From: <abstracts@gsm

PANEL on CASES

Using a Digital Video PBL Case at Three Medical Schools: A Successful Collaboration

Carol S. Hodgson, PhD and Carol Kamin, EdD University of California, San Francisco and University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado, USA

ABSTRACT:

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been used in medical school education since 1969. It is used in dentistry and nursing education as well as in allied health education throughout the world. Although PBL has been used for more than 30 years, most PBL cases are still taught using paper-based cases. Other formats can be used, such as interviews with standardized patients and video-based cases, but these methods are rarely described in the medical literature. Although computer-based education and distance learning is becoming more common in professional education, it has not significantly changed the way that PBL is implemented in most professional schools in the US.

This electronic poster will demonstrate a digital video PBL case used at multiple institutions with varying levels of PBL integration and over different student levels. Faculty at the University of Colorado with funding from the Fund for the Improvement of Post-secondary Education (FIPSE) developed a CD-ROM/Web hybrid program that uses digital video PBL cases.1 The Project LIVE (Learning through Interactive Video) system was disseminated to six other medical schools to form a collaborative consortium after additional FIPSE funding was received. Here we will describe the implementation of one of the LIVE cases at three medical schools. The level of PBL integration, student level, and amount of IT support will be discussed.

The University of Hawaii (UH) is a "completed integrated" PBL school, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has a "transitional" PBL curriculum, while the University of Colorado (CU) uses a "single course approach" to PBL.2 The Alison case, a two-month-old infant with failure to thrive was implemented at each of these three schools. At both UH and UCSF, the Alison case was used with pre-clinical second-year medical students, while CU used the case with clinical students rotating through their third-year Pediatrics clerkship. Each school has varying levels of IT support.

Neither UH or UCSF used computer-based or video-based cases in their PBL small group curricula prior to the introduction of the LIVE cases. The addition of the LIVE cases created a need for IT support that had previously not been required. This necessitated a new collaboration with the computer-support offices of each campus to ensure that the appropriate equipment was available for classroom use of the case. UC implemented both face-to-face and virtual groups, which required other IT support, namely support of student computers to use the cases virtually.

The LIVE cases use web-based discussion forums for exchange of student-written learning issues. Web-based discussions of learning issues had already been implemented for the UCSF paper-based cases. The LIVE discussion forums were not used at UCSF so that students did not have to learn a new system to use the LIVE cases. This allowed the use of existing technology systems in place within the School.

We will demonstrate the three versions of the Alison case used at the three medical schools. Use of IT support, online discussion forums for exchange of learning issues, and advantages and disadvantages of using a case for different levels of students will be discussed.

1 Kamin, C, Deterding, R, & Lowry, M (2002). Students’ perceptions of a virtual PBL experience. Academic Medicine 77(11):1161-1162. 2 Saarinen-Rahiika, H & Binleky, JM. (1998). Problem-based learning in physical therapy; a review of the literature and overview of the McMaster University experience. Physical Therapy 78(2): 195-207.

BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SESSION:

Professional schools worldwide use problem-based learning (PBL) in their curricula. Although PBL has been used for more than 30 years, most PBL cases are still taught using paper-based cases. This electronic poster will demonstrate a digital video PBL case, which uses a CD-ROM/Web hybrid program to administer the case. Use of IT support, online discussion forums for exchange of learning issues, and advantages and disadvantages of using a case for different levels of students will be discussed.

Carol S. Hodgson, PhD

UCSF

521 Parnassus Ave., Room C-254

San Francisco, CA 94143-0410

Phone: 415-514-3204

Fax: 415-514-0468

mailto:hodgsonc@medsch.ucsf.edu

CO-AUTHORS:

Carol Kamin, EdD

Joshua L. Jacobs, MD

The Children's Hospital

1056 E. 19th Ave., B158