Supporting traditional PBL with online discussion forums

TY - JOUR

T1 - Supporting traditional PBL with online discussion forums

T2 - A study from Qassim Medical School

A1 - Alamro,Ahmad S.

A1 - Schofield,Susie

AU - Alamro,Ahmad S.

AU - Schofield,Susie

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - <p>Background: The Qassim Medical School first year curriculum includes a 5-week problem-based learning (PBL) block. Student evaluation has highlighted inadequate feedback and lack of student-student and student-tutor interactions. An online intervention may alleviate this.</p><p>Methodology: For each problem, a discussion forum (DF) was created with 14 threads (one for each group) in virtual PBL rooms. Students' and tutors' perceived satisfaction of the intervention was evaluated and types of posts were classified.</p><p>Results: By the end of the block, all academic staff involved and 123 students (95%) had participated in the DFs. There were around 2800 posts and 28,500 views. All 14 tutors and 102 (78%) students completed the online questionnaire. Of the students, 66 (76%) male and 36 (92%) female students responded. Overall, both students and tutors perceived the intervention positively. Posts included: reforming and finalizing learning objectives, posting the concept map constructed in the face-to-face session and questioning, encouraging and motivating each other. In addition, posts included tutors' feedback and redirection.</p><p>Conclusions: Blending e-learning with conventional PBL may help overcome student-perceived shortcomings of conventional PBL and improve the learning experience, making learning more interactive and interesting.</p>

AB - <p>Background: The Qassim Medical School first year curriculum includes a 5-week problem-based learning (PBL) block. Student evaluation has highlighted inadequate feedback and lack of student-student and student-tutor interactions. An online intervention may alleviate this.</p><p>Methodology: For each problem, a discussion forum (DF) was created with 14 threads (one for each group) in virtual PBL rooms. Students' and tutors' perceived satisfaction of the intervention was evaluated and types of posts were classified.</p><p>Results: By the end of the block, all academic staff involved and 123 students (95%) had participated in the DFs. There were around 2800 posts and 28,500 views. All 14 tutors and 102 (78%) students completed the online questionnaire. Of the students, 66 (76%) male and 36 (92%) female students responded. Overall, both students and tutors perceived the intervention positively. Posts included: reforming and finalizing learning objectives, posting the concept map constructed in the face-to-face session and questioning, encouraging and motivating each other. In addition, posts included tutors' feedback and redirection.</p><p>Conclusions: Blending e-learning with conventional PBL may help overcome student-perceived shortcomings of conventional PBL and improve the learning experience, making learning more interactive and interesting.</p>

U2 - 10.3109/0142159X.2012.656751

DO - 10.3109/0142159X.2012.656751

M1 - Article

JO - Medical Teacher

JF - Medical Teacher

SN - 0142-159X

VL - 34

SP - S20-S24

ER -