Ivabs workshop
- 1. Problem-based learning Jean Jacoby Manawatu Centre for Teaching and Learning
- 2. Steps in PBL 1. Encounter and reason through the problem 2. Define and bound the problem and set learning goals 3. Self-directed study to complete learning, gather resources, and prepare reports for group 4. Share learning with group, revisit problem, generate and review hypotheses 5. Summarise and integrate learning.
- 3. The role of the facilitator In PBL the facilitator is an expert learner, able to model good strategies for learning and thinking, rather than providing expertise in specific content. This role is critical, as the facilitator must continually monitor the discussion, selecting and implementing appropriate strategies as needed. As students become more experienced with PBL, facilitators can fade their scaffolding until finally the learners adopt much of their questioning role. (Hmelo-Silver & Barrows, 2006, p. 24)
- 4. • Facilitating collaborative knowledge construction. • Facilitating the students’ development of thinking or reasoning skills that promote problem solving, metacognition, and critical thinking. • Helping students to become independent and self- directed learners.
- 5. Effective facilitators “Students deemed tutors as effective and helpful when they encouraged students to critically evaluate the information gathered, questioned and probed the students’ clinical reasoning processes, and, most importantly, allowed students to control the learning process.” (Hung, Jonassen & Liu, n.d. p. 494)
- 6. Skills for facilitators • Elicitation • Re-elicitation • Prompting • Refocusing • Facilitating • Evaluating • Summarising • Giving feedback • Informing • Directing learning
- 7. Challenges for facilitators Cognitive congruence is communication skills defined as “the ability to express oneself in the language of the students, using the concepts they use and explaining things in ways easily grasped by students” (Schmidt and Moust, 1995, p.709).
- 8. • The temptation to lecture • Facilitating group processes • Modelling metacognition skills • Concern for content over process • Relinquishing control • Being too passive • Providing feedback • Managing assessment
- 9. Tips for facilitators • Find out what skills your students already have (information gathering, collaboration, etc.) • Teach group work skills and processes
- 10. Strategies for facilitating small groups
- 11. Objectives • Review the process of planning a small group teaching session • Identify the challenges of teaching in small groups • Discuss the characteristics of an effective small- group facilitator • Apply some of the strategies used within small group teaching
- 12. Jacques, 2003, p. 492
- 13. What is your experience of teaching (or learning) in small groups? Group round method • Each person has 30 seconds say something. • The first person chooses who should go second, the second who should go third, and so on.
- 14. What are the characteristics of an effective small group facilitator?
- 15. • Define expectations • Tell the students up front how you are going to run things and what you expect • Goes over what you are looking for in grading if relevant • Goes over the objectives at the beginning • Nurtures a safe group • Sets an example with his/her own behaviour (important in ethics discussions)
- 16. • Is willing share own experiences, where appropriate • Steps in if the discussion crosses boundaries • Manages time • Guides the discussion rather than steal the show • Promotes independent discussion.
- 17. What situations are suitable for small- group facilitation?
- 18. • Case discussions • Problem-based learning • Role play • Open discussion • Briefing and debriefing following a clinical or practical learning session
- 19. What problems can arise?
- 20. • You give a lecture rather than conducting a dialogue • You talk too much • Students will not talk to each other, but will only respond to questions from you • Students do not prepare for the sessions • One student dominates or blocks the discussion • The students want to be given the solutions to problems rather than discuss them
- 21. How would you manage them?
- 22. Engaging the unengaged student Uninterested or unengaged?
- 23. Constructive alignment + backwash = engagement
- 24. References Hmelo-Silver, C. E. , & Barrows, H. S. (2006). Goals and Strategies of a Problem-based Learning Facilitator. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning, 1(1), 21-39. Hung, W., Jonassen, D. H., & Liu, R. (2008). Problem-based learning. In J. M. Spector, J. G. van Merriënboer, M. D., Merrill, & M. Driscoll (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (3rd ed., pp. 485-506). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Jacques, D. (2003). Teaching small groups. British Medical Journal, 326, pp. 492-494 Steinert, Y. (2004). Student perceptions of effective small group teaching. Medical Education, 38 pp. 286–293
Editor's Notes
- #20: The usual fishbowl configuration has an inner group discussing an issue or topic while the outer group listens, looking for themes, patterns, or soundness of argument or uses a group behaviour checklist to give feedback to the group on its functioning.