Introduction: Traditionally, neurosciences is perceived as a difficult course in undergraduate medical education with literature suggesting use of the term ''Neurophobia'' (fear of neurology among medical students). Instructional strategies employed for the teaching of neurosciences in undergraduate curricula traditionally include a combination of lectures, demonstrations, practical classes, problem-based learning and clinico-pathological conferences. Recently, team-based learning (TBL), a student-centered instructional strategy, has increasingly been regarded by many undergraduate medical courses as an effective method to assist student learning. Methods: In this study, 156 students of year-three neuroscience block were divided into seven male and seven female groups, comprising 11Á12 students in each group. TBL was introduced during the 6 weeks of this block, and a total of eight TBL sessions were conducted during this duration. We evaluated the effect of TBL on student learning and correlated it with the student's performance in summative assessment. Moreover, the students' perceptions regarding the process of TBL was assessed by online survey. Results: We found that students who attended TBL sessions performed better in the summative examinations as compared to those who did not. Furthermore, students performed better in team activities compared to individual testing, with male students performing better with a more favorable impact on their grades in the summative examination. There was an increase in the number of students achieving higher grades (grade B and above) in this block when compared to the previous block (51.7% vs. 25%). Moreover, the number of students at risk for lower grades (Grade B-and below) decreased in this block when compared to the previous block (30.6% vs. 55%). Students generally elicited a favorable response regarding the TBL process, as well as expressed satisfaction with the content covered and felt that such activities led to improvement in communication and interpersonal skills. Conclusion: We conclude that implementing TBL strategy increased students' responsibility for their own learning and helped the students in bridging the gap in their cognitive knowledge to tackle 'neurophobia' in a difficult neurosciences block evidenced by their improved performance in the summative assessment.
Team-based learning (TBL) is an emerging teaching and learning strategy being employed in medical schools. The College of Medicine at Alfaisal University has adopted a TBL approach as an instructional method for first-year medical students. The aim of the present study was to describe the TBL method employed at Alfaisal University College of Medicine and to assess first-year medical students' perceptions of this learning modality for the anatomy- and physiology-based blocks/courses in organ systems form of curriculum. A five-point Likert scale questionnaire was structured based on Kirkpatrick's theory and assessed three major domains: reaction, learning, and behavior. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Cronbach's α-coefficient tests were used to assess the validity and reliability of the construct, respectively. CFA showed an adequate validity of the survey and Cronbach's α revealed an acceptable internal uniformity (0.69). A total of 185 respondents rated reaction, learning, and behavior toward introduction of TBL as 3.53 ± 1.01, 3.59 ± 1.12, and 3.57 ± 1.12, respectively. Excellent students rated TBL highly in all major domains compared with borderline students (reaction, behavior, and learning domains with P values of <0.049, <0.035, and <0.031, respectively). Students who had prior teamwork experience rated TBL higher in terms of their learning experience compared with those who were rarely involved in team work. This study demonstrated that Alfaisal University first-year medical students perceived TBL positively as a teaching and learning strategy for functional anatomy, and prior involvement in teamwork and academic performance correlates with higher ratings of TBL.
We introduced two variants of team based learning (TBL) strategies in pathology course to seek their efficacy in a problem based learning (PBL) curriculum. The TBL strategy was adopted in two different sessions. One during regular resource session (RS-TBL) and other during a weekly review session (RVS-TBL) of the PBL curriculum. The study involved 104 second year students during their 8 weeks of cardiovascular-respiratory units and 3 weeks of hematology units. RS-TBL was adopted for cardiovascular-respiratory unit and RVS-TBL for hematology unit. The first 8 weeks of the course were implemented as RS-TBL and the last 3 weeks as RVS-TBL. The results showed that the group performance was markedly improved than individual performance in both RS-TBL and RVS-TBL (p < 0.001). Comparison between the RS-TBL and RVS-TBL revealed that individual student and group performance was better in the RVS-BL (p < 0.001). The result of the student attitudinal survey indicated an 88% agreement that TBL enhanced their understanding of pathology concepts and critical analysis. Most of the participants (85%) found RVS-TBL to be more useful. Post-TBL, end of semester examination results proved beneficial for the students in risk. The study demonstrated that RVS-TBL may be preferably adopted to enhance the philosophy of TBL in a PBL curriculum.
Objective The effectiveness of the flipped classroom is currently debated due to conflicting results from different studies. It is therefore important to evaluate its usefulness each time it is applied in a new setting. Thus, this study was conducted with the objective of evaluating the effectiveness and acceptability of the flipped classroom in undergraduate medical education at the College of Medicine, Alfaisal University. Methods This was a quasi-experimental study consisting of development and administration of a flipped classroom with one group of students receiving the flipped classroom (FG) and the other group with the traditional lecture-based teaching (LG). We compared the pre-university enrolment Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), preceding progress test results and previous semester performance for the two groups, which showed no statistical difference. Results Since the FG had received the video lecture while the LG had not, there was a clear statistical difference between the groups with FG showing better performance in pre-test scores. The post-test performances were marginally not statistically different between FG and LG groups. Conclusion Our results did not show any long-term benefit of a flipped classroom in terms of retention of knowledge as manifested by grades obtained in midterm and final examinations. It was also not received positively by the students.
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