Evaluation of virtual problem-based tutorials in healthcare professional education

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Online Learning
• Pedagogy

Background:

• Problem-based tutorial (PBT) is a key learning method in health professional programs.
• The shift to virtual learning necessitated an evaluation of PBT's efficacy in online environments.
• Understanding student and tutor perspectives is crucial for optimizing virtual PBT delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the learning efficacy of virtual versus in-person problem-based tutorials (PBT).
• To assess student and tutor satisfaction with virtual PBT in occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech-language pathology programs.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional quality improvement study utilizing online surveys for students and tutors.
• Quantitative data analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-squared/Fischer's Exact tests.
• Qualitative data from open-ended questions analyzed via content analysis.

Main Results:

• High satisfaction reported by 77% of students and 89% of tutors with virtual PBT.
• Most participants found virtual PBT effective for exploring course content.
• Students from the most recent cohort rated virtual tutorials significantly higher (p=0.01).

Conclusions:

• Virtual PBT effectively meets course objectives and ensures high user satisfaction.
• Virtual PBT is a successful and viable educational modality for health professional programs.
• Findings support the integration of virtual PBT in post-pandemic health education curriculum design.