A Webtool for the evaluation of PBL cases
Herbert Plass 1Hubert Wiener 1
Richard März 1
1 Medical University Vienna, Core Unit Medical Education, Science and International Relations, Vienna, Austria
Beitrag
Purpose: Problem based learning (PBL) is a well-established student-centered learning method in medical education [1]. Creating high quality cases is crucial for successful PBL teaching. To achieve and maintain this high quality, we developed a web-based evaluation tool to record immediate responses and comments from students and facilitators as well as to document the learning objectives of each PBL group.
Methods: A user friendly web tool was designed using the script language php and programmed W3C conform [2] to ensure compatibility with all operating systems compliant with this international standard. The form asks for the rating of each student and the facilitator on a 4-point scale. Two text entry fields are supplied for submission of learning objectives and comments. Entry of learning objectives is mandatory. Data collected with this tool are stored in a text file-database, one file for each case, each line representing one group's data. Hence handling even of large numbers of PBL groups is rather comfortable. Concurrently a file with comma-separated values (csv-file) is generated, allowing import of the collected data into a spreadsheet program at any time during and after the course. For a quick estimate of the results a character based display of the evaluation data is given at the bottom of the form.
Results and Conclusion: The evaluation data collected during the first semester of the academic year 2004/2005 show that
- facilitators tend to evaluate the cases somewhat better than students,
- two PBL cases out of 18 strongly deviate from average scores, one case each evaluated very low and very high,
- facilitators' response rate was 38% and
- 16% of facilitators added comments.
This web-based evaluation tool offers qualified feedback for the editorial board creating the paper cases and also gives an indication of the facilitators' commitment.
References
[1] Camp G. Problem-Based Learning: A paradigm shift or a passing fad? MEO. 1996;1:2.[2] Jacobs I. W3C>aboutW3C>goals. 2005. Zugänglich unter: http://www.w3c.de/about/mission.html.
