Problem-based Learning Scenarios Research Articles

Effectiveness of a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Scenario for Enhancing Academic Achievement of Energy Metabolism

This research investigated the effect of problem-based learning (PBL) for the topic of energy metabolism in a biochemistry course on the academic achievements of students studying in the healthcare field in a nursing department. The study had a one-group pre-test and post-test research design. The study group consisted of first-year students studying at the Department of Nursing in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Bulent Ecevit University (N = 210). The scenario, entitled “Emre’s Sports Life: Is It True or False? You Decide!” and consisting of five educational sessions was developed and implemented after taking into account the opinions of two biochemistry and pedagogical experts. The “Energy Metabolism Achievement Test” (EMAT) and a structured interview form were used as data collection tools. The content analysis of the EMAT post-test indicated that PBL increased students’ responses in the sound and partial understanding categories and the Wilcoxon signed rank test result revealed that there was a significant difference between EMAT pre- and post-test scores in favor of post-test scores (z = − 12.567, p < .05). In addition, content analysis of the structured interview indicated that the majority of students expressed positive opinions about the PBL approach, including that it was memorable, interesting, and related to daily life.

The use of gamification in the teaching of disease epidemics and pandemics.

With the launch of the teaching excellence framework, teaching in higher education (HE) is under greater scrutiny than ever before. Didactic lecture delivery is still a core element of many HE programmes but there is now a greater expectation for academics to incorporate alternative approaches into their practice to increase student engagement. These approaches may include a large array of techniques from group activities, problem-based learning, practical experience and mock scenarios to newly emerging approaches such as flipped learning practices and the use of gamification. These participatory forms of learning encourage students to become more absorbed within a topic that may otherwise be seen as rather ‘dry’ and reduce students engagement with, and therefore retention of, material. Here we use participatory-based teaching approaches in microbiology as an example to illustrate to University undergraduate students the potentially devastating effects that a disease can have on a population. The ‘threat’ that diseases may pose and the manner in which they may spread and/or evolve can be challenging to communicate, especially in relation to the timescales associated with these factors in the case of an epidemic or pandemic.

IT instruments for Problem Based Learning in Undergraduate Medical Education

Problem Based Learning (PBL) is one of the many alternative methods that can be used in medical education. There are different views about its advantages and limitations, but the added value of this method is well recognized. PBL helps students develop team working and collaboration. It is useful to have an IT solution to support the PBL process. The goal of this research was to identify a web application which would implement the facilities necessary for Problem Based Learning at the curriculum level;secure, providing a collaborative environment, availability and easy to use. A PBL scenario was developed and a demo for Problem Base Learning session was conducted. The participants were students enrolled in first year at Faculty of Medicine, andthe Problem Based Learning topic was biostatistics. We use Moodle as IT support for Problem Based Learning process. A Problem Based Learning session took place and it was a success. The students had no problem using the on-line interface and the general conclusion was that Moodle is a viable option to be used as support for PBL sessions. Moodle seems to be an appropriate Web 2.0 instrument to be used as support for Problem Based Learning. It is very important to recognize that Moodle is just a tool which facilitates learning but not a guarantee of the success. The success of the Problem Based Learning method in medical education is in the involvement of the students, in the skills of the facilitator and in the quality of the clinical scenario.Keywords: problem based learning; e-learning; Moodle

The Quality Lighting Teaching Kit: Inspiring our Society to be Part of the Solution to Light Pollution

As an outcome of the International Year of Light 2015, the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory’s Education and Public Outreach group has produced a Quality Lighting Teaching (QLT) Kit, The kits are designed around problem-based learning scenarios. The kit’s six activities allow students to address real lighting problems that relate to wildlife, sky glow, aging eyes, energy consumption, safety, and light trespass. The activities are optimized for 11-14 year olds but can be expanded to younger and older. Most of the activities can be done within in a few minutes during class or afterschool and as stations or as stand-alones. Everything you need for the six activities is included in the kit. Tutorial videos on how to do the activities can be found at www.noao.edu/education/qltkit.php. 90 out of 100 kits have been distributed to SPIE, OSA, CIE, IDA and the IAU in 32 countries.

Factors influencing student success on open-ended design problems

Open-ended design problems have become an important component in our educational landscape (Grubbs and Strimel in J STEM Teach Educ 50(1):77–90, 2015; Jonassen et al. in J Eng Educ 95:139–151, 2006; National Research Council in Education for life and work: developing transferable knowledge and skills in the 21st Century, National Academies Press, Washington, 2012; Strimel in Technol Eng Teach 73(7):8–18, 2014a). The ability of students to confront open-ended problem scenarios, think creatively, and produce novel designs have all been lauded as necessary skills for today’s twenty first century learners (Partnership for 21st Century Skills in P21 framework definitions, Author, Washington, 2016). This emphasis on open-ended design problems in problem-based learning scenarios has been tied to workforce and higher education preparation for students (National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council in STEM integration in K–12 education: status, prospects, and an agenda for research, National Academies Press, Washington, 2014; National Research Council in Engineering in K–12 education: understanding the status and improving the prospects, National Academies Press, Washington, 2009; Strimel in Technol Eng Teach 73(5):16–24, 2014b). However, little research has been conducted to identify the impact of potentially-influential factors on student success in such open-ended design scenarios. Therefore, the researchers examined data from 706 middle school students, working in small groups, as they completed an open-ended design challenge to determine the relationships between a variety of potentially-influential factors and student performance, as measured through adaptive comparative judgment. The analysis of the data revealed several relationships, significant and not significant, between identified variables and student success on open-ended design challenges.

IT instruments for Problem Based Learning in Undergraduate Medical Education

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Problem Based Learning (PBL) is one of the many alternative methods that can be used in medical education. There are different views about its advantages and limitation, but the added value of this method is well recognized. PBL helps students to develop team working and collaboration. It is useful to have an IT solution to support the PBL process.The goal of this research was to identify a web application which has implemented the facilities necessary for Problem Base Learning at the curriculum level: security, collaborative environment, availability, and easy to use. A PBL scenario was developed and a demo Problem Base Learning session had place. The participants were students enrolled in first year at Faculty of Medicine, and the Problem Base Learning topic was biostatistics.We use Moodle as IT support for Problem Based Learning process. A Problem Based Learning session took place and it was a success. The students had no problem using the on-line interface and the general conclusion was that Moodle is a viable option to be used as support for PBL sessions.Moodle seems to be an appropriate Web 2.0 instrument to be used as support for Problem Based Learning. It is very important to recognize that Moodle is just a tool which facilitates learning but it not guarantee of the success. The success of the Problem Based Learning method in medical education is in the involvement of the students, in the skills of the facilitator and in the quality of the clinical scenario.

Quality of Problem Based Learning Scenarios at College of Nursing in Egypt and KSA: Comparative Study

In PBL (problem based learning), the learning activity starts with a problem, which is a description of a set of phenomena or events in need of explanation in terms of an underlying process, mechanism or principle. Students analyze these problems in small groups. The task of the group of students is to explain the phenomena or events provided in the given problem. Quality of problems and the tutor performance are all important features of a problem based curriculum. The most dominant factor that affects the PBL process is the high quality of the problems presented to the students. High quality problems are crucial for successful learning in Problem Based Learning. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of PBL scenarios at Colleges of Nursing in Egypt and KSA. Material: descriptive analytic study design was conducted. The study sample consisted of 140 undergraduate nursing students in in and 74 from in . Questionnaire consisted of six factors derived from criteria of effective PBL problems. It covered an effective PBL scenario as a problem that: stimulates thinking, enhances analysis and reasoning (3 items), stimulates self-directed learning (3 items), leads to studying the intended contents (3 items), enhances interest in subject matter (3 items), is relevant to the future profession with realistic context (3 items) and matches the level of prior knowledge (3items). Results: This study revealed that strong positive correlation between learners’ opinions of the Overall rating Quality Problem and factors affecting quality of PBL scenarios and mean score of quality problem as perceived by studied groups reflects that all factors related to quality of PBL problems for Al Qassim nursing learners were higher than Port Said nursing learners. Also, the results reflects that Al Qassim learners have a highly agreed that the problem encourages consulting literature linked to block objectives compared to of the learners. In addition, both Port Said learners and Al Qassim the learners have a highly agreed that the problem shows clear linkage to the future profession. Conclusion and Recommendations: Based on the study findings, it recommended that regular problem revision and updating according to continuous health is care changes is a must, continuous investigating learner's opinion regarding quality of problem formulation, and considered when updating the problems. Implementation of orientation programmed for both learners and staff members about PBL approach and its effect on learner's skills and behavior in life.

Use of Problem Based Scenarios to Prepare Nursing Students to Address Quality Improvement in Health Care Unit: North West University Experience

Preparation for quality health care must begin in the basic education and should be integrated in the clinical education to be more meaningful. The aim of the study is to explore and describe the opinions of nursing students regarding the use of PBL scenario in addressing quality improvement in the health care unit; Problem based scenario was used to address quality improvement at unit level for the level 4 nursing students and followed collaborative assessment after placement in the clinical services for four weeks preparing for quality inspection. Sequential explorative mixed method was used. Purposive sampling was used to recruit the participants in the qualitative component and convenient sampling in quantitative strand. Ethical clearance was obtained from NWU ethics committee (Ethics No. NWU-00033-11-A9) and permission to conduct the study was obtained from North West Provincial Health Department. Themes that emerged from the interviews included: empowerment from Problem Based Learning (PBL) scenario and clinical project; preparedness to address quality improvement in clinical setting; contribution to the unit readiness for quality improvement; and strengthening of inter-institutional and interdisciplinary collaborations. PBL scenarios are very effective teaching quality improvement and in closing the theoretical and clinical learning gaps and collaboration in assessment of students benefit students.

Development and effects of the problem-based learning integrated with simulation education

T is a limit to provide clinical practice to improve the clinical performance of students in nursing education through simulation, which plays an important role in problem-based learning. The purpose of this study is to develop simulation education based on problem-based learning scenarios in order to verify the effect. Problem-based learning integrated with simulation education was to develop eight modules through a review of the literature; there were abdominal pain, stroke, hypoglycemia, urinary difficulty, trauma, mild dyspnea, arrhythmia and epilepsy. The participants were 32 nursing students who agree to participate in study. They had an orientation for 3 hours, and simulation education for 3 hours per each module, which lasted for 8 weeks. Pretest and post-tests were administered. The participants were asked to work in group, which consisted of 4 students. Understanding inter personal relationships, problem solving process, the nursing process self-confidence was measured immediately before applying simulation education. All students were female with an average age of 23.28 years. The interpersonal understanding the simulation after simulation education around the 41.84 points to 42.28 points higher education changes. Problem solving process before that was changed from 100.94 to 108.00 points higher scores after education. The nursing process self-confidence simulation education courses confidence around the 3.09 point to 3.78 points higher education changes after simulation. This study suggests extending the range of simulation education since there was improvement in inter personal understanding and problem solving process, there was increase of self-confidence in the nursing process from simulation training.

Nursing Graduates' Ability to Address Incivility: Kirkpatrick's Level-3 Evaluation

BackgroundAddressing incivility in nursing education has an important twofold purpose, to increase civility within the nursing education experience and to lay the groundwork for creating cultures of civility in professional nursing practice. Given the serious impact of incivility, it is imperative to prepare students to foster civility in their nursing practice upon graduation. MethodsIn a previous article, the authors described how a classroom-centered, problem-based learning (PBL) scenario, simulating a nurse-to-nurse uncivil encounter, was used to assess student learning according to Level 1 and Level 2 of Kirkpatrick's Model of Evaluation. This subsequent article presents the findings of a 10-month follow-up study based on Level 3 of Kirkpatrick's Model of Evaluation, describing how knowledge gained from the PBL scenario impacted the nursing practice of new graduates in their workplaces. ResultsThemes are presented regarding the new graduates' experiences with incivility in their nursing practice, how they transferred the PBL knowledge presented in the classroom to their nursing practice, how their behavior has changed since participating in the PBL scenario, and the barriers and benefits to using the PBL scenario knowledge in the practice setting. ConclusionsA classroom-centered PBL scenario was an effective teaching strategy for preparing new graduates to address nurse-to-nurse incivility in the practice setting.

Cost and value in healthcare professionals’ education: should we consider a monopsony model?

The education of healthcare professionals is expensive [1]. The world spends approximately 100 billion dollars annually on the education of its healthcare professionals [2]. In recent years there has been growing interest in researching ways in which more value could be gleaned from this spend on healthcare professionals' education. This might mean saving costs or achieving more and better output for a given cost. Research will be needed to work out how to this―however in the meantime education providers must make pragmatic decisions on where to spend their budgets and maximize their outcomes. Such providers may be as large as Ministries of Health or Education or as small as a single medical school. One way in which they could maximize their buying power is to consider the monopsony model. Monopsony is the market power exerted by buyers [3]. If there is a single large buyer and lots of small sellers, then a large buyer should be able to leverage its size to negotiate a better deal. The same phenomenon happens when buyers group together to form a consortium. In effect they form a single large buyer. So what might happen if medical schools formed consortia and decided to exert their resulting monopsony? If they were to so, then it is likely that they could use their collective power to ensure a better deal when purchasing a range of products such as e-learning resources, simulation equipment, assessment instruments, or problem-based learning scenarios. They could also ensure a better deal when accessing services such as faculty development programs or mentoring support tools. Many education providers have the potential to form monopsonies; however, there is limited evidence that they so, some evidence in fact points to the contrary. E-learning is one case in point. In the United Kingdom, a recent government paper cited the amount of duplication of e-learning resources [4]. The paper recommended that a register of all e-learning resources be set up. The paper suggested that local providers do not purchase or develop content where suitable material already exists and that sharing should be actively encouraged [4]. Savings could thus be achieved if education institutions behaved like a monopsony. Similar arguments could be made about purchase of simulation equipment. A national consortium of medical schools could use their collective bargaining power to enable themselves to bulk-buy simulation equipment at a lower cost per item. Simulation companies would win bigger contracts and also their cost of achieving the sale would be lower as they would not need individual sales people to contact individual schools. In the field of assessment instruments, some progress has been made in exploiting the potential of a monopsony. A number of universities have formed consortia to share their assessment material or to bulk-purchase such material [5]. This material might include multiple choice questions or objective structured clinical examination questions or any other type of assessment instrument. Institutions can share and co-purchase not just assessment questions, but the software that might host the questions, analyses them and even administer the test. The same principles could be applied to the purchase of problem-based learning scenarios; however, little progress has been made in this regard perhaps because such scenarios may constitute a large part of the curricula of new schools, and new schools may wish for their curricula to remain unique. A monopsony could also ensure a better deal when accessing services – such as faculty development programs. Currently there are 76 master's degrees in health professionals'education available worldwide [6]. A review of such programs found that they have much in common in terms of focus, content, and educational requirements and that their variations are mostly in organization and structure. This certainly suggests that schools might consider purchasing access to an existing program for their faculty―rather than inventing their own―depending on the online availability of the course or perhaps its geographic proximity to the school in question. If this is the current state of play with regard to using the power of a monopsony then clearly there is considerable progress to be made; however, perhaps the reasons for slow progress could be explored first. There are some clear barriers to this approach in healthcare professional education. In some territories there is competition among educational institutions and this competition may make co-operation impossible. Also some institutions may correctly feel that their institution is unique and that they cannot co-purchase with other institutions. These are reasonable objections; however, they are not insurmountable. University consortia could buy content in bulk and then allow individual schools to localize it ―thus getting the best of both worlds. There are undoubtedly downsides to the monopsony approach but perhaps we should make reasonable effort in this approach first before dismissing it.

Changing the face of coach education: using ethno-drama to depict lived realities

Background: Coaching holistically and viewing coaching as interdisciplinary, where different knowledges meet, interconnect and dissect, has increasingly gained recognition. In an effort to engage more effectively with this agenda and to educate coaches to meet the integrated, fluid nature of their work, Jones and Turner advocated a problem-based learning (PBL) approach to coach education. From a case-study example, the PBL approach was a general success, as proof emerged of a better appreciation by students of the inherent complexity of coaching, and of the many interrelated knowledges needed to excel at the activity. Despite such encouragement however, the presentation of static written scenarios, which could be revisited by the students as many times as they wanted in efforts to develop ‘preferred’ responses, lacked a degree of real-world credibility.Aims: In an effort to increase the sense of problematic authenticity to PBL scenarios, the purpose of this article was threefold. First, to make the case for ethno-drama as a bone fide means to engage sport coaches with their practice. Second, to document a process through which such a multi-layered, dynamic pedagogy was presented to post-graduate sport coaching students and third, to record and interpret the students' responses to the approach in terms of their learning experiences.Method: ethno-drama scenes were developed, produced and performed as part of a PBL module on the MSc (sport coaching) programme at Cardiff Metropolitan University (CMU), in collaboration with the Drama Department at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU). More specifically, a theatre director/educator from LJMU worked with student actors to dramatize sport coaching scenes developed and scripted in advance by the CMU teaching team. Following the performances, the coaching students (who witnessed the dramatization) participated in small discussion groups in order to develop preferred ‘solutions’ to the performed scenarios. Finally, an evaluation of the ethno-drama approach was carried out through three semi-structured focus group interviews.Results: Inductive procedures were used to carefully examine, categorise and analyse the results. The findings suggest that the approach was generally successful in producing realistic dramatized scenarios that not only intellectually engaged the students, but also stimulated thought and discussion amongst them regarding issues of ‘preferred practice’.Conclusion: Many further challenges exist in terms of the significance of using ethno-drama as a pedagogy to teach sport coaching. Nevertheless, we believe enough encouragement resulted from this project to merit further use, engagement and research into this potentially very innovative form of coach education.

Anatomy and physiology for nursing students: is problem-based learning effective?

This study investigated whether problem-based learning (PBL) was an effective strategy for nursing students learning anatomy and physiology. Anatomy and physiology are subject areas that have posed long standing difficulty for nursing students. Since anatomy and physiology underpin clinical decision making it is important that nursing students are able to understand and retain this knowledge and apply it to practice. Problem-based learning offers potential advantages for teaching anatomy and physiology as clinical cases can provide the impetus for student problem solving. This project trialled a simple PBL scenario and investigated students' response to the task of problem solving in a laboratory setting adapted to simulate a hospital ward. The study found students learn better, retain the knowledge and merge theory with simulated practice when a PBL teaching mode is used. While PBL was effective, blended, web based and hybrid PBL models warrant investigation.

Creating sustainable development change agents through problem‐based learning

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the issues involved in designing appropriate problems or scenarios suitable for sustainable development (SD) education, in the context of problem‐based learning (PBL) and experiential learning. Manchester's PBL approach to interdisciplinary Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has been well reported, for example, in papers at the Educating Engineers in Sustainable Development conference in 2008. This paper poses the question: to achieve transformational education, is design of student problems for ESD itself a wicked problem? The design process that has been used to generate ESD projects for one PBL unit is reflected upon, to share good practices and highlight points of ongoing contention.Design/methodology/approachWorking from the background to the original pilot project to develop an inter‐disciplinary course to heighten student skills in sustainability and change management, the paper looks at some of the theoretical approaches taken to the design of PBL scenarios and tries to place these in the context of education for SD.FindingsThe initial project found that using inter‐disciplinary, problem‐based approaches to embedding SD in the curriculum is not only practicable but also desirable. However, the approach to design of problem scenarios has to be adjusted to the nature of the “wickedness” of sustainability issues and be appropriate to the student cohort and institution.Research limitations/implicationsThe approaches are felt to be applicable to a much wider range of situations than is demonstrated in the paper but, clearly, the findings can only be grounded on the particular situation of the project.Originality/valueThe 2006 curriculum development action research project was intended to help other institutions to replicate the process but, much of the external attention since that time has focussed, inappropriately, on simply re‐using the scenarios that were described in the initial project rather than applying the design process that has been developed in order to devise new scenarios more appropriate to another course or institution.

Meeting the health and social needs of pregnant asylum seekers, midwifery students' perspectives: Part 1; dominant discourses and midwifery students

Current literature has indicated a concern about standards of maternity care experienced by pregnant women who are seeking asylum. As the next generation of midwives, it is important that students are educated in a way that prepares them to effectively care for these women. To understand how this can be achieved, it is important to explore what asylum seeking means to midwifery students. This article is the first of three parts and reports on one objective from a wider doctorate study. It identifies dominant discourses that influenced the perceptions of a group of midwifery students' about the pregnant asylum seeking woman. The study was designed from a social constructivist perspective, with contextual knowledge being constructed by groups of people, influenced by underpinning dominant discourses, depending on their social, cultural and historical positions in the world. In a United Kingdom University setting, during year two of a pre-registration midwifery programme, eleven midwifery students participated in the study. Two focus group interviews using a problem based learning scenario as a trigger for discussion were conducted. In addition, three students were individually interviewed to explore issues in more depth and two students' written reflections on practice were used to generate data. Following a critical discourse analysis, dominant discourses were identified which appeared to influence the way in which asylum seekers were perceived. The findings suggested an underpinning ideology around the asylum seeker being different and of a criminal persuasion. Although the pregnant woman seeking asylum was considered as deserving of care, the same discourses appeared to influence the way in which she was constructed. However, as the study progressed, through reading alternative sources of literature, some students appeared to question these discourses. These findings have implications for midwifery education in encouraging students to challenge negative discourses and construct positive perceptions of asylum seeking.

Using Problem-Based Learning Scenarios to Prepare Nursing Students to Address Incivility

IntroductionIncivility may be a problem for nursing students as they progress through their nursing education and enter the workplace. Nursing faculty are challenged to construct meaningful learning experiences to address the problem and consequences of incivility. MethodA problem-based learning scenario and Kirkpatrick's model for evaluation were used to address incivility and the “reality shock” between what students learn about the practice of nursing and the interactions they may experience in the workplace. ResultsStudents expressed a favorable reaction to the scenario and reported being better prepared to address incivility in the workplace. ConclusionsProblem-based learning scenarios are an effective teaching strategy for instructing nursing students on the topic of incivility.

The Use of Open-Ended Problem-Based Learning Scenarios in an Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Class: Evaluation of a Problem-Based Learning Course Across Three Years

Use of open-ended Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in biology classrooms has been limited by the difficulty in designing problem scenarios such that the content learned in a course can be predicted and controlled, the lack of familiarity of this method of instruction by faculty, and the difficulty in assessment. Here we present the results of a study in which we developed a team-based interdisciplinary course that combined the fields of biology and civil engineering across three years. We used PBL scenarios as the only learning tool, wrote the problem scenarios, and developed the means to assess these courses and the results of that assessment. Our data indicates that PBL changed students' perception of their learning in content knowledge and promoted a change in students' learning styles. Although no statistically significant improvement in problem-solving skills and critical thinking skills was observed, students reported substantial changes in their problem-based learning strategies and critical thinking skills.

Collaboration between infection control and occupational health in three continents: a success story with international impact.

Globalization has been accompanied by the rapid spread of infectious diseases, and further strain on working conditions for health workers globally. Post-SARS, Canadian occupational health and infection control researchers got together to study how to better protect health workers, and found that training was indeed perceived as key to a positive safety culture. This led to developing information and communication technology (ICT) tools. The research conducted also showed the need for better workplace inspections, so a workplace audit tool was also developed to supplement worker questionnaires and the ICT. When invited to join Ecuadorean colleagues to promote occupational health and infection control, these tools were collectively adapted and improved, including face-to-face as well as on-line problem-based learning scenarios. The South African government then invited the team to work with local colleagues to improve occupational health and infection control, resulting in an improved web-based health information system to track incidents, exposures, and occupational injury and diseases. As the H1N1 pandemic struck, the online infection control course was adapted and translated into Spanish, as was a novel skill-building learning tool that permits health workers to practice selecting personal protective equipment. This tool was originally developed in collaboration with the countries from the Caribbean region and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Research from these experiences led to strengthened focus on building capacity of health and safety committees, and new modules are thus being created, informed by that work.The products developed have been widely heralded as innovative and interactive, leading to their inclusion into “toolkits” used internationally. The tools used in Canada were substantially improved from the collaborative adaptation process for South and Central America and South Africa. This international collaboration between occupational health and infection control researchers led to the improvement of the research framework and development of tools, guidelines and information systems. Furthermore, the research and knowledge-transfer experience highlighted the value of partnership amongst Northern and Southern researchers in terms of sharing resources, experiences and knowledge.

An evaluation of implementing problem-based learning scenarios in an immersive virtual world

This paper will describe a project adopting a pedagogical approach that implemented and evaluated a problem-based learning project in an immersive virtual world. The project involved an iterative process of testing scenarios using student feedback to improve upon the scenarios.

PBL.2.0: Blended learning for an interactive, problem-based pedagogy

Context and setting In 2006, a standard learning management system (LMS) was adapted to support self-directed learning within an integrated, problembased learning (PBL) curriculum for undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Surgery students. Initially, PBL enquiry materials were archived on the LMS as digital learning objects for self-directed learning following the first tutorial. This asynchronous application did not support the increased need for synchronous accessing of in-house and open-access digital resources during face-to-face tutorials. Although the increased use of laptops in tutorials initially addressed this problem, it also contributed to some fragmentation of the group process. Curriculum developers sought a more group-oriented, technologically interactive solution. Why the idea was necessary Digital learning objects for PBL scenarios are increasingly used to stimulate student discussion, increase interest and engage ‘tech-savvy’ Net Generation learners. However, PBL facilitators and students reported that the increased use of individual laptops to access these digital resources led to some fragmentation of PBL discussions. Thus, we recognised the need to move from a digital repository approach towards an interactive blending of technology within face-to-face tutorials, but needed to establish how this progression might be supported and resourced. What was done In 2009, interactive whiteboards (IWBs) were introduced to small-group, problembased tutorials. The aims were: (i) to integrate learning technologies with face-to-face teaching to support group access to both in-house and openaccess digital resources, and (ii) to further enhance the group knowledge construction process through utilising the IWB features. Such features included enhanced visualisation and analysis facilitated by the IWB’s ability to display and manipulate digital objects, as well as to annotate, save and share images. Interactive whiteboards were installed in all PBL tutorial rooms and IT support was provided for all students and facilitators. Year 1 students (n = 55) received additional workshops and IWB support. The project evaluation strategy included the adoption of an interactional ethnographic methodology to analyse student engagement. Evaluation of results and impact The interactional ethnographic approach, which focused on classroom interaction (video) and learning artefacts, facilitated the exploration of knowledge construction both within specific contexts and over time. Analysis was based on 4 hours of learning activities undertaken by a Year 1 undergraduate PBL group (n = 8). This group was video-recorded on three occasions during the same week. These included the first tutorial (T1) with a facilitator, a self-directed learning discussion (directly following T1) without a facilitator, and a second tutorial (T2) with a facilitator. Event mapping focused on student engagement with digital materials. Corresponding talk was transcribed using Transana . Three key findings were: (i) the group accessed a range of in-house and open-access digital materials to support learning within and across all phases of a problem cycle; (ii) the use of learning objects and online resources within a problem cycle supported enquiry learning and the discursive shift in student talk from a stimulus for hypothesising in relatively lay terms in the first tutorial to evidence for making final hypotheses with greater control of medical discourse in the second tutorial, and (iii) the integration of faceto-face and virtual modalities through the use of an IWB within the tutorial was seamless and supported whole-group engagement in the problem process.