120 – Debates and Evidence-based Arguments in Team-based Learning to Enhance Student Competencies
Haoshu Yang, Velliyur Viswesh, Vasudha Gupta
BACKGROUND: Active learning is an essential component of healthcare education and team-based learning (TBL) is a unique teaching pedagogy that emphasizes on teamwork, communication skills, and problem-solving. California Northstate University College of Pharmacy’s entire didactic curriculum is delivered in the TBL format. We have found that even in a TBL format, it is challenging to develop well designed application exercises and assignments that stimulate analytical and critical thinking skills. The use of debates in the classroom as a means to deliver learning experiences has been documented in both medical and pharmacy literature. To our knowledge, there are currently no published studies addressing the utility of debates in a TBL curriculum and in the area of infectious disease. The primary objective of this study is to determine the benefit of a team debate assignment embedded in a TBL pharmacy curriculum, with assigned readings and readiness assessment tests as a part of the educational experience.
DESCRIPTION: Doctor of Pharmacy students in the third year of the curriculum enrolled in “Pharmacotherapeutics IV: Infectious Diseases” during the spring semester of 2015 were included. There were a total of 18 teams of 5-6 students per team. Three controversial debatable topics were assigned: the use of cefepime for serious infections caused by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase producing organisms, linezolid for the treatment of methicillin-resistant S. aureus pneumonia, and probiotics for the prevention of Clostridium difficileinfection. Each topic was assigned to 2 teams, and each team was assigned a proposition of either the “pro” or the “con” point of view. A pre/post-debate survey was used to assess students’ subjective ability to identify and critically evaluate primary literature, to develop a concise and evidence-based argument, to anticipate opposing arguments and identify their limitations, to defend their argument and develop challenging questions for the opposing team, to convince the audience of their viewpoint with credibility and evidence-based rationale, and to deliver a concise, organized, and professional oral presentation of high quality within contained time limits. The surveys were scored on a scale of 1-5 (1 being poor and 5 being excellent). A paired sample Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to analyze pre/post data.
RESULTS: A total of 88 students out of 96 completed both the pre- and post-debate survey. In all areas of subjective ability listed above, there was a statistical difference between the pre- and post-debate survey responses. Overall, the survey results showed a higher proportion of “average,” “above average” and “excellent” ratings in the post-debate survey whereas there was a higher proportion of “poor” and “below average” ratings in the pre-survey. Interestingly, 45 students rated themselves lower on at least one survey question after the debate when compared to how they answered before the debate.
CONCLUSION: The debates exercise produced a statistically significant difference in the students’ rating of their abilities to perform each learning activity. The majority of students believed the debates exercise improved their critical thinking skills, ability to identify and evaluate literature, develop an argument, and defend their clinical decisions.
121 – Simultaneous Use of Team-Based Learning Approach Across Multiple Learning Sites
Tatyana Pashnyak, CHTS-TR
BACKGROUND: Team-Based Learning (TBL) instructional approach is typically used in one location or setting. Due to low enrollment at our satellite site, located about an hour from the main campus, I had to teach several students via teleconferencing connection. Several other students asked if they could join the class from their work sites, during the lunch break, using teleconferencing (Collaborate) as well. Therefore, approximately 20% of my three classes consisted of students joining the class via teleconferencing. Having successfully used TBL in these courses before, I have decided to adhere to the conventional TBL process as closely as possible, while addressing challenges introduced by the class make up.
DESCRIPTION: The first challenge was team formation. I used major, GPA, and setting to form teams, per Larry Michaelsen’s three principles of team formation:
1. never use student-selected teams
2. create diverse teams
3. make the selection process transparent
That resulted in five teams of six, with one to two teleconferencing students per team. GPA levels and majors were spread across teams as well. To make sure that students work on iRATS simultaneously, I created online quizzes and opened them at the same time for all students. Collaborate teleconferencing software allows multiple chat rooms so I created team chat rooms for the tRATs. Once all teams completed tRATs, I pulled all students back into the main area to report results. Because teams were spread over multiple locations, all team members had a set of answer cards and agreed ahead of time who will report team answers that class session. Same process was used for the application activity.
RESULTS: While final results are pending, I have not noticed any differences between courses taught this semester and courses taught in previous semesters. Midterm student evaluations were positive as well. Students joining from satellite site and individual work sites were especially appreciative of this opportunity because they would have had to travel at least an hour each way to join the course on the main campus.
CONCLUSION: While it is challenging to teach a course that consists of students joining from multiple sites, it appears that conventional TBL process can still be applied with a similar level of success.
123 – A TBL Undergraduate Course in Surface Science
John Hagen
BACKGROUND: Surface science is an interdisciplinary subject that includes the physics and chemistry of solid surfaces, liquid surfaces, colloids, and surfactants. Our university offers a one-quarter senior-level course in surface science that is taken by undergraduate students majoring in chemistry, materials engineering, and biomedical engineering. The course is also taken by a few graduate students in these disciplines. Topics covered include surface tension, colloidal stability, contact angle, electro-kinetic phenomena, adsorption, and monolayer systems. This course has always been taught in a traditional lecture format. An emphasis of the course is applying fundamental thermodynamic and chemical theory to practical problems. For instance, students may calculate the parameters required to make a fabric permeable to water vapor, while resisting the permeation of liquid water.
DESCRIPTION: Beginning in 2012, the primary instructor for the surface science course converted two other undergraduate courses (chemical thermodynamics and chemical kinetics) to the TBL format. The results in both cases were positive, and so he decided in 2015 to convert the surface science course to TBL format. The new version of the course will be offered for the first time in spring quarter 2016. The principles of design for the new course were fourfold:
1. The course would conform to canonical TBL format.
2 All application exercises would be placed in a real context, with data taken from the scientific literature.
3. The existing learning objectives would not be modified.
4. All review material, introductory material, mathematical derivations, and vocabulary would be moved out of class and into Readiness Assurance Test (RAT) preparation guides consisting of text readings and screencasts
RESULTS: The materials for the new course, including RAT preparation guides and Application Exercises will be presented. The instructor is especially interested in feedback on the assessment plan, which includes a post-class survey and a comparison of the scores on the objective portion of the final exam with scores from prior years.
124 – Integrating simulated patients in TBL: A strategy for success in medical education
Ashley K Fernandes, MD, PhD, Pat Ecklar, MD, Daniel M. Clinchot, MD
BACKGROUND: The use of Team-based learning (TBL) in medical schools is growing, and its effectiveness has been demonstrated in both clinical and pre-clinical settings. TBLs can assess the medical student’s ability to “know” (IRAT/GRAT) and even to “know how” (Group APPlication exercise [GAPP]) in a setting which is not costly or faculty-intensive. What TBLs may lack is the ability for students to demonstrate clinical or communicative abilities. Simulated Patients (SPs) have also been utilized with success in medical education, particularly in Objective Structured Clinical Encounters (OSCEs). An SP allows the student to move from “know how” to “show how” and be assessed in both formative and summative settings. However, OSCEs also have disadvantages such as high cost, and are faculty-intensive. We hypothesized that integrating the use of SPs into TBLs would alleviate some shortcomings of both teaching methodologies and allow complex communication to be taught in an effective way.
DESCRIPTION: In 2015-16 we taught final year medical students (n= 200) through a novel TBL-SP format. A TBL module was created with: (1) Pre-TBL reading explicitly tied to learning objectives, and (2) a graded IRAT, followed by a GRAT. However, in a departure from the “classic” TBL format, we proceeded to: (3) a graded GAPP, which utilized an SP in small groups of 5-6 students. The case involved a patient who is about to learn he has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or “Lou Gehrig’s disease”), a fatal diagnosis. Each student was randomly assigned a speaking order, and peer to review.
Students would then take turns interacting with the (carefully trained) SP, and allowed to respond to the SP extemporaneously until “cued” by the faculty facilitator to switch to the next student. Because students were randomly assigned to a speaking order and peer-to-review, they had to be prepared to “know how” and “show how” any of the different parts of the exercise. Students were given formative feedback by the SP, and were formatively and summatively assessed by a peer and faculty observer.
RESULTS/EVALUATION: Despite the complex nature of the SP encounter, preliminary evaluations of the TBL-SP integration showed high student satisfaction, with 5-point Likert scale ratings being higher than our other, traditional TBL as well as lectures. Student narrative comments indicated that they were more engaged; appreciated the opportunity to experience a serious ethical issue in this setting; and understood better the challenge of health literacy in the context of a terminal diagnosis. Suggestions for improvement included more time for student-SP interaction; better written IRAT/GRAT questions; and more time for group debriefing discussion.
CONCLUSION: The use of SPs within TBL can be a highly effective teaching modality. The method lends itself to overcoming some of the inherent disadvantages with traditional TBL GAPP exercises. At the same time, the use of an SP within a TBL avoids the high resource expenditures for OSCEs. Future development should seek to increase the use of SPs within TBLs in medical education in order to transcend from merely “knowing,” or even “knowing how” to truly “showing how.”
125 – Report: Tablet PC assisted TBL – a pilot project
Yoichiro Miki, Ichiro Takahashi, Kenji Tokumori, Noriko Kitagawa
BACKGROUND: Kyushu University School of Dentistry runs “Integrated Dental Course” for a joint class of 5th and 6th year students in the TBL format. To date the readiness assurance tests (RATs) are given traditionally with printed materials and some time delays in the feedback are inevitable. To give more immediate and accurate feedback to the students, we plan to switch RATs to implement on a Web-based learning platform, Moodle, by using tablet PCs as interfaces. We conduct a pilot class to verify the feasibility and efficiency of tablet PC assisted RATs.
DESCRIPTION: Integrated Dental Course is a requisitive course in the spring semester on every Fridays lasting 180 minutes per day. As all the students have prior experiences with TBL, only the basic principles of TBL are reviewed in the orientation session. After explaining the purpose and methods of the pilot class, students are divided into 18 teams of 5-6 randomly, except to consider that gender and grades are equally mixed. Students take a demonstration RAT with printed materials individually, and teams are then allowed to practice the use of tablet PCs with the same RAT on the Moodle platform. The instructor give immediate feedback with a help of a plugin to show graphically how many teams select which options as the first choices.
THE NEXT STEP: Every single participant student will be given a tablet PC to take individual RATs on the Moodle platform. We are now constructing a high security network environment with sufficient capacity of more than 100 students.
126 – Translating a Face-to-Face Team-Based Learning class to Online
Ken Gunnells Ph.D., Annetta Dolowitz MPH, MSW
BACKGROUND: Traditional Team-Based Learning methods are well specified. Long-term teams are strategically formed. Through the Readiness Assurance Process students’ level of understanding is gauged and misunderstandings are clarified. Through classroom activities designed using the 4S framework, students reveal their level of understanding and create opportunities for specific and timely feedback. Finally, students are held accountable to high levels of effort and team contribution. With an imminent need to create an online section of a core class taught using Team-Based Learning, we were struck by the lack of resources to provide direction for translating a traditional Team-Based Learning class to an online setting. We were left with only the tools of trial and error, and iterative improvement to make this translation from Face-to-Face to Online.
DESCRIPTION: At our school there is a policy that core classes are taught Face-to-Face during the day and in the evening, and also online. This was the motivation for our efforts to implement Team-Based Learning online. We retained the four basic elements of Team-Based Learning, but had to modify them in a many ways to accommodate the online environment. These modifications include the formation of teams based on members’ meeting availability, efforts to reduce the effects of students referencing the textbook during the RAP process, and many changes to the nature and timing of feedback and clarification in the RAP and Application elements. The importance if iterative improvement has become clear. Early iterations of the class had severe problems that were addressed immediately. Other problems only became evident after running the class for some time. These problems, usually addressed in the following semester, were typically designed away instead of through the addition of rules and instructions.
RESULTS: We have found that it is possible and fruitful to create an online Team-Based Learning class. As in traditional Team-Based Learning classes, the best learning outcomes appear to come from application exercises. During these application exercises the application problems are addressed and refined by students at three levels; individually, as a team, and at the cohort (5 teams) level. Feedback and clarification that would naturally occur in a face-to-face discussion of an application has to be given at all three levels (individual, team, cohort) in the online setting.
CONCLUSION: We are pleased with our Team-Based Learning online classes and continue to iteratively refine them. We hope to influence others to implement Team-Based Learning online, and contribute to this growing body of knowledge and practice. Our goal is to develop guidelines and best practices so that others may find an easier path to online Team-Based Learning.
128 – Designing a Team Based Learning Classroom for Writing Personal Statements
Janet Johnson, Holly Bender, Anne Oldham, Samantha Jones, Maren Wolff
Background: Using Team Based Learning (TBL) helped to demystify what students often perceive as the most daunting portion of the dietetics internship application: writing a personal statement. Using instructional videos for prework and rubrics helped prepare students for in class work. The TBL approach helped students become more open to accepting peer feedback and make revisions, resulting in more polished personal statements.
Description: Working in teams of five, posing as the “Dietetics Internship Selection Committee,” students simulated each of the steps in the internship application process with an emphasis on writing the personal statement. Students first watched a short video about writing a personal statement on their learning management system. Next, they drafted a personal statement with in-class writing exercises and mini lectures. Using rubrics, students self-assessed their writing and evaluated their teammate’s statements. After revisions, students presented their internship application packet, including the personal statement, to team members.
Evaluation: TBL was introduced in 2014 and student evaluation scores were above the median for student assessment for their engagement (85%) and assignments enhanced learning (83%). Following 2014 evaluation and course enhancements in 2015, parameters of course evaluation indicating agree or strongly agree on a Likert scale jumped to 92.1% for student engagement and 94.7% for assignments enhanced learning. Student comments included: “Correcting classmates writing assignments and looking at resumes made me really think about how I am doing as a student.” Interestingly, students also asked for “Have more time talking about personal statements and getting more feedback from peers.”
Conclusion: Students were better prepared for in-class activities, took the evaluative component from peers seriously, and gave thoughtful feedback to peers.
129 – Team Based Learning Exercise as an effective tool to teach complex biochemical concepts to a diverse population of Post-baccalaureate Premedical Program Students.
Maya Nair, Andras Lacko, Patricia Gwirtz
Background: In general, post-baccalaureate Premedical Programs provide opportunities to those individuals who would like to enhance their credentials for entry into medical school and other health professional schools by offering a strong, challenging biomedical science core curriculum in the environment of a health science center. “The Master of Science program in Medical Sciences” is a very successful post-baccalaureate program offered at University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, Texas.
Post bac students include those who have not taken the standard science classes required for entry into medical schools, or who have taken those classes but did not perform well in them. Traditional lecture and instructional methods provide minimal opportunities to prepare these students to work in teams for clinical decision making.
Description: A Team Based Learning (TBL) exercise was integrated into the biochemistry course curriculum to provide opportunities for students to gain experience in team decision making with clinical scenario.
The study was designed to introduce TBL module in small group (44 students) in the Introductory Biochemistry course in summer and then in the core curriculum, to a large group students (200 students) in fall.
Students were randomly divided into small groups ( 6-8 students/ group). Assigned reading materials based on the selected topic from curriculum and resources were provided to the students to master identified objectives. The students are required to review the materials provided, prior to the TBL activity. During the activity, to establish accountability, students completed a quiz individually (Individual Readiness Assurance Test) and then collaborated within their teams to complete the same quiz (Team/Group Readiness Assurance Test (tRAT)). Teams presented their answers during the class discussion. The students were further challenged by providing a case study based on the topic and the teams presented their rationale for clinical findings which required to demonstrate a mastery in the topic and apply higher order thinking strategy. Individual quiz scores and team scores contributed to course grades.
Results: The majority of students enjoyed the TBL format, felt it was an effective way to learn the concepts, and particularly appreciated the group discussions. 86% of the students score 100 points for iRAT while 100% of the students score 100 points for the tRAT. The class size did not affect the student performance. Both the small and big class size, the tRAT scores for the students indicated that the team discussions improved their understanding and application of concept.
This results in a much higher overall course satisfaction.
Conclusion: Team Based Learning Exercise is an effective tool to teach complex biochemical concepts to a diverse population of Post-baccalaureate Premedical Program Students. TBL provides opportunities to effectively learn the concept with clarity and simulate actual professional practice. It provides confidence to the students and is beneficial in applying concepts to practice. These results also predict that TBL activity will be an effective tool in promoting Inter Professional Educational (IPE) activity, since IPE activity includes the participation of diverse population.
132 – Implementing Team-Based Learning in A Variety of Undergraduate Physiology Courses: Outcomes and Lessons
Sarah Leupen
Over the course of the past five years, we have implemented Team-Based Learning in three undergraduate physiology courses at UMBC: Anatomy and Physiology, a two-semester, sophomore-level biology course taken primarily by pre-allied-health students; and Comparative Animal Physiology and Human Physiology, upper-level courses taken primarily by senior pre-medical students. For all courses, each semester is divided into seven units, each of which begins with a Readiness Assessment Test (RAT) and ends with an individual test or an individual quiz followed by an open-book team test. Application activities emphasize the most challenging goals for each unit and are structured using “4S” principles; teams use voting cards to indicate their choices and facilitation proceeds from there. Students are strongly positive about the use of Team-Based Learning in these courses, attendance is higher than the lecture-based sections, and the DFW rate is very low. Pre-post tests demonstrate large learning gains during the semester and pre-tests for the second semester of Anatomy & Physiology, given in August, reveal that students retain more material from A&P I, completed three months previously (May), than students who took the course in June-July of the same year in a lecture format. Across one year of Anatomy and Physiology, students showed a significant shift in the validated Learning Styles Survey in moving from memorization-based to understanding-based studying behaviors.
133 – Creating an Evidence Based Practice Textbook Using a TBL Approach
Catana Brown
Introduction: For rehabilitation therapy students (e.g. occupational, physical, speech language), research and evidence based practice content is often less compelling and more intimidating. Team based learning (TBL) provides a natural format for engaging students in the learning and making the relevance of the content more apparent. However, in TBL the readiness assurance process component requires good preparatory materials, namely a strong textbook and currently this is lacking for these disciplines.
Furthermore, although TBL has been adopted in many health care disciplines, this is less true of occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech language pathology. Instructors in these fields sometimes have less expertise in research and are generally less exposed to TBL. Therefore instructors could benefit from a thorough yet accessible textbook and an instructor’s guide with resources for TBL instruction.
Description: This poster will describe the process of developing an evidence based practice textbook with a TBL focus. The textbook which is targeted for occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech language pathology students includes an extensive instructor’s guide. For each chapter there is a test bank and 3 – 5 examples of possible team assignments. In addition the textbook itself includes several special features that incorporate the spirit of TBL as students are reading the chapter. The special features which will be illustrated on the poster include From the Evidence, Evidence in the Real World, Learning Exercises, Understanding Statistics and Critical Thinking Questions. The textbook is formatted as a worktext allowing the students to record their responses in the text.
Results: The manuscript of the text was piloted with two sections of an evidence based practice class of occupational and physical therapy students. Course evaluations indicated that although some students experienced discomfort with the lack of formal lectures, many provided positive comments about the challenge and usefulness of TBL for promoting learning. Faculty reported that students had a deeper understanding of the material.
Conclusion: A textbook with a team based learning approach will make team based learning more appealing to both students and faculty.
134 – Utilizing the Tuning Protocol to Critically Evaluate Team-Based Learning Modules and Components
OP McCubbins, Thomas Paulsen, Ryan Anderson, Holly Bender
BACKGROUND: Creating TBL modules can be a daunting task (Thompson, Schneider, Haidet, Perkowski, and Richards, 2007), and locating avenues for critical feedback can be challenging. Critical feedback is especially important for relatively novice adopters of TBL (Lin, Hyderi, and Riddle, 2015). One can solicit feedback from fellow TBL users or feedback can be obtained through the application process for TBLC’s Trainer-Consultant Program. Ensuring a quality TBL module is important to the success of TBL’s implementation and “a skilled facilitator cannot make up for a poorly constructed module” (Lin et al., 2015, p. 1). In an effort to provide support to novice adopters at the University of Illinois, Lin et al. (2015) developed a method to provide faculty members narrative feedback on 22 modules. The feedback addressed the quality of learning objectives, questions included on the readiness assurance tests (RATS), as well as application exercises. Lin et al. discovered that this was an extremely time intensive process, and suggested a different method for critiquing TBL modules. Does a method exist that proves to be more time-efficient and still allow for critical feedback on original TBL modules? Lin et al. suggested an alternative way for reviewing TBL modules because the workload is significant.
DESCRIPTION: The authors of this proposal are suggesting the use of The Tuning Protocol (TTP; Allen, 1995). TTP can be an effective method for evaluating original TBL modules by engaging fellow TBL adopters in providing constructive criticism. TTP is defined as “a form of collective inquiry that allows participants to work together on improving student learning” (Allen, 1995, p. 28). The proposed tuning protocol for TBL module feedback is depicted in Figure 1.
RESULTS: TTP has experienced great success in enhancing pre-service teacher’s lesson plans. It was proposed to be tested at the TBLC conference via a workshop.
CONCLUSION: Based on the success of TTP in enhancing lesson plans, the authors feel that utilizing it to improve the quality and decrease the burden of reviewing TBL modules is a logical next step.
135 – Team Based Learning: A Professional Development Model for Training the Trainer
OP McCubbins, Robert Frutchey, John Rasty, Ryan Anderson
BACKGROUND: Our institution hosts professional development workshops focusing on agricultural mechanics topics on one Saturday (8-4) per month during the school year. The workshops are open to both secondary agricultural education and industrial technology teachers. We offer graduate credit and continuing education credit options for renewal of their teaching licensure. Due to the popularity of our workshops, we draw a wide range of participants with varying levels of knowledge and skills. In order to maintain a high level of engagement for all participants, the presenters utilized Team Based Learning (TBL) to design and implement the workshop.
DESCRIPTION: The instructors sent the participants a short pre-reading on the primary content area. The participants then completed an Individual Readiness Assurance Test (IRAT) and Team Readiness Assurance Test (TRAT) at the beginning of the workshop. Based on the results of both the IRAT and TRAT, a short clarifying lecture immediately followed. Upon completion of the clarifying lecture, the participants (remaining seated in their teams) transitioned into the application exercise. In this case, they were learning how to design a nameplate using Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. Once the individuals received training on the CAD software, they were then instructed as a team to “coach a student” through the design process. In this case, we used graduate students to serve as the “student”, once the student completed the nameplate activity they then transitioned into a facilitator. The role of the facilitator was to lead a discussion on projects, applications, and teaching methods.
RESULTS: The teachers had no prior knowledge of TBL before participating in this workshop. Anecdotally, the teachers were highly engaged during the IRAT and TRAT that lead to quality discussion. The workshop participants were so enthusiastic about TBL, 45 minutes of discussion revolved around answering questions regarding TBL. All of the teachers enrolled in the workshop requested additional information on TBL and continued to ask questions about TBL throughout the day. The facilitators also noted that the teams generated impactful discussion on how to use the software, applications and activities that can be implemented with the software and multiple teaching methods that can be utilized to deliver the content.
CONCLUSION: In past workshops, the instructors found it was difficult to keep the teachers who possessed more knowledge and skills engaged in the content than their peers. Conversely, we struggled to keep the teachers with little to no knowledge progressing through the content without feeling overwhelmed due to the knowledge gap. Using TBL as a model for training teachers, we were able to spread the varying knowledge and skill levels evenly across teams, where the teachers were able to work as a team through the learning process.
136 – Utilizing Facebook Profile Worksheets to Enhance Higher Order Thinking Skills in Team Based Learning Courses
Robert Frutchey, OP McCubbins, Ryan Anderson, Josie Rudolphi
Background: Social media sites have been identified as the preferred method of communication among teenagers, creating a unique avenue to diffuse and present information to audiences (Lenhart, Madden, Macgill, & Smith, 2007). Capitalizing on the pre-organized outline of Facebook profiles and the amount of students currently using Facebook, this social network is a viable educational tool. When teaching topics such as identification, typical instruction requires students to utilize rote memorization or lower level thinking skills. Designing a lesson where students learn about an individual part by creating Facebook profile pages enhances higher order thinking skills.
Description: Teachers will provide students with a worksheet that mimics a Facebook profile with headings such as “interests”, “about me”, “contact information” and “profile picture” and allow students to seek out information on their specific part using the pre-readings and modules. The Facebook profile should explain the purpose and the function of the part and provide a visual. The instructor then has to approve the information on the Facebook profile worksheet. In our course we teach small engines. We have our students use the small engine part’s email address, students can then create a real Facebook profile online and add a profile picture using a picture they found of their part. Second step, once information has been attained, students are encouraged to present their part and their Facebook profile to the rest of the students in the class, preparing themselves for an individual readiness assessment test (IRAT) and team readiness assessment test (TRAT).
Results: Students find the Facebook profile an interesting and interactive way to present parts identification. The Facebook profile is a unique resource, creating more in-depth discussion during the class, while pushing the students to use higher order thinking.
Conclusion: By utilizing the Facebook Profile we are seeing an increase in student engagement as well as an increase in competence throughout the small engines unit.
137 – A Comparison of Learning Using a Traditional Team Reporting Method or PollEverywhere.com for Team Reporting in the Team-Based Learning Classroom
Staci N. Johnson
The increase in classroom technology has seen attempts to utilize clickers and other audience response systems (ARS) for simultaneous reporting of choices in the team-based learning (TBL) classroom. Anecdotal data from the TBL ListServ shows a variety of techniques and best practices using ARS technology while preserving group discussion. Most computer based reporting methods have the ability to produce a graph or other presentation of the selected choices of the class. However, all selections do not appear simultaneously and certain graph appearances seem to stifle class discussion. This study compared the effectiveness of two different types of simultaneous reporting methods – traditional, using small dry erase boards, and technological, Polleverywhere.com. Students from two sections of a general education biology course were administered quizzes before and after 13 different in-class activities in an attempt to quantify their learning during the activity. The reporting method alternated between the traditional and technological approaches for each class period. The difference between pre- and post- activity quiz grades was calculated for each student and the mean was calculated (traditional: =6.08; technological: =8.28) and were compared using a paired t-test. There was no difference in learning observed (p>0.1, df=12) between the two reporting methods. While ARS technology may be helpful, especially in classes with more than 100 students, no learning gains were demonstrated by the use of a technological reporting method in this study.
139 – An Electronic Gallery Walk in a High Enrollment Pharmacy Population Health Course
Shane Ryan, Narasi Ramachandran, Michelle Farland, PharmD, Steven Smith, PharmD
BACKGROUND: A conventional Team Based Learning (TBL) Gallery Walk is one method for allowing students to demonstrate the synthesis level of Blooms Taxonomy and subsequently the evaluation level. As a team, the learners are able to collaboratively create, design, or compose an artifact. In the traditional Gallery Walk, the artifact is typically produced on large, flip-chart paper pads. Teams simultaneously report answers by posting/pinning their artifacts onto the walls of the classroom. Participants circle the room, review others artifacts, and as a team, select an artifact that is not their own which they determine to be the best. The rankings that form from the voting or tallying will then direct the instructor to facilitate the inter-team discussion. This traditional structure poses a problem when delivering a TBL module that includes students in more than one physical location. To solve this problem in a program that includes three campus locations, we created modifications to the process to permit content sharing across campuses.
DESCRIPTION: Pharmacy and Population Health is a team taught course designed for a new curriculum of the University of Florida, College of Pharmacy, doctor of pharmacy degree program. The course implemented TBL as the primary pedagogy for the flipped classroom environment. One of the campus locations for this course has a large enrollment of 121 students, divided into 20 teams which provided challenges to the traditional method for the Gallery Walk: time limitations to posting artifacts to the walls and reviewing other artifacts; space limitations for hanging physical artifacts for display; and, physical limitations for sharing the artifacts beyond the live TBL session. Additionally, all future offerings of this course will require TBL to occur in a fully synchronous video conferenced environment that would combine three distance campuses (projected enrollment of 270 students total) to maximize faculty participation and assure consistent quality and student experience. To address these challenges the Gallery Walk activities were implemented electronically through a shared Google Document data sheet, for display of student produced artifacts in a collaborative, web-shared document. At the midpoint of the course, students completed a qualitative survey to provide course faculty with feedback prior to the traditional course evaluation time period.
RESULTS: Faculty facilitators as well as student participants reported that the electronic Gallery Walks was effective for the team application. Faculty reported students highly engaged during the inter-team discussions. Students identified the electronic Gallery Walk as a component of the course that worked well on the mid-course qualitative evaluation. Limitations of this method of electronic Gallery Walk include, restrictions on number of concurrent users able to edit the web-shared document, length of the artifact needs to remain brief due to time limitations.
CONCLUSION: As a result of the these findings, an electronic Gallery Walk will now be implemented in a fully synchronous, interactive video conferenced classroom, that will join our three distance campuses (projected enrollment of 270 students).