Teamwork significantly improves pathology slide diagnosis: students’ perspective

Abstract

Background & objectives: Team-based learning is a pedagogical strategy that enhances student knowledge through individual testing and group collaboration. The objective of this preliminary study was to examine if students’ collaborative annotation improved understanding of microscopic morphology and diagnosis of pathological slides. Methods: Mean individual and then group scores of pathology slides analysis by Path2 students were compared by the Wilcoxon signed rank test and group differences by ANOVA. Students' attitudes toward TBL were examined using a short 8-item questionnaire which graded responses on a 5-point Likert scale. Analyses were performed in the SPSS version 20.Probability level of p<0.05 was statistically significant. Results: The average individual scores ranged from 44.0 to 50.0 out of 100. The differences between the groups were not observed. The average group scores ranged from 75.0 to 82.0percentage. Compared with the average individual score, all group scores were statisticallysignificantly higher (p<0.001). Group scores among students who had low performance were statistically significantly higher compared to their individual scores. This was also observed among high performance students (p<0.003). In terms of TBL attitudes, all average attitude scores were positive (the highest were reported for active learning). Attitudes score did notcorrelate with the Path1 grade. No difference in attitudes was found between high and low performing students. Conclusion: Group analysis of pathology slides significantly improves the success in making a pathological diagnosis, both for low performance and for high performance students. The strongest positive attitude was observed for “Promotes opportunity for active learning”, “Group dynamics potentiate learning outcome” and “Encourage discussion for differential diagnosis”. We progressively incorporated these collaborative approaches into virtual environment in pathology courses at our medical faculty that have been shown to further improve students’ engagement and learning outcomes, promotes opportunities for active engagement and interaction.