Innovative Team-Learning Project for Undergraduate Pathology Education

Abstract

At the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus, we have completed our seventh year of an innovative small group learning activity in an undergraduate medical school course. The purpose of the Independent Study Project has been to expose students to the process of making a pathologic diagnosis in a team-based learning format. In the Independent Study Project groups of 3 or 4 students work together to determine a diagnosis on an assigned unknown case, and then compose a 3- to 5-page paper focusing on the disease entity and the basic science underlying the disease. This project emphasizes team-based learning and illustrates the relationship and integration of pathology with clinical medicine. Professionalism is also emphasized with students evaluating and providing feedback to fellow group members. Over time, the format has become more web based with all of the cases available online with digitally scanned microscopic slides and images. Overall, the Independent Study Project has been well received by both faculty members and students.

Keywords: innovative education; medical student education; pathology; peer evaluation; team-based learning.

Figure 1.

Compilation of screenshots of web pages to demonstrate the online format. The example provided, case 7, shows the initial landing page on top with a hyperlink to the individual case with links to larger images of the provided ancillary studies as well as a hyperlink to the digital slide. The assigned faculty member with contact information is also included on the web page.

Figure 2.

Results from the peer evaluations on a group member for survey questions 1 and 2. Names of the students evaluating the group member have been removed for this publication. For survey question 1, “points deserved to receive,” the assigned point value corresponds to 1 = fewer, 2 = the same, and 3 = more points than the group. Survey question 2 emphasizes a similar theme by asking the students to score the group member according to their contribution to the success of the group project. Inconsistencies between these 2 questions can provide insight if the survey questions were misunderstood or in the case of a “miss-click” and prevent a student from inappropriately receiving a poor evaluation.

Figure 3.

Students’ feedback on 2 members from a team. Names have been redacted.