Student use of interactive whiteboards in problem-based learning

1. Technology in Medical Education Keele University Student use of interactive whiteboards in problem-based learning Stephen Bostock, Paula Roberts Lindsay Bashford, Mike Mahon contact: s.j.bostock@keele.ac.uk The PBL process in medicine Groups of 8-12 students, with a staff facilitator and a rotating student chair and scribe, have 3 one-hour meetings per case, each week. The process is structured in activities. In each session, working on the case text: 1. Unknown words are identified 2. Cues (clues in the case) are identified, of three types 3. Links are made between cues, and their explanations 4. Learning objectives are listed, questions to answer for the next meeting. In later sessions of the case, the underlying biology is reviewed and shared. First try: semester 1, 2004-5 Students would create a shared, electronic, editable record of the PBL activities. Two year 1 groups and two year 2 groups used a Promethean Activboard Interactive Whiteboard (IAW) (i.e. a digital whiteboard) with its ActivStudio flipchart software. The facilitators converted flipchart files to Office formats and emailed them to students after each session. Evaluation was by a questionnaire to groups with and without the IAW, plus observations of groups. • Second try: semester 2, 2004-5 • To save time re-writing much of the case texts, they were put onto PowerPoint 2003 slides, for cues to be highlighted and linked. • Blank slides act as digital flipcharts for writing/typing notes, sharing URLs, and pasting objects from the Web. • PowerPoint files were distributed from a Web space, password- protected for each group, mapped as a folder on the PC. Example PowerPoint screens Example interactive whiteboard screens The problem as we saw it • Students recorded their activities on whiteboards that were then cleaned. • Occasionally they used a flipchart but communication within the groups between sessions was a problem. • Rewriting large amounts of the case took time. Links to foldersof PowerPointfiles • Semester 2 student evaluations: PowerPoint and the IAW are helpful … • “A lot better now using Powerpoint. Easy to read and quick to use Interactive whiteboard” • Helps group process, saves time, notes are more readable • Remote access to a permanent copy • Ease of use • Continuity between sessions • Web access during session# PowerPoint and the IAW are unhelpful .… • Slower “Takes too long to work with” • Handwriting, drawing is difficult “Difficult to draw diagrams”; “much cleaner if typed out” • Technical problems, crashes “System occasionally crashed” • Need more training Example whiteboards • Conclusions from 2004-5 • PowerPoint 2003 is easier to use than IAW software • Web distribution is simpler and more reliable than emailing files • Having the case texts to annotate saves time • Students use it to create a good, shared set of notes – oriented to assessment – rather than recording the PBL process, as we imagined. Third try: 2005-6 for all PBL groups PowerPoint 2003 Annotations allows highlighting and mark-up to be added, and notes and references. Students prefer typing notes to handwriting on the IAW, so the method can be used on networked PCs with projectors in all the PBL meeting rooms - without interactive whiteboards. Each PBL group will have a private web space where their working copy of each case is stored. PowerPoint 2003 training will be done at start of semester. • Semester 1 student evaluations • First year students liked the IAW, the second years did not (they already had an established working method). • The IAW was helpful in some ways to some students: Distributing notes “Allowed everyone in the group to have a copy of the same notes.” • The visual quality “Nice, neat, readable notes.” • Unhelpful in others: • Unreliable “Crashes a lot.” • Slow “Too time consuming, slowed down our work.” • Visual clarity “sometimes couldn't read hand writing” From a way to capture PBL activity, the project evolved into a way for PBL groups to create an accessible, shared, private resource for each case – supporting students’ needs.