).  Preceptors found the TBL format to be fun and engaging.

CONCLUSION: Interns demonstrated greater depth of understanding for on-site activities and with preceptors. Ties within their community of practice were strengthened. Instructors gained confidence in using TBL techniques and improved their facilitation of discussion.


122 – Informatics Instruction Using the Team Based Learning Model
Jessica Kilham and Todd Cassese

BACKGROUND: The authors developed a longitudinal curriculum to assist students in generating clinical questions, searching for and identifying relevant literature to answer questions, and appraising literature to advance patient care. The initial curriculum delivered over the past three years was lecture based with occasional non-clinical, small group practice sessions with assessment of students conducted by clinical skills faculty members in the Y2 curriculum. Faculty noted that students’ clinical questions lacked depth and applicability to their simulated patients. We believed that active learning sessions would lead to improved student presentations by improving the component skills.

DESCRIPTION: The authors reviewed student evaluations of the curriculum and conducted a self-assessment resulting in a single 1-hour TBL session to replace a 1-hour lecture on the topic of generating clinical questions as a pilot for this academic year. Students were assigned pre-reading reviewing clinical questions. They completed a six question individual readiness assurance test and then completed a group readiness assurance test with IF-AT cards. Following a protest period, the teams were provided with an application exercise that required them to read a patient vignette and create clinical questions, search the literature, document the search strategy and provide an answer to their questions. Results were discussed in a modified gallery walk in which teams shared their answers with the larger group.

RESULTS: The average score on the IRAT was a 3.3/6 with a standard deviation of 1. Students performed poorly on questions that asked them to apply material previously learned in the informatics curriculum than the new material.

CONCLUSION: The authors present a novel application of TBL to the complex skill of generating clinical questions. We will continue to follow how students perform in clinical question presentations after this intervention by conducting surveys of faculty members and students to identify if this educational session was effective.


123 – Integrating Team-Based Learning into a Modified Supplemental Instruction Program for a PharmD Biochemistry Course
Suzanne Clark, Parto Khansari, Ruth L. Vinall, Alan Truong, Justin C.H. Ko

Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a widely used pre-remediation method in undergraduate education. SI typically is focused on historically difficult courses, such as required, early undergraduate courses in math, science and computer science. The focus on difficult courses (instead of at-risk students) reduces the stigma of attending tutoring sessions, which may be viewed as a last resort for struggling students. In SI, instruction is provided by upperclassmen (SI Leaders) who previously have been successful in the course for which they provide instruction. SI Leaders receive training, attend the course, prepare instructional material, and run regularly scheduled formal review sessions that are open to all students. SI programs encourage SI Leaders to employ active learning methods in their sessions.

SI and team-based learning (TBL) are natural partners in their focus on active learning, collaboration, and student autonomy. Accordingly, TBL methods can be used to enhance an SI program by using SI Leaders who understand and practice TBL, as well have an expertise in the course content.

Typically offered in undergraduate programs, SI has been used in professional programs, although rarely in PharmD programs (Mosley, et al. 2013). However, PharmD programs have several parallels to early undergraduate math and science courses, in that students with diverse academic and social backgrounds must quickly adapt to a challenging and rapid-paced curriculum. There are no published reports of PharmD programs using TBL method in a graduate-level course for which SI methods have been adopted. We reported here a modified SI program for a required PharmD Biochemistry course in which the SI Leaders use TBL methods to promote student learning and teamwork in an academic PharmD setting in which TBL is the primary pedagogy. The importance of college and departmental support, faculty buy-in, and SI Leader training, autonomy, and student TBL engagement will be discussed.


124 – The Specific Choice in Application Exercises for the Physical Sciences
Lorrie Comeford, Kristin Pangallo

Background: Writing application exercises that include a specific choice is particularly difficult in quantitative disciplines such as the physical sciences where there is often a single numeral answer.

Description: We find that applications are most effective when the specific choice uses a calculation as part of the decision making process, rather than a choice about the mechanics the of calculation itself.

Results:  We will present strategies for developing application exercises that include meaningful specific choices for TBL courses in these disciplines, and we will present examples of modules.  Examples of the specific choice include deciding what to calculate, choosing the proper equation, interpreting the result of a calculation, choosing the best explanation, choosing materials or supplies to purchase, and choosing the best wrong answer.  These choices require students to make and defend reasonable assumptions.

Conclusion: Meaningful activities in quantitative disciplines can be developed by shifting the specific choice from the mechanics of calculation to a more applied and complex question.


125 – Utilizing modified TBL to reinforce and synthesize clinical content and promote clinical reasoning
Christine A. Bellew, Vania Zayat, Abdo Asmar

Faculty in the pre-clinical curriculum struggle to teach students the complex process of clinical reasoning.  While generally associated with clinical training, it is imperative to equip pre-clinical learners with the skills needed to prepare them for their clerkships.  During a 6-week long second year pre-clinical basic sciences course, a TBL method was used as a capstone at the end of each concept block. These TBLs did not cover new material but rather were focused on assessing the learners’ ability to recall and process content covered previously.  During the AFE portion of the exercise, a progressive case format was used.  After being supplied with a brief history and physical and minimal laboratory results, students were asked to develop a written differential diagnosis.  The faculty then facilitated discussion on the differentials presented allowing for the understanding of how the students were applying the basic sciences material to the clinical case and correct misconceptions in the application process.  Students were then asked to choose the next step in the patient work up in a multiple choice question where each answer is a group of laboratory and/or imaging studies relevant to the presenting complaint.  No choice had a complete evaluation leading to a discussion of what information would be obtained from each study and revealing the thought process and judgement the students used during their clinical reasoning process. Overall these sessions were well received by faculty and learners. Students commented on how these sessions have cultivated critical thinking and encouraged clinical problem solving skills using foundational science concepts.   The success of these sessions resulted in the adoption of the same pedagogy in other modules in our M.D Curriculum.  We conclude that this TBL method provides faculty a venue to incorporate clinical reasoning to their basic science curriculum.


Poster Award Nominee
126
– Coupling of Case-Based and Team-Based Learning in an Integrated Medical School Curriculum
Elizabeth Palmer

BACKGROUND: Case-based learning (CBL) and team-based learning (TBL) are important pedagogies that foster student-centered interactive teaching environments. We have developed an innovative integrated curriculum in the College of Medicine at Central Michigan University that couples CBL and TBL teaching methodologies.

DESCRIPTION: Traditionally, pre-class preparation for TBL often consists of readings from a textbook, or live or recorded lectures.  At CMU, we minimized lectures by making robust use of CBL modules as the pre-class preparation.  A clinician and a basic scientist collaborate to create a patient-centered CBL module that illustrates foundational science concepts.  A coupled TBL module then follows as the assessment for the CBL module.  Since our curriculum is integrated, any given CBL-TBL pair will teach and assess multiple foundational disciplines, and some basic clinical information.  The example that will be used to illustrate this innovation is a CBL module about a girl with short stature who is eventually diagnosed with Turner Syndrome.  Both the CBL and the TBL modules assess foundational principles in genetics, and endocrine biochemistry and physiology.

RESULTS: In the example used, performance on the TBL IRAT questions were typical at 68% average; however, intra-team discussions of the GRAT questions and peer-to-peer teaching were excellent, reflected in the GRAT scores of 96%, also typical.  Students performed extremely well on NBME exam questions that related directly to the CBL objectives.  Students have readily taken to this method of learning and most courses have received positive student evaluations. The inaugural class had a 98% USMLE Step 1 pass rate.

CONCLUSION:  Our successful, innovative curriculum allows students to learn in a highly interactive and team environment and perform well on standardized questions in an integrated curriculum, designed to meet the College’s mission and vision to train graduates who will “aspire to excellence in patient-centered…care”, and “creating team-based educational opportunities”.


Poster Award Nominee
127
– Team-based interprofessional simulation (TBIS): A framework for student preparation and application across health care professions
Alison B. Rudd, Julie Estis

Team-Based Learning (TBL) provides an ideal platform for interprofessional education (IPE) as health professions students learn about, from, and with each other to develop content knowledge and to build IPE competencies. When IPE and TBL are combined with human-patient simulation, the student experience is further enriched by applying content learned to hands-on, clinically relevant scenarios inside realistic healthcare environments. Presenters will outline the Team-Based Interprofessional Simulation (TBIS) framework and how it is used to develop theory-based and evaluation-driven models for team-based interprofessional simulation student experiences. Effective models of IPE and best practices for simulation will be discussed.

TBIS institution-based exemplars will be provided by the presenters. Specifically, a TBIS experience for second year medical students and junior level nursing students will be outlined. For this TBIS experience, suicide risk assessment provided a common content area for both disciplines. Students completed pre-reading assignments, participated in the IRAT and TRAT components of the Readiness Assurance Process, completed a complex application activity with prioritization for patient hospitalization, conducted an interprofessional evaluation of standardized patients, and participated in a debriefing.

Student evaluations of the experience will be presented, as well as data related to student stereotypes before and after the TBIS experience. An interprofessional team of health science faculty will outline findings and discuss opportunities for replication and practical applicability of TBIS across health professions education.


Poster Award Nominee
128
– Turbocharge student career readiness with team-based learning (“TBL”) at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Asia.
Brian O’Dwyer

Background: Many students are facing a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) job market due to rapid changes in technology and globalization.  In addition, a higher level of fragmentation of diversity in student backgrounds and jobs with short lifecycles and changing requirements, requires different preparation.  However, the majority of higher education still relies on primarily lecture instruction.  These factors have contributed to an “academic to employability gap” as evidenced by the McGraw-Hill Education 2016 Workforce Readiness Survey reported that only 21% of students feel prepared for the workforce compared to only 11% of business leaders in a 2014 Gallup Survey and 96% of Chief Academic Officers according to Inside Higher Ed’s 2014 survey.

Description: To assess the potential impact of TBL on workforce readiness, the TBL method was compared to the traditional lecture method on ability to impact certain workforce requirements.  One source of workforce requirements was The World Economic Forum’s “Future of Jobs Report” which identified the top 10 skills required in 2020.  In addition, interview evaluation criteria of two employers were considered as well.

Results: TBL was likely to improve student skills in six of the ten areas identified by The World Economic Forum compared to zero for traditional lecture, five of eight areas for one employer’s interview criteria compared to one of eight for traditional lecture and four of eight areas for a second employer’s criteria compared to one of eight for traditional lecture.

Conclusion: Team-based learning can be a more effective method to prepare students for the future workforce than traditional lecture


129 – Technology-based learning for Team-based learning – opportunities, benefits and considerations for technology supported TBL
Brian O’Dwyer

Background: With rise of “big data” and classrooms increasingly full of digital natives and tech savvy digital immigrants as students and teachers, the role of technology in TBL is coming into focus.  In addition, one of the most frequently cited barriers to TBL for some faculty is the administrative challenge of implementing TBL which technology may be able to address.  In light of this, it would benefit TBL practitioners to consider the benefits and considerations of dedicated TBL software technology.

Description: The presenter, also a faculty member at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, began teaching with traditional TBL and was impressed with its efficacy.  However, the TBL administrative process which involved over 50,000 data points for a single course could become rather time consuming.  In addition, in the age of big data could technology utilized to create this data into information?

The presenter taught with four different technology solutions before developing a dedicated software platform exclusively for TBL.  In the process of refining TBL software, the presenter met with over 100 TBL practitioners and engaged some of them as beta testers to get their feedback and views on technology in TBL.

Results: Faculty and student surveys will be used to compare information technology supported TBL versus paper-based TBL.

Conclusion: Pending completion of analysis.


Poster Award Nominee
130
– TBL-based Techniques Beyond The Classroom – Corporate and Career Skills Case Studies
Brian O’Dwyer

Background: TBL has been shown to more effective than traditional lectures in academic settings.  However, there are still many learning environments where lectures are still used.  As a result of interest from the non-academic sector in TBL, Duke-NUS Medical School engaged an Entrepreneur-in-Residence to develop a commercial business using TBL and other active learning techniques.

Description: Several case studies of how TBL-based techniques have been employed outside of the traditional academic classroom will be profiled.  One case will profile a group of 60 corporate learners from 10 countries in Asia that met in Singapore for a three-day learning experience filled with simulations, IRATs, TRATs and application exercises.  Another case will feature a 5-day career skills boot camp in China that used similar approaches to provide training to Chinese university students in Career Strategy, Pitching, Resume Writing, Networking and Interviewing.

Results: TBL-based techniques (not pure TBL) for corporate training:  knowledge increased 26% and confidence increased 21%.  TBL-based techniques (not pure TBL) in career skills boot camps:  learner assessment of career skills confidence increased to 92% from 27%.

Conclusion: TBL-based techniques can be highly effective for in non-academic learning environments.


131 – From Healthcare to Health: Teaching Interprofessional Health Promotion Using TBL
Coral Gubler

The World Health Organization’s vision of health and wellness includes a focus on reducing chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and smoking related illness. Chronic disease risk can be reduced by addressing modifiable lifestyle conditions such as smoking, nutrition and stress. Identifying risky lifestyle behaviors, analyzing resources and developing a health focus model of care has become a necessary proficiency for all health care providers to promote health and wellness in practice. Health professional organizations from nursing, medicine and allied health are promoting interprofessional education (IPE) in academic programs to focus on fostering collaborative, patient centered care. Interprofessional Education fits well into the TBL format because the TBL platform can bring students of diverse backgrounds together where they can capitalize on the strengths and knowledge of individual team members. This combination of TBL and IPE fosters interprofessional discussion, collaboration, and shared learning. Learners can increase their awareness of how disciplines can complement each other and work together to develop patient centered approaches to care in the form of a health focused model. This TBL format was piloted in a Physical Therapy curriculum and has potential for implementation across all health care disciplines. Lessons learned from implementation will be discussed.

 

146 – Online Group Test with Scoring Dependent on Sequence of Answers Selected
Gail Rice, Peter Gleason, Dan Lim, and Ron Carson

Background: It appears that very little progress has been reported in transferring the entire in-class TBL experience to the asynchronous online course. In particular, it has been difficult, if not impossible to match online scoring with traditional f2f class IRAT and GRAT scoring, with 3 points allotted to each question for both the IRAT and GRAT.

Our particular challenge involves teaching a large class with more than half of the students attending weekly in-class sessions and nearly half of the students enrolled in the online course.

Methods: We decided to focus, in particular, on finding a way to allow online students to be able to replicate the experience of f2f students using If-At forms with multiple scoring possibilities. Different scores are possible, depending on how many answer choices are scratched off before finding the best answer, when completing a GRAT asynchronously online.

Working with an instructional technology and educational games expert, we were able to develop an online program which works like an If-At form and reports the final score. If the group selects an incorrect response, they receive a message that the answer is not the best choice. The group can then select another choice, until they find the correct answer.

Results: The program works extremely well. It can be designed to simply report whether an answer is correct or not and direct the group to the next step. It can also be designed to give specific feedback as to why an answer is not the best answer. The program calculates the final test score, adjusting for how many incorrect answers were selected before coming to the correct answer. The poster will show screen shots and a laptop will allow observers to run a 12-question RAT to observe how it works.

Conclusion: It is possible to have f2f and online students have similar IRAT and GRAT experiences and outcomes, using a new tool which provides a final score adjusted for the number of incorrect answers selected before the correct answer.