Limiting tutorial-group size.
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Education, Medical↗
Biomedical subjects
D H Dolmans
Publications and source records attributed to D H Dolmans.
What drives the student in problem-based learning?
In problem-based learning, the development of self-directed learning skills is encouraged through confronting students with (professional) problems. However, several other elements of a problem-based curriculum, such as general teaching objectives, lectures and tutors, may have an impact on students' actual learning activities. The present study focuses on the extent to which various elements of a problem-based curriculum influence students' decisions on what to study. First, interviews were conducted to obtain qualitative data about what actually takes place when students initiate learning activities during self-study. Based on the findings of these interviews, a questionnaire was developed, consisting of statements describing elements of the learning process and their influence on student learning. Elements included in the questionnaire were: the discussion in the tutorial group, content tested, course objectives, lectures, the tutor and reference literature. The students reported that all these elements may have an impact on decisions on what to study. Moreover, first-year students tend to rely more on the literature cited in the references list and content covered in lectures and tests than students in the other three curriculum years. In general, the influence of these elements showed a decrease over the four curriculum years. The influence of the discussion in the tutorial group, on the contrary, tended to increase over the four curriculum years. These findings suggest that students in a problem-based curriculum become more accomplished self-directed learners over the four curriculum years, even although they are provided with many clues which may play a role in their decisions on what to study.
Decision Making↗
A rating scale for tutor evaluation in a problem-based curriculum: validity and reliability.
An instrument has been developed to assess tutor performance in problem-based tutorial groups. This tutor evaluation questionnaire consists of 13 statements reflecting the tutor's behaviour. The statements are based on a description of the tasks set for the tutor. This study reports results on the validity and reliability of the instrument. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that a three-factor model fitted the data reasonably well. The three factors are: (1) guiding students through the learning process, (2) content knowledge input, and (3) commitment to the group's learning. Generalizability studies indicated that the rating scales provide reliable information with student responses of existing tutorial group sizes. It is concluded that the tutor evaluation questionnaire is a fairly valid and reliable instrument that can be used in staff development programmes.
Curriculum↗
Problem effectiveness in a course using problem-based learning.
BACKGROUND: Problem-based learning (PBL) emphasizes active generation of learning issues by students. Both students and teachers, however, tend to worry that not all important knowledge will be acquired. To explore this question, problem effectiveness (i.e., for each problem, the degree of correspondence between student-generated learning issues and present faculty objectives) was examined in three interdependent studies. METHOD: The three studies used the same participants: about 120 second-year students and 12 faculty tutors in a six-week course on normal pregnancy, delivery, and child development at the medical school of the University of Limburg in The Netherlands, 1990-91. The participants were randomly assigned to 12 tutorial groups that were each given the same 12 problems; the problems were based on 51 faculty objectives; the tutors were asked to record all learning issues generated by their groups. Study 1 addressed this question: To what degree are faculty objectives reflected by student-generated learning issues? Study 2: To what extent do students miss certain objectives, and are these objectives classifiable? Study 3: Do students generate learning issues not expected by the faculty, and are these issues relevant to course content, and finally, why do students generate these issues? To help answer these questions, the studies employed expert raters and a teacher familiar with the course content. RESULTS: Study 1: For the set of 12 problems, the average overlap between learning issues and faculty objectives was 64.2% with the percentages for individual problems ranging from 27.7% to 100%. Study 2: Of the 51 objectives, 30 were not identified by at least one tutorial group; these objectives were grouped into three categories; on average, each group failed to identify 7.4 objectives (15%). Study 3: Of 520 learning issues, 32 (6%) were unexpected; 15 of these were judged to be at least fairly relevant to course content; they were grouped into four categories. CONCLUSIONS: The students' learning activities covered an average of 64% of the intended course content; in addition, the students generated learning issues not expected by the faculty, and half of these issues were judged relevant to the course content. Thus, PBL seems to permit students to adapt learning activities to their own needs and interests.
Clinical Competence↗