The relationship of tutors' content expertise to interventions and perceptions in a PBL medical curriculum

Abstract

This study addressed three questions: (1) Do content-expert tutors differ from non-expert tutors in the extent to which they present/explain case content? (2) Do tutors who present/explain case content differ from those who almost never do in their ratings of various outcomes of a PBL curriculum? (3) Are tutors who present/explain case content rated differently by students from tutors who almost never do? Data were gathered from 88 tutors and 168 students in the first 2 years of a PBL medical curriculum. Students assessed their tutor after each unit, and tutors completed a questionnaire near the end of the academic year. In this study, 'content expertise' was defined operationally as tutors' self-ratings on the question 'To what extent could you teach (at the Med I level) the material covered in the cases?' Less than half of the tutors reported that they almost never presented/explained case content. As tutors' content expertise increased, they tended to present/explain case content more frequently. Tutors who almost never presented/explained case content rated PBL more highly than traditional methods. No differences were found in student ratings of tutors who almost never presented/explained case content, compared to tutors who did. The results suggest that tutors who are content experts find it difficult to maintain the 'facilitator' role, but that those who maintain this role are more satisfied with PBL. It appears that other tutor behaviours may have a greater influence on students' ratings of their tutors.

Trends in research on the tutor in problem-based learning: conclusions and implications for educational practice and research

“…Content expertise seems to result in a more directive role on the part of tutors and in fewer student-student interactions. The results of these studies also correspond with a study conducted by Kaufmann & Holmes (1998). These researchers found that tutors who rated themselves as content experts found it difficult to maintain the facilitator role and tended to present and explain case material more frequently than tutors who had less content expertise.…”

PBL in Undergraduate Medical Education: A Qualitative Study of the Views of Canadian Residents

“…As in our own study, other research has found that the biggest risk in having clinicians facilitate small groups is a tendency to take over the group process either by directly questioning students (Gilkison, 2003;MacPherson et al, 2001;Silver and Wilkerson, 1991) or by teaching rather than encouraging student discovery and learning (Kaufman and Holmes, 1998;Wilkerson and Irby, 1998). Other problems with tutors identified in our study and the literature also points to inadequate amounts of guidance and feedback they give to students (O'Hanlon et al, 1995).…”

Using Questioning to Facilitate Discussion of Science Teaching Problems in Teacher Professional Development

“…Tossing back was a straightforward but useful technique that facilitators could use when they did not want to be seen as "content experts. " Research showed that such an expert role had a detrimental effect on group discussion (Kaufmann & Holmes, 1998). Participants were less willing to contribute ideas when they considered their facilitator experts.…”