Transcript Physiotherapy - Health Sciences and Practice Subject Centre

The use of online
conferencing/managed learning
environments to support
problem-based learning
Alec Rickard
Lecturer in Physiotherapy
University of Plymouth
[email protected]
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Content
 Background information
– Problem based learning (PBL)
– Potential issues/concerns
 ePBL project
– Aims
– Development
– Pilot
– Year roll-out
 ePBL v2.0?
– evaluation
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Background information – PBL
PBL is:
‘an educational method which uses carefully
constructed clinical problems as a context for
students to learn problem-solving skills and
acquire knowledge about the basic and clinical
sciences.’
(Albanese and Mitchell, 1993 cited by Johnson
and Finucane, 2000: 281)
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Background information – PBL
 PBL has become increasingly popular in health education
(Reynolds, 2003)
 Educational philosophy for School of Nursing, Midwifery and
Community Health at Glasgow Caledonian University
(Docherty et al, 2005)
 Peninsula Medical School (PMS) incorporated it into its
curriculum from inception (PMS, 2006)
 BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy programme at UoP designed
around a PBL approach.
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Background information –
Potential issues with PBL
 Discrepancies in groups’ and individuals’
performances
 Potentially useful information not disseminated
to all groups
 Do students reflect effectively on their
contribution/performance?
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Background information –
Potential issues with PBL
 Johnson et al (2000):
– Group dynamics in PBL may powerfully
influence its efficacy
– Ineffective group members may seriously
compromise their learning
– The need for active participation in tutorials.
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“ePBL” Project
Could learning technologies be utilised?
E-mail
Web-based
 Online conferencing
 Managed learning environment (MLE) / portal.
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Project Aims
 To explore how existing strengths of PBL can be
maximised
 To facilitate the overall learning experience
By:
– Facilitating the storage, retrieval and
dissemination of the information derived from
groups' objectives.
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Project Aims
 Salmon (2002) suggests online conferencers are
often more willing to try things out than they would
in face-to-face situations
 Can also be more fun/playful and still promote
learning and reflection.
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Project Development
 Readily available/accessible options
 E-mail & online conferencing software
–

Outlook Web Access
Managed learning environment (MLE)
–
EMILY (Blackboard platform).
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Pilot
 One 2nd year PBL group (8 students)
 Convenience
 Outlook Web Access
 Familiar environment
 Simple (?)
–
–
Set-up (sub-folders)
Control of permissions
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Faculty of Health & Social Work
Results of Pilot
 7/8 completed the questionnaire
 All 7 stated:
 the online conference was a useful addition to
their PBL experience
 facilitated their access to and exchange of
information
 was easy to use.
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Results of Pilot
 3 had initial access problems
– 2 continuing intermittent
Mainly when off campus
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Results of Pilot
 6 = would be useful for accessing other groups’
information at the end of a scenario
 1 concerned it would affect the amount of work
individuals completed, knowing they could
potentially just wait until the end and use everyone
else’s.
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Results of Pilot
“I thought it was an excellent addition... You are
always limited by time in the Friday PBL session,
there is so much information to disseminate in 2
hours; being able to share 'full-text' type research is
extremely helpful and definitely enhances the depth
of knowledge you can gain.”
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Results of Pilot
“I enjoyed participating in the online conferencing as it
enabled group members who maybe are more of
reflective learners and therefore less vocal within the
seminar session to be able to place information up
on the folder to enable the rest of the group the
opportunity to view the work that they might not
have seen otherwise.”
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Results of Pilot
“I think this system works well as long as everyone
contributes and puts information up in the folders
and continues to do so throughout the module or
year.”
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Roll-out
 To whole year group
 Well received by those who could access it!
– Problem with different student accounts/ different
servers
 '@students.plymouth.ac.uk' or
'@students.pahc.ac.uk'
Faculty of Health & Social Work
ePBL v2.0?
 Readily available/accessible options

E-mail & online conferencing software
–

Outlook Web Access
Managed learning environment (MLE)
–
EMILY (Blackboard platform).
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Full Evaluation
 Focus groups
 Staff
 Students (1-2 reps from each PBL groups)
 Questionnaire to year group
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Focus Group – key objectives
 Staff:
 Change in group working/PBL sessions as a
result?
 How much it is utilised by the students and
themselves?
 Any particular features/improvements?
Faculty of Health & Social Work
Focus Group – key objectives
 Students
 Has it improved the PBL “experience”?
 How much is it utilised?
 Any particular features/improvements?
Faculty of Health & Social Work
References
Docherty, C. Hoy, D. Topp, H. and Trinder, K. (2005) eLearning
techniques supporting problem based learning in clinical simulation.
International Journal of Medical Informatics, 74(7-8): 527-533.
Johnson, S.M. and Finucane, P.M. (2000) The emergence of problembased learning in medical education. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical
Practice, 6(3): 281-291.
Peninsula Medical School (2006) Undergraduate Prospectus 2007.
Plymouth: Peninsula Medical School.
Reynolds, F. (2003) Initial experiences of interprofessional problembased learning: A comparison of male and female students' views.
Journal of Interprofessional Care, 17(1): 35-44.
Salmon, G. (2002) E-tivities: The key to active online learning.
London: RoutledgeFalmer.
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