School of Medicine's Investment in Curriculum Renewal and Technology Supports Excellence in Education During COVID
Long before anyone was thinking about the current pandemic, the LSU School of Medicine implemented a significant curriculum renewal in 2015-16. One of the primary goals of the curriculum renewal was to improve students' critical thinking skills through additional active learning sessions. Much of the work and renovations meant to achieve this goal had a tremendous impact on the School's ability to continue to educate during the pandemic.
When School leadership began to meet and strategize the new curriculum in 2012, Dr. Robin English, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, was very interested in Team Based Learning (TBL), an evidence-based collaborative learning and teaching strategy. Students follow a structured process that enhances their engagement and the quality of learning. Students are placed in groups of six or seven and are then taught in steps: individual preparation, individual testing, group testing, and finally an application focused exercise. At LSU SOM, students attend approximately 40 TBL sessions with their same group over two years.
“Many schools are adopting TBL as a way to reinforce concepts through ‘structured' case discussions. The case discussions allow us to focus on ‘knowledge application' to real life situations, rather than ‘knowledge delivery' (a traditional lecture). The ‘structured' nature of the sessions helps ensure that everyone stays engaged,” said Dr. Richard DiCarlo, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Institutional Affairs.
“The largest benefit of TBL is that it allows students to take factual knowledge and apply it to real world problems,” said Dr. English. “Additionally, physicians don't work in isolation, and TBL teaches students to work in teams.”
True TBL requires a specific classroom configuration that allows for a large number of students in groups of six or seven and a way for one facilitator to see and hear the whole room. When TBL was first introduced as part of the curriculum renewal, the School used classrooms in MEB and had to conduct TBL in back-to-back sessions. This meant that different groups had different experiences.
Dr. Steve Nelson, Dean of the School of Medicine, significantly invested in renovating the third floor of MEB to hold TBL. The room opened in 2018. The new room allows all 200 students to be present at the same time with a single facilitator, although sessions are often co-taught by a clinician and a basic scientist.
“We have developed approximately 40 modules so far,” Dr. English said. “Some we got right on the first try, and others need tweaking. It is a constantly iterative process.” Dr. English said that student feedback has been largely positive, and that they enjoy working in teams and active learning.
Facilitating TBL can be an adjustment from traditional teaching. Recognizing this, IT's Tom Finicle offered unused space to Dr. English for faculty training in TBL. Today, the Audiovisual (AV) Training Room is outfitted with a podium and technology to record lectures. In March 2020 (the start of the pandemic), the AV Training Room was quickly repurposed for remote curriculum delivery. “We can give Zoom lectures from the AV Training Room and record to Mediasite simultaneously.”
Dr. English said the transition to remote learning has been “a constant evolution to meet the needs of our students.” She also expressed gratitude for the efforts of Joy Sturtevant, PhD, Co-Director of the Basic Science Curriculum. “She was the real backbone of helping us transition TBLs and other teaching sessions to an online format,” Dr. English said.
“Technology is really important. It has facilitated our ability for clinicians to teach because they don't have to come to campus. We have adapted and expanded our offerings - there have been some positive outcomes from being remote,” Dr. English said.