Differ in Socio-Cognitive Processes? Some Comparisons Between Paper and Video Triggered PBL

Abstract

This paper investigates whether paper and video triggers stimulate different social and cognitive processes during PBL. The study focused on how medical students identified and described problems, and how they built shared cognitions that lead them to diagnose and solve problems. The results showed that students who used video triggers put more effort into communicating their understanding of the problem and relevant knowledge than students who used paper triggers. The findings contribute to discussions on how to evaluate the effectiveness of different PBL triggers in order to better integrate them into the curriculum.

A Review of Video Triggers and Video Production in Higher Education and Continuing Education PBL Settings

“…The platform makes it possible for both teachers and learners to, for example, upload, share, tag, bookmark, retrieve, and rate resources. The advantages of video in higher education and continuing education PBL settings are its ability to illustrate real-life problems, make PBL cases more authentic, trigger discussion, and bring out relevant issues and tacit beliefs Lu & Chan, 2015;Schwartz & Hartman, 2007). Video can be used as a stand-alone tool in, for example, PBL tutorials; it can be embedded in more complex VLEs or PLEs with text, pictures, graphics, and so on (e.g., Hmelo-Silver, Nagarajan, & Derry, 2006); or it can be part of immersive simulation environments (e.g., Kuure & Miettinen, 2013).…”

“…The process of problem solving within various PBL models is structured in different ways, and therefore it is not possible to identify a single model of PBL (Barrett, 2005;Lu & Chan, 2015;Poikela, 2003;Savin-Baden & Howell Major, 2004). Two of the most well-known models were developed by Barrows at the University of McMaster, Canada (e.g., Barrows, 1985; see also Barrett, 2005).…”

“…Video can be integrated into the first stage of the PBL cycle to trigger the processes of problem solving and learning (Elliott & Keppell, 2000;Keppell, 2005;Lu & Chan, 2015). In PBL, a problem is a starting point and basic unit for learning.…”

“…The results indicated that even though students and teachers reported a preference for video cases, the video cases resulted in significantly lower frequencies for critical thinking than for superficial thinking, particularly when students were engaged in problem exploration. Lu and Chan (2015) studied how medical students who used video triggers "identified and described problems, and how they built shared cognitions that lead them to diagnose and solve problems. " The researchers concluded that the video triggers led to more active communication; students who used video triggers put more effort into communicating their understanding of the problem and relevant knowledge in order to reach common understanding and make a diagnosis.…”

“…Video cases may be more suitable for students who already have clinical experience. According to Albanese (2005), "video cases offer a splendid transitional mechanism" as students gain more clinical experience (p. 1082; see also Lu & Chan, 2015).…”