101 – Are there changes in Self-Directed Learning associated to the implementation of the Team Based Learning method on kinesiology students?
Macarena Delgado, Eduardo Fasce, Cristhian Pérez, Nancy Rivera, Liliana Ortiz, Pablo Salazar
Background: Team Based Learning (TBL) has been implemented in diverse degrees of health sciences, where it has proven to be successful in improving performance and received positive student assessment. However, few studies have been carried out in the field of physiotherapy.
Objective: Identify changes in self-directed learning (SDL) on physiotherapy students during the implementation of a TBL course in a Chilean university.
Summary of work: The control group was formed by 51 fourth year physiotherapy students who were also taking a pediatrics course. 43,14% were women between. Age mean= 23,61. Five sessions were conducted over a period of four months. Heterogeneous groups of students were formed after identifying their profiles at the beginning of the semester through a focus group and their learning methods questionnaire. In order to assess changes in SDL, a Spanish version of the Self Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) was applied at the beginning and at the end of the experience.
Summary of results: A highly significant statistical increase was found in self-management levels, t(50)=-3.62; p<0.001, and self-assessment levels, t(50)=-2.80; p<0.01, as well as a highly significant statistical increase in the global score of the SDLRS, t(50)=-2.44; p<0.01.
Discussion: An improvement on overall SDL is demonstrated by an increase of the scores in four out of the five individual factors of the criteria. In fact, learning planning and self-confidence increased at sample level, but without any statistical significance. Self-assessment and self-management levels showed a significant statistical change, which was expected, considering that TBL entails designating group goals and learning strategies.
Conclusion: The study demonstrated an increase in SDL, particularly in self-management, which proves that TBL can improve comprehensive skill development, in addition to the documented effects on academic performance and student satisfaction.
Poster Award Nominee
102 – Faculty Peer Review Program: Quality Assurance in a New Team Based Learning Curriculum
Stanley K. Ellis, Kimberly Morris-Ross
BACKGROUND: Traditional training for Team Based Learning (TBL) focuses largely on teaching faculty to develop lessons that will be employed to transmit knowledge content to learners and to facilitate TBL sessions. However, TBL literature that espouses its benefits as an instructional method foregoes guidance or training in the area of quality assurance for this knowledge transmission model. To successfully shift to this new learning model, from a curriculum where a majority of instruction was traditionally didactic, the following components were necessitated: (a) buy-in from students and faculty; (b) training for students and faculty in the new pedagogy; and a (c) continuous quality improvement process. To assure quality TBLs were being developed and facilitated, a faculty peer review program (FPRP) was instituted that proved to be integral to our TBL-focused faculty development and curricular change efforts.
DESCRIPTION: The FPRP consisted of six phases: (1) faculty develop TBL session; (2) faculty submit TBL to a faculty peer review committee (FPRC); (3) FPRC reviews TBL; (4) FPRC provides feedback; (5) faculty facilitates TBL event; (6) After Event Review (AER) is conducted. The FPRC consisted of five senior faculty (2 basic science, 3 college of medicine) and an educational expert. Within our first 12 months, the FPRC reviewed, more than 20 new TBLs.
RESULTS: Faculty expressed appreciation of the FPRP process in helping with the transition, with emphasis on feedback provided during the AER phase of the program. In the AER phase, faculty received feedback based on an observation of their TBL session by a FPRC member.
CONCLUSION: As a result of faculty responses, the FPRP was identified as a contributing factor in the successful transition to the new TBL curriculum.
103 – Student Perception of Team-Based Learning in a Chiropractic Program
Georgina Pearson, Christopher Petrie, Christopher Smoley, Bill watson, Richard A. Salazar, Miguel Chiusano, Katherine A. Pohlman, Sandra R. Norton
The chiropractic program at our institution, like those at other institutions with health care programs, is faced with the challenge of helping students develop the skills needed to become effective practitioners. To help students develop clinical reasoning skills and to facilitate long-term retention of vital information and skills, faculty at our institution have begun implementing Team-Based Learning (TBL) strategies into their courses. Because students at our institution are accustomed to lecture-based classes, we sought to measure their perception of TBL strategies after implementation in a first and second-year course. This study used a validated survey by Vasan, et. al. which looked at eight questions to evaluate students’ perceptions of TBL and seven questions to evaluate students’ perceptions of teamwork. Each perception question was measured using the following ratings: strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strongly agree. In addition, anticipated course grade was also sought. Data were collected at the end of of the first and second implementation for both courses. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed comparing students’ anticipated grade to their perception for both TBL and teamwork. As found in the original study, chiropractic students like medical students, found TBL and teamwork favorable irrespective of their grade. The results also showed a higher percentage of acceptance the second time TBL was implemented as compared to the first time for both courses.
104 – Applying TBL in Computer Science – lessons learned and experiences in “Universidad Catolica del Uruguay” after 4 years
Ernesto Ocampo
Our TBL journey begun after attending an enlightening conference by Larry Michaelsen, in June 2012 in a teaching & learning course developed by LASPAU / HARVARD. We started a pilot phase implementing TBL in a first course about “Algorithms and Data Structures”- a classic computer science course that additionally requires a lot of high quality software programming – , in 2nd semester of 2012. This is a 2nd year informatics engineering course. We presented the results of this pilot phase in TBLC2013 and TBLC2014.
We have come a long way in these 4 years, and gained some experience about the specific implementation of TBL for different computer science courses. We have been fortunate to have in our country the assistance of renowned personalities who have given excellent TBL seminars – Larry Michaelsen in 2013, Dee Fink in 2014 and James Sibley in 2016-. We have been certified as TBL Consultant Trainer and given several TBL101-like workshops for more than 200 teachers in our University.
Application of TBL in our University has been expanding slowly but steadily during this time.
The computer science courses in which we use TBL are highly diverse in their contents, objectives and dynamics. As these courses are taught in different years, students’ contexts are also very different, impacting on course development.
In some computer science courses it is very important to foster the development of software programming skills, with high quality levels as demanded by the labor market. This requirement imposes a real challenge when designing courses and activities with a TBL approach.
In this presentation we will describe some of the challenges we have faced and how we have addressed them in our specific computer science context.
105 – Course (Re)Design for Team-Based Active Learning: Teaching Evidence-Based Practice for Nurses
Mary H. Peterson
Purpose: The purpose of implementing Team-Based Learning was to dramatically change student engagement in a mandatory, large lecture format classroom. The primary impetus to change was student feedback on mid-term and end semester course evaluations. The course (Re)Design of Evidence-Based Practice for Nurses was to actively engage senior baccalaureate nursing students in the learning process. The overriding goals were for students to achieve a higher level of learning and to utilize the knowledge gained in their future practice.
Background: The two semester hour course Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) for Nursing was known as the “boring, research course”. Students perceived the mandatory course as having little or no relevance to their future practice as Registered Nurses. This perception was in sharp contrast to the School of Nursing curricular outcomes that focus on EBP as an essential competency for future nursing practice. The discordance of perceptions and inherent practice implications for future nurses was the impetus for the change to Team-Based Learning.
Description/Methods: Seventy-three senior level baccalaureate nursing students were enrolled in a requisite two semester hour course “Evidence-Based Practice for Nursing” August-December, 2016. The course was redesigned to include the principles of Team-Based Learning beginning with the syllabus. A backwards design strategy was used to Re(Design) activities and strategies for active learning beginning with the first day of class. The large lecture classroom could only be modified with the addition of 18 whiteboards taped to the walls. The other components of Re(Design) were based on team based principles and methods.
Results: Student engagement in the classroom has increased dramatically. One measure of their engagement was that students remained working during break. Multiple learning activities and team assignments were presented in each 2 hour class.
Conclusions/Recommendations: Based on both student and faculty evaluations, Team-Based Learning was preferred to traditional lecture.
106 – Designing RAT MCQ’s to enhance understanding of complex drawings and diagrams? Lessons learnt from using TBL to teach chemistry
Laura M. Hancock, Chloe Howe, Graeme R. Jones, Tessa R. Phillips, Daniela Plana
A significant proportion of teaching, learning and assessment in Chemistry is highly visual and uses a variety of different representation methods which go further than simple language, including equations, spectra and molecular drawings. It is key for successful Chemistry students to master all of these; they need to be able to create diagrams, draw chemical structures and mechanisms, and interpret spectra.
Since introducing TBL into Chemistry teaching at Keele in 2014, it has become an important tool in the teaching of a range of topics. As we wrote TBL question banks, we recognized that it is crucial that the full spectrum of visual representations is covered, although it is not immediately obvious how to incorporate many of the varied skill sets required for Chemistry into the simple RAT MCQ format.
One challenge for writing RAT MCQs, for example, is in organic chemistry, much of which is explained by curved arrow mechanisms, a tool to represent the changes occurring in molecules during a chemical reaction. A conventional question may ask the student to draw the curved arrow mechanism, and the student will have to draw a chemical structure and several arrows to and from specific places on the structure. Initially we were concerned that removing the drawing aspect in the RAT would reduce the usefulness of the activity; however, we have found that we can design RAT MCQ’s that direct the students to view curved arrows as tools to probe and understand rather than memorize and copy, hence actually aiding understanding.
In this presentation we will discuss the challenges in creating appropriate RAT questions for a wide range of Chemistry sessions. We will discuss in detail the different ways in which we have created RAT MCQs which enable the students to interpret or produce their own graphical/pictorial representations under examination conditions.
Poster Award Nominee
107 – Implementation and evaluation of changes to the PEER assessment process
Debra Barnette
Background: For 5 years our Pharmacology and Therapeutics course has utilized Team Based Learning (TBL) for our disease-state workshops. Each 60-student workshop is structured with an individual and team Readiness Assurance Process, followed by application mini-cases. An essential component in the TBL pedagogy is the completion of PEER assessments to maintain student accountability to the team.
Methods: During the second semester of the past year we implemented a different PEER evaluation process. Our original process was based on open ended questions with minimal guidance (i.e., no specific criteria or rating scale) for completing the PEER evaluations. Our goal was to improve the PEER assessment process by 1) incorporation of objective criteria with rating scales to guide student peer to peer quantitative evaluation, 2) require constructive feedback statements for open ended questions and 3) require self-assessment (reflective) evaluation. Self-reflection was presented as key to personal growth in the course. In response to overwhelming student input, we also implemented an option for each student to reward team members for outstanding contributions with additional “bonus” points. The changes and incentivized system for PEER evaluations were compared to the standard open-ended four question traditional process used in the previous semester by the same students.
Preliminary Results: The revised peer to peer evaluation form with specific objective criteria significantly improved the PEER evaluation process as assessed by overall number and quality of student responses. The optional “bonus” points for team members were extremely well received and utilized by over 90% of the students. Overall, students perceived the “bonus” system as more equitable and less punitive compared to the first semester process. Students commented that the objective criteria provide a better framework for students to quantitatively compare each student’s team contributions. The self-assessments were enhanced as more students provided detailed comprehensive self-reflections.
Conclusion: The PEER review process may best be performed with a structured form that provides guidance for the students to provide feedback in TBL pedagogy. Future work should focus on developing reflective skills and assessment of the benefits in the TBL classroom.
Poster Award Nominee
108 – Arteries to Ailerons: Applying team-based learning methods from Duke-NUS Medical School to flip the classroom for active and relevant learning at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Asia
Brian O’Dwyer
Background: The author, a new faculty member, was faced with using Embry-Riddle’s Multi Modal Templates (“MMTs”) to teach in Singapore. However, the MMTs were designed for American students, not for students that will need to address Asian aviation problems. Asian relevance is critical because in the next eleven years, Asian air traffic will double, growing at twice the United States rate and more aircraft will be added in Asia than Europe and the United States combined.
Description: Improve learning by employing active learning techniques to deliver the Embry-Riddle curriculum in a regionally relevant manner. A Management for Aeronautical Science was taught with Duke-NUS team based learning methods by using Embry-Riddle MMTs as pre-work before class. Class started with an individual quiz, then a group quiz followed by a discussion to ensure pre-work was understood. The second half of class was spent solving regionally or practically relevant cases in teams. For example, application exercises would feature Asian airlines and issues such as AirAsia instead of American Airlines.
Results: End of course student surveys reported 30% higher likelihood of recommending this course versus the Singapore campus average (14% higher than the worldwide average). Stated differently, 98% of respondents would “recommend this course to others” compared to 75% for the Singapore average (85% for the worldwide average). The surveys also reported 17% higher active learning engagement versus the Singapore average (7% higher than the worldwide average).
Conclusion: Team-based learning is an effective method for active and relevant learning.