Web-Based Tutorial Group Support in Problem-Based Learning.

This paper describes how dental hygienist students have used and developed a web site during a two year undergraduate programme. The programme is based on a Problem Based Learning concept at the Faculty of Odontology at Malmö University in Sweden. The web site was first used for administration of the courses, but with time different modes of supporting the PBL process were developed. These modes originated from both students and from the course director. In a questionnaire and in interviews, students were asked about how the web site had been used for communication between students and between students and teachers. They were also asked to comment on how their written tutorial reports, posted on the web site after each case, affected the collaboration in the tutorials and also their learning. Finally, we asked if the students thought that their use of the web site and computers in general had changed during the education. The questionnaire and the interviews were completed at the time of graduation. The written notes and reports of the cases enhanced and supported the students' learning and some students recognized a change in how they used the web site. Most students also declared that their ability to use different computer programmes had improved. The students strongly recommended a continued use of the web site in the dental hygienist education. The communication and feed back between students and teachers were considerably improved, though new ways should be tried in order to stimulate experts to take more active part in the students' learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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