Deriving and Validating an Instrument for Assessing Students' Perspectives on a Completely Digital Problem-based Learning Curriculum during COVID-19

10.6145/jme.202012_24(4).0002

Chia-Ter Chao；Chao-Chi Ho；Wei-Chung Hsu；Jeng-Yi Shieh；Huey-Ling Chen；Chiun Hsu；Yen-Lin Chiu；Mong-Wei Lin

coronavirus disease 2019 ； COVID-19 ； digital problem-based learning ； medical students ； online education ； problem-based learning

Journal of Medical Education

24卷4期（2020 / 12 / 01）

183 - 194

英文

Purpose: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has triggered global lockdowns and social distancing mandates. Traditional problem-based learning (PBL) could be potentially compromised. Completely digitalized PBL curricula could be adapted into or even replace traditional ones. This study investigated whether students' perspectives about PBL confidence changed during digital PBL implementation and aimed to derive and validate an instrument for measuring confidence in PBL curricula. Methods: A completely digital PBL small-group discussion program panel was established in National Taiwan University College of Medicine in March 2020 to replace the traditional PBL course for medical students as an immediate response to COVID-19. The first phase comprised developing and validating an adapted questionnaire assessing students' confidence in different PBL indicators, implementing the first digital PBL course, and administering questionnaires regarding traditional PBL and first digital PBL. The second phase comprised repeated digital PBL practices and another survey on digital PBL. Students' perspectives before and after implementation of digital PBL, and comparisons of first exposure and subsequent repeated practice phases were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis and repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: Data were collected from 110 medical and 2 pharmacy students. The derived novel PBL confidence questionnaire (＂DigPBL questionnaire＂) included 5 and 6 items for the ＂Team dynamics＂ and ＂Facilitator competence＂ dimensions, respectively. Initial exposure to a completely digital PBL curriculum significantly attenuated students' confidence in the PBL program compared to traditional PBL. The subsequent repeated digital PBL practice significantly reversed the confidence decline as shown by improvement of the two dimensions. Conclusions: Team dynamics and facilitator competence influenced medical students' digital PBL-related confidence. Repeated digital PBL practice significantly alleviated the negative aspects of the initial phase of digital PBL curricula implementation.

1. Tsai, SL,Tseng, FY,Chu, TS(2017).Cultural considerations of reform and evolution of medical education.J Med Educ,21(4),137-147.
   連結：
2. Alkhowailed, MS,Rasheed, Z,Shariq, A(2020).Digitalization plan in medical education during COVID-19 lockdown.Inform Med Unlocked,2020(20),100432.
3. Capon, N,Kuhn, D(2004).What’s so good about problem-based learning?.Cognit Instr,22(1),61-79.
4. Chen, CM,Jyan, HW,Chien, SC(2020).Containing COVID-19 among 627,386 persons in contact with the diamond princess cruise ship passengers who disembarked in Taiwan: Big data analytics.J Med Internet Res,22(5),e19540.
5. Collier, AD(2018).Characteristics of an eff ective nursing clinical instructor: The state of the science.J Clin Nurs,27(1-2),363-374.
6. Currie, K,Biggam, J,Palmer, J(2012).Participants’ engagement with and reactions to the use of online action learning sets to support advanced nursing role development.Nurs Educ Today,32(3),267-272.
7. Dochy, F,Segers, M,Van den Bossche, P(2003).Effects of problem-based learning: A metaanalysis.Learn Instr,13(5),533-568.
8. Fatima, SS,Ghias, K,Jabeen, K(2019).Enhancing cognitive engagement of pre-clinical undergraduate medical students via video cases and interactive quizzes in problem-based learning.Cureus,2019(11),e3832.
9. Grasl, MC,Kremser, K,Breckwoldt, J(2020).Does the tutors’ academic background influence the learning objectives in problem-based learning?.GMS J Med Educ,37(1),Doc8.
10. Hair, JF,Black, WC,Babin, BJ.(2006).Multivariate Data Analysis.NJ:Prentice Hall.
11. Jin, J,Bridges, SM(2014).Educational technologies in problem-based learning in health sciences education: A systematic review.J Med Internet Res,16(12),e251.
12. Khamees, D,Brown, CA,Arribas, M(2020).In crisis: Medical students in the COVID-19 pandemic.AEM Educ Training,4(3),284-290.
13. Leung, KK,Lee, MB,Lue, BH(2001).The implementation of problem-based learning at National Taiwan University College of Medicine.J Med Educ,5(4),273-280.
14. McLean, M(2003).What can we learn from facilitator and student perceptions of facilitation skills and roles in the fi rst year of a problem-based learning curriculum?.BMC Med Educ,3(1),9.
15. Norman, GR,Schmidt, HG(1992).The psychological basis of problem-based learning: A review of the evidence.Acad Med,67(9),557-565.
16. Pathipati, AS,Azad, TD,Jethwani, K(2016).Telemedical education: Training digital natives in telemedicine.J Med Internet Res,18(7),e193.
17. Peterson, MW,Rowat, J,Kreiter, C(2004).Medical students’ use of information resources: Is the digital age dawning?.Acad Med,79(1),89-95.
18. Radmacher, SA,Martin, DJ(2001).Identifying significant predictors of student evaluations of faculty through hierarchical regression analysis.J Psychol,135(3),259-268.
19. Seymour-Walsh, AE,Weber, A(2020).Pedagogical foundations to online lectures in health professions education.Rural Remote Health,20(2),6038.
20. Simpson, A,Reynolds, L,Light, I(2008).Talking with the experts: Evaluation of an online discussion forum involving mental health service users in the education of mental health nursing students.Nurs Educ Today,28(5),633-640.
21. Slattery, J,Douglas, J(2014).An exploration of novice and experienced problem-based learning facilitators’ perceptions of their roles in a speech-language pathology programme. Does experience matter?.Clin Linguist Phonet,28(1-2),24-35.
22. Tierney, MJ,Pageler, NM,Kahana, M(2013).Medical education in the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) era: Benefits, challenges, and future directions.Acad Med,88(6),748-752.
23. Tudor, Car L,Kyaw, BM,Dunleavy, G(2019).Digital problem-based learning in health professions: Systematic review and meta-analysis by the digital health education collaboration.J Med Internet Res,21(2),e12945.
24. Wilder, S(2015).Impact of problem-based learning on academic achievement in high school: A systematic review.Educ Rev,67(4),414-435.
25. Yew, EHJ,Goh, K(2016).Problem-based learning: An overview of its process and impact on learning.Health Profession Educ,2(2),75-79.
26. Yew, EHJ,Schmidt, HG(2009).Evidence for constructive, self-regulatory, and collaborative processes in problem-based learning.Adv Health Sci Educ,14(2),251-273.

1. Huey-Ling Chen;Hsin-Hsi Chen(2023)。Have You Chatted Today? - Medical Education Surfing with Artificial Intelligence。Journal of Medical Education。27(1)。1-4。