Team-Based Learning in Health Care Education: Maintaining Key Design Elements

Abstract

Introduction: Problem Based Learning (PBL) and Team-based learning (TBL) both provide excellent examples of learner-centred approaches, allowing students to work together to solve professionally relevant problems. Although PBL provides a more traditional example of collaborative learning, TBL has recently gained popularity within health care education. The design of TBL addresses many resource challenges within clinical education including increasing student numbers, and limited availability of teachers who have competing clinical, research and teaching demands. There are also many educational benefits for students that arise from the key design elements of TBL.

Team-based learning: design, facilitation and participation

“…TBL provides an innovative approach to student-centred learning, supporting the flipped classroom method of healthcare education [5]. The in-class TBL activities offer an interactive, expert led teaching session that allows a large number of students to work within small teams to apply content to specific problems [6].…”

“…Research supports the use of TBL, with evidence indicating positive outcomes for students [2,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Recent systematic reviews provide evidence of positive outcomes in terms of student experience and academic achievement, particularly when compared to traditional lectures [5,12,13]. The interactive nature of TBL encourages healthcare students to develop their communication and collaboration skills, providing a valuable learning experience [10].…”

“…The efficient design of TBL addresses resource challenges faced by many higher education institutes. One major benefit of TBL is allowing large numbers of students to experience small group learning, with a small number of expert facilitators [5]. Additionally, students are motivated to complete the pre-reading assigned, as they are held accountable through the readiness assurance testing component of this model [5], resulting in less content being required to be covered during class ('flipped classroom').…”

“…One major benefit of TBL is allowing large numbers of students to experience small group learning, with a small number of expert facilitators [5]. Additionally, students are motivated to complete the pre-reading assigned, as they are held accountable through the readiness assurance testing component of this model [5], resulting in less content being required to be covered during class ('flipped classroom'). Further, more in class time is allocated to problem solving and critical thinking, promoting greater understanding and retention of knowledge [10].…”

O “Bê-Á-Bá” da Aprendizagem Baseada em Equipe

“…Porém, é importante destacar que algumas vezes, por mau planejamento ou execução, ou por falta de recursos, algumas etapas essenciais da ABE devem ser descartadas ou alteradas 31,32 . Algumas variações desta estratégia podem ser: reduzir o número de participantes em cada grupo, visando maior oportunidade de participação dos alunos em todas as atividades; aumentar o número de respostas corretas nas avaliações de múltipla escolha para ampliar a discussão sobre o tema 31 ; devido ao pouco tempo das aulas, o feedback das avaliações pode ser feito de forma mais rápida, apresentando-se todas as respostas ao mesmo tempo, no computador, projetor ou folha de respostas; e, em aulas com maior tempo para o feedback, as avaliações podem ser feitas com questões de verdadeiro ou falso e uma parte descritiva sobre a justificativa da resposta, ou com questões sobre casos, gerando maior debate sobre os temas. Outras variações podem ser vistas em estudo prévio 32 , mas cabe ressaltar que a ABE tem melhores resultados quando todos os seus componentes são aplicados 31,32 .…”