Enhancing the student learning experience through Assessed Enquiry Based Learning

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Enhancing the student learning experience through
Assessed Enquiry Based Learning

• Ruth Pearce

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Evaluation of previous cohorts

• Attrition at 15 (above benchmark)
• little personal relevance
• already doing the job
• Onerous assessment

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Challenges

• Student cohort expert practitioners from a
  range of clinical backgrounds
• My expectations were it would be a
  traditional course with more depth at a different
  academic level and I would be reminded of being a
  student nurse and I expected to be made to feel
  stupid. We were always threatened with a
  discontinuation of our training and I expected
  that kind of culture.
• Questionable motivation for undertaking programme
• Well it sounds awful but I had no
  expectations of it when started because wed been
  sent on it, in a manner of speaking, because we
  had to show we were educated to Masters level so
  we thought about what would we not mind doing and
  I suppose teaching was the obvious one, so we had
  a really low expectation of it.
• Their priority was to develop technical teaching
  skills

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Enquiry Based Learning

• Student centred onus is on the learner within
  the team
• Collaborative
• Allows theory to be explored within student
  context
• Integration of knowledge and practice
• Deep approach to learning as students make their
  own connections between ideas.
• Open nature of an enquiry ensures there is scope
  for more realistic and relevant learning and peer
  interactions foster engagement.
• Allows the development of a wide range of
  abilities knowledge-creation, team-working,
  presentation, information literacy, ICT,
  problem-solving, creativity and project
  management.
• (Kahn and ORourke, 2004)

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Context

• PGCert Teacher in Health and Social Care
• Delivered as part of Masters in Advanced Social
  and Healthcare provision

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How does EBL work?

• Engage team and set ground rules
• Launch enquiry
• Ideas explode out from enquiry
• Students explore the literature to formulate
  speculative general principles in relation to the
  enquiry.
• Hypotheses are generated about what actions are
  needed to lead to an improvement in their
  practice.
• Students set own agenda for learning ownership
  of timetable
• Bring information back and articulate to team own
  understanding
• Review, evaluate and modify understanding through
  subsequent sessions.
• Draw enquiry to a close and address enquiry.

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Supporting EBL

• Facilitator role
• Anxieties around process
• Deconstruction of existing experiences
• Reconstruction
• Wiki activity
• Engages students with web-based learning
• Enables externalisation of the EBL process

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Study

• Aims
• To provide an outstanding student experience
• To engage with active learning through the EBL
  process
• To encourage collaboration, teamwork and the
  development of transferable skills
• Method
• Semi-structured interviews
• Thematic analysis

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Findings (1)

• All students identified
• significant change to their practice as a result
  of learning from the programme.
• immediate application to practice.
• collective learning responsibility ensured the
  students actively engaged with learning

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Findings (2)

• All students indicated that their confidence had
  developed through
• teamwork
• presenting an argument
• challenging each others perspectives.
• Students spoke of EBL as a transformational
  learning experience.

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Change in practice

• Its been brilliant to come into something that
  you didnt think you were going to learn and end
  up changing everything you do has been amazing.
  To look at things from different perspectives and
  realise youre not too old to change.
• It has really helped me to achieve much more
  than anticipated. I think it has caused an
  automatic internal change because it has totally
  changed my perspective.

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Immediate application

• The fact here weve been recognised as expert
  practitioners and our knowledge has been
  respected has made all the difference, we can
  apply what we learn directly to our practice.

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Collective Learning

• With EBL you take a greater responsibility for
  your own learning and that of your colleagues,
  its very much about the team and not just
  letting yourself down if you dont perform, your
  letting the team down it mirrors reflective
  practice really

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Confidence and development (1)

• To have developed the confidence to change and
  look at what we were doing its difficult when
  given a certain environment in which to teach and
  youre aware youre not doing the class justice
  but to then have the knowledge and awareness of
  the effect of the environment and how this can be
  changed.
• This experience has been completely different
  with a group that has worked together, gelled and
  weve learnt a lot from each other.

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Confidence and development (2)

• It has given me the confidence to challenge
  practice and truly think differently and at
  Masters level.
• I just found myself thinking differently, I
  found my teaching was different as my previous
  experience has been typical teaching/learning and
  EBL has helped me appreciate the true value of
  learning. I think it has increased my confidence
  as a teacher and learner.
• We are champions for practice education having
  had a positive learning experience and the
  confidence that brings.

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Transformational learning experience (1)

• The EBL process in itself is what has changed
  everything, not just my teaching and learning but
  the world as a whole.
• Learning is about growth and we all have our own
  stories of transformation from this course.

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Transformational learning experience (2)

• Its not unique but its one of those prized
  occasions where the process has been as rich as
  the end result. I think the fact that it happens
  in education when we are actually looking at
  trying to attain that, does create its uniqueness
  and exploits the very powerful nature of a
  group.

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Examples of practice development

• Change to infection control mandatory training
  from PowerPoint presentation to small group,
  practical sessions with staff led activities.
• Change to GNVQ training from all day lectures
  with poor attendance to a one hour lead lecture
  supported by individual or small group tutorials
  and small group work.
• Change to self harm and suicide risk assessment
  sessions to medical staff in AE from PowerPoint
  presentations to scenario based activities.

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The success of EBL in the PGCert

• I think that what struck me most about the EBL
  was that you can see the simplicity of it is its
  defining point because it can be used in any
  course but the I think the mastery that has been
  demonstrated was using it in a course about
  education, not only were you allowing us to use
  EBL but you were allowing us to experience it in
  a course about teaching and learning. I think
  that way we were able to see more than just the
  one side and experience real student centred
  learning.

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Success indicators

• 62 of the students have new jobs leading
  education in their field of practice.
• I didnt expect it to be fun either, I thought
  it would be a tick box exercise but learning
  should be fun and this has been.
• I was expecting it to be stressful, I wasnt
  expecting fun or for it to be enjoyable or to
  make friends and its been really good, weve
  definitely learnt so much

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References

• Kahn, P. ORourke, K. (2004) Guide to
  curriculum design. Higher Education Academy
  http//www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/id359_
  guide_to_curriculum_design_ebl accessed 16.05.08