Book Chapters by Annalisa Manca
About the book:
The use of social media around the world has exploded in recent years, with the ... more About the book:
The use of social media around the world has exploded in recent years, with the number of monthly active users of Facebook and Twitter estimated to be one billion and one quarter billion, respectively. Physicians and medical trainees are among the users of social media, raising questions of how Facebook, Twitter, and other novel online tools may best be harnessed to further medical research, patient care, and educational pursuits. Because social media enables an immediate exchange of information and ideas around shared areas of interest, it has fostered communication and collaboration among a global network of researchers, clinicians, patients, and learners. Social Media in Medicine reviews a range of topics, from research ethics to medical education, and includes personal reflections by clinicians and learners that represent diverse opinions about the role of social media in medicine. The book is relevant to all healthcare stakeholders and will hopefully encourage ideas and questions to generate more research into the use of social media in medical research, patient care, and education. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Review of Psychiatry.
Leading Issues in Social Media Research., 2015
There is increasing interest in employing social media tools for educational purposes, but few ma... more There is increasing interest in employing social media tools for educational purposes, but few mature frameworks exist within Higher Education contexts. We present a case study discussing the pedagogic implications of using the social media tool Twitter to facilitate a learning activity as part of a public health theme of the undergraduate medical programme at The University of Dundee - #fluscenario. Whilst adopting Twitter to support novel learning activities led to a rich communication process and co-creation of knowledge, students themselves did not recognise this. Furthermore students viewed these learning activities as gimmicky and did not appreciate the wider affordances of Twitter in supporting networked learning. We argue that designing good educational activities is not always a “constructive” activity but sometimes we need to “deconstruct” what already exists in order to make sense of it. We will use Albert Bandura’s social learning theory concepts and self-efficacy notion to analyse this case-study and discuss how a sound educational design can enhance self-efficacy. We will also consider "cognitive load", which is increased exponentially in an online activity as students not only have to deal with the learning content, but also with “satellite” elements such as online professionalism, digital literacy, learning a new tool and new communication system. Through our reflections educators can determine common educational uses and affordances, assess the educational value of the use of technology and social media in teaching, and identify the social and cognitive components they involve. Additional objectives are to identify learning design and scaffolding strategies that engage students and consider strategies to elucidate processes of learning in online social networks, which have a critical role in online approaches to learning.
Papers by Annalisa Manca
Academic Medicine, 2019
Purpose: To explore how the construct of critical consciousness has been conceptualized within ... more Purpose: To explore how the construct of critical consciousness has been conceptualized within the medical education literature and identify the main elements of critical consciousness in medical education so as to inform educational strategies to foster socially conscious physicians.
Method: In March 2019, the authors conducted a literature search of four databases and Google Scholar, seeking articles discussing critical consciousness in medical education published any time after 1970. Three of the authors screened articles for eligibility. Two transcribed data using a data extraction form and identified preliminary emerging themes, which were then discussed by the whole research team to ensure agreement.
Results: Of the initial 317 articles identified, 20 met study inclusion criteria. The publication of academic articles around critical consciousness in medical education has expanded substantially since 2017. Critical consciousness has been conceptualized in the medical education literature through four overlapping themes: (1) social awareness, (2) cultural awareness, (3) political awareness, and (4) awareness of educational dynamics.
Conclusions: Critical consciousness has been conceptualized in medical education as an intellectual construct to foster a reflexive awareness of professional power in health care, to unearth the values and biases legitimizing medicine as currently practiced, and to foster transformation and social accountability. Scholars highlighted its potential to improve socio-cultural responsibility and to foster compassion in doctors. Adopting a critical pedagogy approach in medical education can help uphold its social accountability through an intrinsic orientation to action, but any enterprise working towards embedding critical pedagogy within curricula must acknowledge and challenge the current structure and culture of medical education itself.
This literature review investigates how the impact of social media has been studied with regard t... more This literature review investigates how the impact of social media has been studied with regard to a broad range of higher education workplace practices, that extend beyond teaching and learning, into areas such as research, administration, professional development, and the development of shared academic cultures and practices. Our interest is in whether and how the educational research community, through its research and publication practices, promotes particular views of social media in education at the expense of others. A thematic analysis of a sample of recent (2010-17) research on social media in education finds the field influenced by perspectives, particularly the managerial, that are prominent in the institutionalized discourses around which HE is structured. These discourses are largely shaping practice in 21st century education, despite their lack of attention on how social media alter the processes of knowledge development within education, changing practice at deeper, institutional levels. We hypothesize that the implication of such research failing is that the academic community fails to reflectively and critically address how academic practices and the classroom itself are being shaped by certain “institutionalized” uses and conceptions of social media.
Aim
To explore and evaluate the affordances of a flipped classroom model applied to a research p... more Aim
To explore and evaluate the affordances of a flipped classroom model applied to a research paper session within the professional development opportunity of a large conference setting.
Method
Authors were invited to present their research papers in a flipped classroom presentation format at two large, multi-national conferences. Before the session, authors and moderators met online to clarify features of the session, and preparation of the material. The research material was then posted online before the conference, to allow access by meeting attendees. During the sessions, moderators encouraged the audience to actively participate. An evaluation form was collected from the audience at the end of each session.
Results
Participants found the session valuable, and appreciated the opportunity to engage in a meaningful dialogue with colleagues. However, the majority of the audience did not access the materials in advance. Lack of time, or technology-related issues were mentioned as potential challenges to such format.
Conclusion
In the context of a large conference, a ‘flipped session’ format can facilitate active learning and a participatory culture of inquiry. However, to change the nature of how individuals learn collaboratively at large conferences means a change in the culture of continuous professional learning.
Reflections on the affordances of the use of Open Data as Open Educational Resources for educatio... more Reflections on the affordances of the use of Open Data as Open Educational Resources for education to social cohesion within a critical pedagogy discourse.
Behavioural and social science (BSS) topics such as anthropology, psychology and sociology are cr... more Behavioural and social science (BSS) topics such as anthropology, psychology and sociology are crucial for modern medical practice, and in the UK are enshrined in the core curricula of undergraduate and post graduate medical teaching. Medical school assessment, including BSS topics, is increasingly tending towards a multiple choice format. The “best” assessment of BSS topics would be one that was valid, reliable, generalisable, feasible and fair, with demonstrable educational impact, but evidence is that such assessments are used is lacking. There are no reviews of assessment that relate to BSS subjects.
The research questions for this review will be:
- What methods are used to assess BSS curricula components within undergraduate medical education? (Descriptive)
- How and why are these methods selected? (Clarification)
- What are the validity, reliability, generalizability, feasibility and fairness of
these methods for assessment of BSS topics in medical education? (Justification).
Searching and data extraction will be done by two researchers, with 10% checked for agreement. The theoretical framework for analysis has not been determined in advance as it will be shaped by the papers that are found.
Free download here: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/bfiQgpmyxEFZxVevgUdi/full |
With the grow... more Free download here: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/bfiQgpmyxEFZxVevgUdi/full |
With the growth of social media use in both the private and public spheres, researchers are currently exploring the new opportunities and practices offered by these tools in the research lifecycle. This area is still in its infancy: as methodological approaches and methods are being tested – mainly through pragmatic and exploratory approaches – practices are being shaped and negotiated by the actors involved in research. A further element of complexity is added by the ambivalent status of social media within research activities. They can be both a tool – for recruitment, data collection, analysis – and data – as what constitutes the corpus to be analysed – both in an observational and interactive domain. This synthetic analysis of the literature is aimed at identifying how social media are currently being used in research and how they fit into the research lifecycle. We identify and discuss emerging evidence and trends in the adoption of social media in research, which can be used and applied by psychiatry research practitioners as a framework to inform the development of a personalized research network and social media strategy in research.
Conference Papers by Annalisa Manca
Annalisa Manca, Natalie T Lafferty, Evridiki Fioratou, Alisdair D Smithies, Eleanor J Hothersall
... more Annalisa Manca, Natalie T Lafferty, Evridiki Fioratou, Alisdair D Smithies, Eleanor J Hothersall
University of Dundee School of Medicine, Dundee, UK
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There is increasing interest in employing social media tools for educational purposes, but few mature frameworks exist within Higher Education contexts. We present a case study discussing the pedagogic implications of using the social media tool Twitter to facilitate a learning activity as part of a public health theme of the undergraduate medical programme at The University of Dundee - #fluscenario.
Whilst adopting Twitter to support novel learning activities led to a rich communication process and co-creation of knowledge, students themselves did not recognise this. Furthermore students viewed these learning activities as gimmicky and did not appreciate the wider affordances of Twitter in supporting networked learning.
We argue that designing good educational activities is not always a “constructive” activity but sometimes we need to “deconstruct” what already exists in order to make sense of it. We will use Albert Bandura’s social learning theory concepts and self-efficacy notion to analyse this case-study and discuss how a sound educational design can enhance self-efficacy. We will also consider "cognitive load", which is increased exponentially in an online activity as students not only have to deal with the learning content, but also with “satellite” elements such as online professionalism, digital literacy, learning a new tool and new communication system.
Through our reflections educators can determine common educational uses and affordances, assess the educational value of the use of technology and social media in teaching, and identify the social and cognitive components they involve. Additional objectives are to identify learning design and scaffolding strategies that engage students and consider strategies to elucidate processes of learning in online social networks, which have a critical role in online approaches to learning.
Keywords: higher education, Twitter, medical education, social learning theory, self-efficacy, learning design.
Shihab E Khogali, Alisdair D Smithies, Alison Gray, Annalisa Manca, Natalie T Lafferty
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Team-b... more Shihab E Khogali, Alisdair D Smithies, Alison Gray, Annalisa Manca, Natalie T Lafferty
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Team-based learning (TBL) provides opportunities for application of knowledge and problem-solving. The TBL strategy incorporates structured individual and teamwork activities and multiple small groups in a single classroom setting. Students are required to prepare individually before attending in-class sessions during which they take an individual readiness assurance test (iRAT) followed by team readiness assurance test (tRAT), based on the same set of questions. The TBL process culminates in student teams engaging in face-to-face problem-solving activities.
Traditionally, iRAT responses may be captured by clickers or on paper processed by optical-mark-reader systems, which can be difficult to process for a large class size. This paper describes a case study, in which mobile online assessment technology was successfully applied to support automated capture and processing of iRAT responses during TBL. An open-source online learning platform, Moodle (version 2.6), was accessed by students in a state-of-the art lecture theatre with WiFi provisioning for 900 simultaneous connections, to deliver iRATs for 195 Year 3 medical students. During each TBL module, individual students were presented with a set of iRAT multiple-choice questions in-class and required to respond within ten minutes.
Students were asked to use their own devices (mobile or laptop) in-class to enter responses for iRAT questions. More than 95% of students were able to access the platform in-class without problems. With the assessments taking place at the beginning of an in-class session, the results can be compiled and presented to the facilitator whilst the student teams were discussing the questions to complete the tRAT. Individual students were unable to identify which questions they answered incorrectly before the teams completed the tRAT. Facilitators were able to use the information provided from the iRAT platform together with that from the tRAT to inform focused explanation of concepts, before student teams engage in the problem-solving activities of TBL. Moodle (version 2.6) fulfilled our functional requirements for an iRAT assessment platform during TBL, demonstrating usability, accessibility, validity and accuracy.
Keywords: Team-based learning, Formative Assessment, Open Source, Mobile Devices
Book Reviews by Annalisa Manca
Gavin Francis’ Adventures in Human Being is a compelling collection of essays that takes the read... more Gavin Francis’ Adventures in Human Being is a compelling collection of essays that takes the reader on a metaphorical journey through the human body from the point of view of a practising doctor. It is a mesmerizing and fascinating journey through the intertwined landscapes of the human body, layered with history, art and literature.
Drafts by Annalisa Manca
Reflections on the affordances of the use of Open Data as Open Educational Resources for educatio... more Reflections on the affordances of the use of Open Data as Open Educational Resources for education to social cohesion within a critical pedagogy discourse.
This work will be published by the journal Tecnologie Didattiche: http://www.tdjournal.itd.cnr.it/about/submissions#copyrightNotice
Uploads
Book Chapters by Annalisa Manca
The use of social media around the world has exploded in recent years, with the number of monthly active users of Facebook and Twitter estimated to be one billion and one quarter billion, respectively. Physicians and medical trainees are among the users of social media, raising questions of how Facebook, Twitter, and other novel online tools may best be harnessed to further medical research, patient care, and educational pursuits. Because social media enables an immediate exchange of information and ideas around shared areas of interest, it has fostered communication and collaboration among a global network of researchers, clinicians, patients, and learners. Social Media in Medicine reviews a range of topics, from research ethics to medical education, and includes personal reflections by clinicians and learners that represent diverse opinions about the role of social media in medicine. The book is relevant to all healthcare stakeholders and will hopefully encourage ideas and questions to generate more research into the use of social media in medical research, patient care, and education. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Review of Psychiatry.
Papers by Annalisa Manca
Method: In March 2019, the authors conducted a literature search of four databases and Google Scholar, seeking articles discussing critical consciousness in medical education published any time after 1970. Three of the authors screened articles for eligibility. Two transcribed data using a data extraction form and identified preliminary emerging themes, which were then discussed by the whole research team to ensure agreement.
Results: Of the initial 317 articles identified, 20 met study inclusion criteria. The publication of academic articles around critical consciousness in medical education has expanded substantially since 2017. Critical consciousness has been conceptualized in the medical education literature through four overlapping themes: (1) social awareness, (2) cultural awareness, (3) political awareness, and (4) awareness of educational dynamics.
Conclusions: Critical consciousness has been conceptualized in medical education as an intellectual construct to foster a reflexive awareness of professional power in health care, to unearth the values and biases legitimizing medicine as currently practiced, and to foster transformation and social accountability. Scholars highlighted its potential to improve socio-cultural responsibility and to foster compassion in doctors. Adopting a critical pedagogy approach in medical education can help uphold its social accountability through an intrinsic orientation to action, but any enterprise working towards embedding critical pedagogy within curricula must acknowledge and challenge the current structure and culture of medical education itself.
To explore and evaluate the affordances of a flipped classroom model applied to a research paper session within the professional development opportunity of a large conference setting.
Method
Authors were invited to present their research papers in a flipped classroom presentation format at two large, multi-national conferences. Before the session, authors and moderators met online to clarify features of the session, and preparation of the material. The research material was then posted online before the conference, to allow access by meeting attendees. During the sessions, moderators encouraged the audience to actively participate. An evaluation form was collected from the audience at the end of each session.
Results
Participants found the session valuable, and appreciated the opportunity to engage in a meaningful dialogue with colleagues. However, the majority of the audience did not access the materials in advance. Lack of time, or technology-related issues were mentioned as potential challenges to such format.
Conclusion
In the context of a large conference, a ‘flipped session’ format can facilitate active learning and a participatory culture of inquiry. However, to change the nature of how individuals learn collaboratively at large conferences means a change in the culture of continuous professional learning.
The research questions for this review will be:
- What methods are used to assess BSS curricula components within undergraduate medical education? (Descriptive)
- How and why are these methods selected? (Clarification)
- What are the validity, reliability, generalizability, feasibility and fairness of
these methods for assessment of BSS topics in medical education? (Justification).
Searching and data extraction will be done by two researchers, with 10% checked for agreement. The theoretical framework for analysis has not been determined in advance as it will be shaped by the papers that are found.
With the growth of social media use in both the private and public spheres, researchers are currently exploring the new opportunities and practices offered by these tools in the research lifecycle. This area is still in its infancy: as methodological approaches and methods are being tested – mainly through pragmatic and exploratory approaches – practices are being shaped and negotiated by the actors involved in research. A further element of complexity is added by the ambivalent status of social media within research activities. They can be both a tool – for recruitment, data collection, analysis – and data – as what constitutes the corpus to be analysed – both in an observational and interactive domain. This synthetic analysis of the literature is aimed at identifying how social media are currently being used in research and how they fit into the research lifecycle. We identify and discuss emerging evidence and trends in the adoption of social media in research, which can be used and applied by psychiatry research practitioners as a framework to inform the development of a personalized research network and social media strategy in research.
Conference Papers by Annalisa Manca
University of Dundee School of Medicine, Dundee, UK
-
There is increasing interest in employing social media tools for educational purposes, but few mature frameworks exist within Higher Education contexts. We present a case study discussing the pedagogic implications of using the social media tool Twitter to facilitate a learning activity as part of a public health theme of the undergraduate medical programme at The University of Dundee - #fluscenario.
Whilst adopting Twitter to support novel learning activities led to a rich communication process and co-creation of knowledge, students themselves did not recognise this. Furthermore students viewed these learning activities as gimmicky and did not appreciate the wider affordances of Twitter in supporting networked learning.
We argue that designing good educational activities is not always a “constructive” activity but sometimes we need to “deconstruct” what already exists in order to make sense of it. We will use Albert Bandura’s social learning theory concepts and self-efficacy notion to analyse this case-study and discuss how a sound educational design can enhance self-efficacy. We will also consider "cognitive load", which is increased exponentially in an online activity as students not only have to deal with the learning content, but also with “satellite” elements such as online professionalism, digital literacy, learning a new tool and new communication system.
Through our reflections educators can determine common educational uses and affordances, assess the educational value of the use of technology and social media in teaching, and identify the social and cognitive components they involve. Additional objectives are to identify learning design and scaffolding strategies that engage students and consider strategies to elucidate processes of learning in online social networks, which have a critical role in online approaches to learning.
Keywords: higher education, Twitter, medical education, social learning theory, self-efficacy, learning design.
-
Team-based learning (TBL) provides opportunities for application of knowledge and problem-solving. The TBL strategy incorporates structured individual and teamwork activities and multiple small groups in a single classroom setting. Students are required to prepare individually before attending in-class sessions during which they take an individual readiness assurance test (iRAT) followed by team readiness assurance test (tRAT), based on the same set of questions. The TBL process culminates in student teams engaging in face-to-face problem-solving activities.
Traditionally, iRAT responses may be captured by clickers or on paper processed by optical-mark-reader systems, which can be difficult to process for a large class size. This paper describes a case study, in which mobile online assessment technology was successfully applied to support automated capture and processing of iRAT responses during TBL. An open-source online learning platform, Moodle (version 2.6), was accessed by students in a state-of-the art lecture theatre with WiFi provisioning for 900 simultaneous connections, to deliver iRATs for 195 Year 3 medical students. During each TBL module, individual students were presented with a set of iRAT multiple-choice questions in-class and required to respond within ten minutes.
Students were asked to use their own devices (mobile or laptop) in-class to enter responses for iRAT questions. More than 95% of students were able to access the platform in-class without problems. With the assessments taking place at the beginning of an in-class session, the results can be compiled and presented to the facilitator whilst the student teams were discussing the questions to complete the tRAT. Individual students were unable to identify which questions they answered incorrectly before the teams completed the tRAT. Facilitators were able to use the information provided from the iRAT platform together with that from the tRAT to inform focused explanation of concepts, before student teams engage in the problem-solving activities of TBL. Moodle (version 2.6) fulfilled our functional requirements for an iRAT assessment platform during TBL, demonstrating usability, accessibility, validity and accuracy.
Keywords: Team-based learning, Formative Assessment, Open Source, Mobile Devices
Book Reviews by Annalisa Manca
Drafts by Annalisa Manca
This work will be published by the journal Tecnologie Didattiche: http://www.tdjournal.itd.cnr.it/about/submissions#copyrightNotice
The use of social media around the world has exploded in recent years, with the number of monthly active users of Facebook and Twitter estimated to be one billion and one quarter billion, respectively. Physicians and medical trainees are among the users of social media, raising questions of how Facebook, Twitter, and other novel online tools may best be harnessed to further medical research, patient care, and educational pursuits. Because social media enables an immediate exchange of information and ideas around shared areas of interest, it has fostered communication and collaboration among a global network of researchers, clinicians, patients, and learners. Social Media in Medicine reviews a range of topics, from research ethics to medical education, and includes personal reflections by clinicians and learners that represent diverse opinions about the role of social media in medicine. The book is relevant to all healthcare stakeholders and will hopefully encourage ideas and questions to generate more research into the use of social media in medical research, patient care, and education. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Review of Psychiatry.
Method: In March 2019, the authors conducted a literature search of four databases and Google Scholar, seeking articles discussing critical consciousness in medical education published any time after 1970. Three of the authors screened articles for eligibility. Two transcribed data using a data extraction form and identified preliminary emerging themes, which were then discussed by the whole research team to ensure agreement.
Results: Of the initial 317 articles identified, 20 met study inclusion criteria. The publication of academic articles around critical consciousness in medical education has expanded substantially since 2017. Critical consciousness has been conceptualized in the medical education literature through four overlapping themes: (1) social awareness, (2) cultural awareness, (3) political awareness, and (4) awareness of educational dynamics.
Conclusions: Critical consciousness has been conceptualized in medical education as an intellectual construct to foster a reflexive awareness of professional power in health care, to unearth the values and biases legitimizing medicine as currently practiced, and to foster transformation and social accountability. Scholars highlighted its potential to improve socio-cultural responsibility and to foster compassion in doctors. Adopting a critical pedagogy approach in medical education can help uphold its social accountability through an intrinsic orientation to action, but any enterprise working towards embedding critical pedagogy within curricula must acknowledge and challenge the current structure and culture of medical education itself.
To explore and evaluate the affordances of a flipped classroom model applied to a research paper session within the professional development opportunity of a large conference setting.
Method
Authors were invited to present their research papers in a flipped classroom presentation format at two large, multi-national conferences. Before the session, authors and moderators met online to clarify features of the session, and preparation of the material. The research material was then posted online before the conference, to allow access by meeting attendees. During the sessions, moderators encouraged the audience to actively participate. An evaluation form was collected from the audience at the end of each session.
Results
Participants found the session valuable, and appreciated the opportunity to engage in a meaningful dialogue with colleagues. However, the majority of the audience did not access the materials in advance. Lack of time, or technology-related issues were mentioned as potential challenges to such format.
Conclusion
In the context of a large conference, a ‘flipped session’ format can facilitate active learning and a participatory culture of inquiry. However, to change the nature of how individuals learn collaboratively at large conferences means a change in the culture of continuous professional learning.
The research questions for this review will be:
- What methods are used to assess BSS curricula components within undergraduate medical education? (Descriptive)
- How and why are these methods selected? (Clarification)
- What are the validity, reliability, generalizability, feasibility and fairness of
these methods for assessment of BSS topics in medical education? (Justification).
Searching and data extraction will be done by two researchers, with 10% checked for agreement. The theoretical framework for analysis has not been determined in advance as it will be shaped by the papers that are found.
With the growth of social media use in both the private and public spheres, researchers are currently exploring the new opportunities and practices offered by these tools in the research lifecycle. This area is still in its infancy: as methodological approaches and methods are being tested – mainly through pragmatic and exploratory approaches – practices are being shaped and negotiated by the actors involved in research. A further element of complexity is added by the ambivalent status of social media within research activities. They can be both a tool – for recruitment, data collection, analysis – and data – as what constitutes the corpus to be analysed – both in an observational and interactive domain. This synthetic analysis of the literature is aimed at identifying how social media are currently being used in research and how they fit into the research lifecycle. We identify and discuss emerging evidence and trends in the adoption of social media in research, which can be used and applied by psychiatry research practitioners as a framework to inform the development of a personalized research network and social media strategy in research.
University of Dundee School of Medicine, Dundee, UK
-
There is increasing interest in employing social media tools for educational purposes, but few mature frameworks exist within Higher Education contexts. We present a case study discussing the pedagogic implications of using the social media tool Twitter to facilitate a learning activity as part of a public health theme of the undergraduate medical programme at The University of Dundee - #fluscenario.
Whilst adopting Twitter to support novel learning activities led to a rich communication process and co-creation of knowledge, students themselves did not recognise this. Furthermore students viewed these learning activities as gimmicky and did not appreciate the wider affordances of Twitter in supporting networked learning.
We argue that designing good educational activities is not always a “constructive” activity but sometimes we need to “deconstruct” what already exists in order to make sense of it. We will use Albert Bandura’s social learning theory concepts and self-efficacy notion to analyse this case-study and discuss how a sound educational design can enhance self-efficacy. We will also consider "cognitive load", which is increased exponentially in an online activity as students not only have to deal with the learning content, but also with “satellite” elements such as online professionalism, digital literacy, learning a new tool and new communication system.
Through our reflections educators can determine common educational uses and affordances, assess the educational value of the use of technology and social media in teaching, and identify the social and cognitive components they involve. Additional objectives are to identify learning design and scaffolding strategies that engage students and consider strategies to elucidate processes of learning in online social networks, which have a critical role in online approaches to learning.
Keywords: higher education, Twitter, medical education, social learning theory, self-efficacy, learning design.
-
Team-based learning (TBL) provides opportunities for application of knowledge and problem-solving. The TBL strategy incorporates structured individual and teamwork activities and multiple small groups in a single classroom setting. Students are required to prepare individually before attending in-class sessions during which they take an individual readiness assurance test (iRAT) followed by team readiness assurance test (tRAT), based on the same set of questions. The TBL process culminates in student teams engaging in face-to-face problem-solving activities.
Traditionally, iRAT responses may be captured by clickers or on paper processed by optical-mark-reader systems, which can be difficult to process for a large class size. This paper describes a case study, in which mobile online assessment technology was successfully applied to support automated capture and processing of iRAT responses during TBL. An open-source online learning platform, Moodle (version 2.6), was accessed by students in a state-of-the art lecture theatre with WiFi provisioning for 900 simultaneous connections, to deliver iRATs for 195 Year 3 medical students. During each TBL module, individual students were presented with a set of iRAT multiple-choice questions in-class and required to respond within ten minutes.
Students were asked to use their own devices (mobile or laptop) in-class to enter responses for iRAT questions. More than 95% of students were able to access the platform in-class without problems. With the assessments taking place at the beginning of an in-class session, the results can be compiled and presented to the facilitator whilst the student teams were discussing the questions to complete the tRAT. Individual students were unable to identify which questions they answered incorrectly before the teams completed the tRAT. Facilitators were able to use the information provided from the iRAT platform together with that from the tRAT to inform focused explanation of concepts, before student teams engage in the problem-solving activities of TBL. Moodle (version 2.6) fulfilled our functional requirements for an iRAT assessment platform during TBL, demonstrating usability, accessibility, validity and accuracy.
Keywords: Team-based learning, Formative Assessment, Open Source, Mobile Devices
This work will be published by the journal Tecnologie Didattiche: http://www.tdjournal.itd.cnr.it/about/submissions#copyrightNotice