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The Importance of Free-Text Responses in Team-Based Learning Design

2014; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 89; Issue: 12 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/acm.0000000000000512

1938-808X

Robert G. Badgett, J. E. Stone, Tracie C. Collins,

Health Sciences Research and Education

To the Editor: We enjoyed the very helpful review by Burgess and colleagues,1 which addresses many issues we face in our use of team-based learning (TBL). The extensive and clearly defined review shows the value and innovative usefulness of TBL in educating medical students. We would like to revisit the premise that a specific choice format for responses by teams to assignments is an essential design element for TBL. While a multiple-choice format is practical to implement and is especially helpful for grading readiness assurance, we believe this format for team exercises in class restricts discussion to predetermined outcomes. We use an online, free-text audience response system to support class discussion among teams.2 Considering a free-text format of responses within the context of the four S's of design of instructional tasks (significant problem, same problem, specific choice, and simultaneous reporting),3 our impression is that a free-text format preserves the elements of same problem and simultaneous reporting, while augmenting the ability to address significant problems. We have used a free-text format for teams to submit judgments of scenarios in medical ethics, propose phrasing to patients in behavioral counseling, and solve problems in evidence-based medicine. When teaching evidence-based medicine, we can direct teams to share their calculations with their answers to promote transparency when learning numeracy. Similarly, when teaching how to search for medical knowledge, teams can demonstrate the search terms they plan to use or submit the PubMed identifier or Internet address of articles and resources they have found. After answers are displayed simultaneously overhead, discussion about the relative merits of the answers stimulates further class discussion. In summary, we are proponents of TBL. We would add to the findings of Burgess and colleagues that the approach should not only allow multiple-choice format for questions but also allow free-text responses. Robert G. Badgett, MD Professor of preventive medicine and public health, University of Kansas School of Medicine–Wichita, Wichita, Kansas; [email protected] Jeffrey Stone, PhD Clerkship coordinator, Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Kansas School of Medicine–Wichita, Wichita, Kansas, at the time this was written. Tracie C. Collins, MD, PhD Professor of preventive medicine and public health, University of Kansas School of Medicine–Wichita, Wichita, Kansas.