Workshop for 13 th May 2012
A modest contribution from a newcomer to the game
Colin Block
Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
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Mini-quiz/survey
• How much time did you devote to preparing for this workshop?
A. > 4 hours
B. 3-4 hours
C. 2-3 hours
D. 1-2 hours
E. < 1 hour
Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
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Almost 30 students felt free to admit they invested little or no time in preparing the workshop
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My emphases
• Some basic issues
• Item types
• Clickers for the “basic science” segments of the curriculum
• Some examples
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What is this stuff anyway?
• A very seductive idea
• A great way of actively involving the students
• A fashion wave?
• A respectable technique?
• Do clickers actually make a difference to anything?
5

Well?
• It depends…
• Some interesting literature
– With mixed results
• Much ‘uninteresting’…
– With mixed results
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What do we (I) want from clicker questions?
• Active participation of students (“engagement”)
• Active discussion among the students
• “Deep” learning and better understanding
• Reveal misunderstandings and misconceptions
• Improved knowledge retention
• Attendance (?), grading, peer grading, etc
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• A study in a Developmental Biology course
• Strong case for clicker use in a clearly defined and deliberate way
• Addresses faculty concerns frankly and clearly
– Proposes solutions
– Desscribes adaptation away from traditional methods
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Electronic voting to encourage interactive lectures: a randomised trial
• Gynaecologists from Australia
• Less convinced about the advantages (but apparently not worse)
• Problematic design, but similar studies and findings do appear in the literature
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Added value?
• An interesting angle
• Methodology not well matched to our limited use of the clickers (but the future is a big place)
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• There is much more
• The next slide offers a useful resource
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A useful resource http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/docs/classroom-response-system-clickers-bibliography/
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http://www.podnetwork.org/publications/teachingexcellence/09-
10/V21,%20N3%20Bruff.pdf
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He also has a book: Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning
Environments . Wiley 2009 ISBN: 978-0-470-28893-1
Bruff contd
• One best answer questions
• Student perspective questions
• Misconception questions
• Peer assessment questions
• Why clickers?
– Anonymity in class > safety > honesty > participation in discussion
– Individual responses can be tracked > accountability > grading etc
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Which of the following descriptions most closely fits the term “formative assessment”?
A. A quiz or test given to a class to enable students and their teachers to assess their progress in learning
B. An evaluation of a course being developed to ensure its suitability for a group of students
C. A student’s clinical evaluation of a child’s development
D. A peer opinion of a teacher’s success in improving his teaching evaluations by the students
E. An evaluation of a piece of reflective writing by a student to assess his perception of his progress
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Which of the following descriptions most closely fits the term “formative assessment”?
A. A quiz or test given to a class to enable students and their teachers to assess their progress in learning
B. An evaluation of a course being developed to ensure its suitability for a group of students
C. A student’s clinical evaluation of a child’s development
D. A peer opinion of a teacher’s success in improving his teaching evaluations by the students
E. An evaluation of a piece of reflective writing by a student to assess his perception of his progress
This is quite a subtle question that can be used to generate discussion; the answers could be diagrammed as follows:
LEAST CORRECT -C---D--------------B------E-----A- MOST CORRECT
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• We haven’t had a good opportunity yet to design such questions in medical microbiology
• Vaccine refusal will be one area for their use
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Here is an example from one of our Case Workshops of a question deliberately chosen to expose a common misconception …
Case 3 – Severe pneumonia in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus on chronic steroid therapy
• A middle-aged woman who has suffered for years with
SLE and requires maintenance therapy with corticosteroids finally has an opportunity to take a holiday at a luxury Hotel in Eilat. She returns to her home in Jerusalem feeling relatively well and rested, but after a few days becomes febrile and short of breath and within a short time finds herself in hospital with a severe pneumonia.
The diagnosis reached in the Workshop is Legionnaire’s disease:
Legionella pneumophila infection
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Here is the relevant question…
14. What is the significance of the patient ’s holiday in the clinical story?
םיבר םישנאל הפישח .A
תליאב ריוואב הביבס יקדייחו תוירטפ אשונ קבא לש ההובג המר .B
ןולמ תיבב גזוממ ריוואל הפישח .C
ןולמ תיבב םימח םימל הפישח .D
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Here is the relevant question…
14. What is the significance of the patient ’s holiday in the clinical story?
םיבר םישנאל הפישח .A
תליאב ריוואב הביבס יקדייחו תוירטפ אשונ קבא לש ההובג המר .B
ןולמ תיבב גזוממ ריוואל הפישח .C
ןולמ תיבב םימח םימל הפישח .D
This issue is then dealt with in the discussion and the source of the misconception explained
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• The plan is to use for grading peer lectures
• 12 short frontal lectures prepared and delivered by small groups
• Grading
• Competition?
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Learning to play the game
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Assessing the Integration of Audience Response
System Technology in Teaching of Anatomical
Sciences
(Genetics)
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Some examples
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X1000
יאדוול בורק ) 1 ' סמ ( הזה הלוחלש תינילק ןחביא אפורה
תא םיקדוב הדבעמב .
pneumococcal pneumonia שי
.
האבה הנומתה תא םיאצומו , החיל ה לש םרגה תעיבצ
•
?
הנחבאב םיאצממה םיכמות הדימ וזיאב
הנחבאה תא םיחיכומ
תמיוסמ הדימב הנחבאה דעב
.A
.B
הנחבאה לע םיעיפשמ אל
הנחבאה תלילשל םיטונ
הנחבאה תא םיללוש
.C
.D
.E
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X1000
יאדוול בורק ) 1 ' סמ ( הזה הלוחלש תינילק ןחביא אפורה
תא םיקדוב הדבעמב .
pneumococcal pneumonia שי
.
האבה הנומתה תא םיאצומו , החיל ה לש םרגה תעיבצ
•
?
הנחבאב םיאצממה םיכמות הדימ וזיאב
הנחבאה תא םיחיכומ
תמיוסמ הדימב הנחבאה דעב
.A
.B
הנחבאה לע םיעיפשמ אל
הנחבאה תלילשל םיטונ
הנחבאה תא םיללוש
.C
.D
.E
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.
םיוסמ קדייח תומילאב רקחמ תרגסמב יוסינ ךרע ןעדמ
25 לש תוצובקל קדייחה לש תונוש תויומכ קירזה אוה
.
יוסינה םותב תואצותה ןלהל .) A-E ( תחא לכ םירבכע
?
ID50 ה עבקנ הצובק וזיאב •
םיתמ םירבכע םילוח םירבכע םיקדייחה תומכ
0
0
2
6
13
1
3
8
13
19
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
10,000,000
A
B
C
D
E
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A very simple example that tests knowledge and a little calculation:
What is “ID”?
What does “50” mean?
.
םיוסמ קדייח תומילאב רקחמ תרגסמב יוסינ ךרע ןעדמ
25 לש תוצובקל קדייחה לש תונוש תויומכ קירזה אוה
.
יוסינה םותב תואצותה ןלהל .) A-E ( תחא לכ םירבכע
?
ID50 ה עבקנ הצובק וזיאב •
םיתמ םירבכע םילוח םירבכע םיקדייחה תומכ
0
0
2
6
13
1
3
8
13
19
1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
10,000,000
A
B
C
D
E
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A question that tests knowledge and reasoning/ application of knowledge, and encourages learning
עיפומ המאה לש
?
necrotizing fasciitis
הלחמל םרוגה והמ
לש הרקמב
.
הנומתבש אצממה
Group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus
Clostridium septicum
.A
.B
Vibrio vulnificus
Aeromonas hydrophila
Streptococcus pyogenes
Escherichia vulneris
.C
.D
.E
.F

עיפומ המאה לש
?
necrotizing fasciitis
הלחמל םרוגה והמ
לש הרקמב
.
הנומתבש אצממה
Group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus
Clostridium septicum
.A
.B
Vibrio vulnificus
Aeromonas hydrophila
Streptococcus pyogenes
Escherichia vulneris
.C
.D
.E
.F

עיפומ המאה לש
?
necrotizing fasciitis
הלחמל םרוגה והמ
לש הרקמב
.
הנומתבש אצממה
Group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus
Knowledge:
• All the bugs > necrotizing fasciitis
• Group A strep & S. pyogenes are the same
Reasoning and application:
• What’s the finding in the photo?
• How does it suggest a specific pathogen from the options?
• Which of the organisms produces a confluent erythematous rash that blanches with pressure?
Learning:
• The discussion preceding the voting
• The discussion after the voting
Clostridium septicum
Vibrio vulnificus
Aeromonas hydrophila
Streptococcus pyogenes
Escherichia vulneris
.A
.B
.C
.D
.E
.F

• Join the revolution…
• Accept the inevitability of reducing content
– Transfer some of the responsibility for knowledge acquisition to the students (assignments etc)
• Become knowledgeable in the use of the technique
– Unnecessary to replicate others’ past mistakes
– Range of useful applications, even if not every variation has yet been solidly proven to make better doctors
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