Diabetes TBL: Genesis of a Modified TBL Series for Medical Biochemistry
Franklin, D.S.
Biochemistry Department, Tulane University Health Sciences Center, School of Medicine, 1430 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70112
Purpose:
Team-based learning shifts the roles of education from a passive lecture format by an instructor, to active application of course material by student teams. This enables students to self-teach themselves and their team members, providing a more concrete form of active learning, holds students responsible for their understanding, and shifts their emphasis from passive learner to active participants. In my Cellular and Metabolic Biochemistry courses, I am attempting to convert several didactic lectures to active TBL sessions. The genesis of this began with several TBL workshops, learning the TBL process. However, one concept proved a difficult transition: how to convert a complex topic like diabetes into a traditional 2-hour TBL format. The topics covered in our curriculum include: (A) types of diabetes and diagnosis, (B) lab testing, (C) affects on intermediary metabolism, (D) acute and chronic complications, and (E) therapeutic strategies. Such a diverse set of topics made it difficult to provide pre-learning resources of modest length. In addition, covering the full range of material in a single IRAT/GRAT and GAE format diluted the depth at which these concepts could be covered. These problems were overcome by modifying the traditional TBL format to include three stand alone IRAT/GRAT sessions, each one-hour session covering material of major topics from three distinct learning objectives. This was followed by a one-hour GAE session that brought all learning objectives together. Our modified diabetes TBL series was recently completed. Scores from the IRAT/GRAT and GAE sessions were very encouraging. Students greatly appreciated the change to this active learning modality. Metrics will be compared and discussed from exam results of material previously taught by traditional lectures, which is now taught by the modified diabetes TBL series.
