Moving from tangibility toward digitalization: investigating team dynamics and facilitator support among medical students in conventional and digital small-group tutorials.

BACKGROUND: Small group tutorials (SGT) promotes self-directed learning and is widely used in medical education. The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has accelerated the trend toward SGT digitalization, with unclear effect. We hypothesize that team dynamics and facilitator support influence SGT satisfaction in digital versus conventional SGT. METHODS: During the spring semester of year 2021, medical students (the second, third, and fourth year; n = 433) participating in conventional face-to-face and digital SGT curricula were enrolled. Participating students completed the collaborative learning attitude scale (including team dynamics, team acquaintance, and facilitator support dimensions) and teamwork satisfaction scale, previously validated for small-group collaborative learning, and chose preference between conventional or digital SGT in future curricula. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed to extract the essential structural factors of these scales. Paired t-tests were conducted to compare differences in different dimensions and satisfaction between the conventional and digital SGT settings. Two sets of multiple regression analyses were done; one with team satisfaction scale results and the other with preference for digital SGT as the dependent variable were used to evaluate determinants of these two variables. RESULTS: The EFA results revealed that the original collaborative learning attitude scale was concentrated on two dimensions: team dynamics and facilitator support. No significant differences were noted between the SGT settings for the two dimensions and teamwork satisfaction. Regression analyses showed that teamwork dynamics was independently correlated with teamwork satisfaction in both conventional and digital SGT. Facilitator support was positively correlated with teamwork satisfaction in conventional, but not digital SGT. Higher teamwork satisfaction was an important determinant of preference for digital SGT among medical students. CONCLUSIONS: Team dynamics were closely linked to teamwork satisfaction among medical students in both conventional and digital SGT, while the role of facilitator support became less obvious during digital SGT.

Fully digital problem-based learning for undergraduate medical students during the COVID-19 period: Practical considerations.

Digital problem-based learning (PBL) was originally introduced as a means to improve student engagement and increase flexibility. However, its use becomes mandatory during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) period, accelerating changes in medical education. Few elaborated on the implementation details of digital PBL curricula. Technical guidance can be important but under-recognized prerequisite of a successful digital PBL session. In National Taiwan University College of Medicine, we established a digital PBL curriculum and previously validated a confidence questionnaire for surveying undergraduate students receiving digital PBL sessions. In this opinion piece, we gleaned multiple procedural details from our experiences based on students'/tutors' feedback, which we summarized in a 5″W″ recommendations (Who), timing/duration (When), location (Where), software/hardware/topics (What), and evaluation aspects (Why). Suggestions on how to optimally prepare for digital PBL session are also provided. We believe that these tips can further facilitate the wide adoption of digital PBL.

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

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.