Fostering Peer and Student/Faculty Rapport in Online Educational Environments.
Research Team: Bhawan Mann, Tanisha Bali, and Shayna A. Minosky.
The goal of this project is to identify the quantity and quality of interactions that occur between student peers and between students and faculty in an online learning environment, and to identify how the quality of these interactions can be fostered or improved.
In the first study, we qualitatively explored, using student focus groups, student perceptions of the type, frequency, importance and quality of their online interactions among their peers and with their instructors, with a secondary goal of identifying any important strategies to consider as being important for the formation of rapport that are not currently discussed in the literature. A total of 30 students participated in this study. Data were analyzed using a conventional content analysis and resulted in two overarching themes: (1) intrapersonal motivation and engagement and (2) interpersonal relationships and communication. Each theme consisted of multiple subthemes
In the second study, we will use an online survey, with both quantitative and qualitative items, to gather a larger and more diverse sample of participants and query them again on their perceptions of the type, frequency, importance and quality of their online interactions among their peers and with their instructors. Data collection for this study will begin in the fall of 2022.
Trends and Disruptions in Pedagogical Identity: What was Learned from the CCOVID-19 Pandemic?
Research Team: Daniel D. Pratt, Amanda R. Dumoulin, Shayna A. Minosky, Sandra Jarvis Selinger, Elizabeth Armstrong, Holly C. Gooding.
Background: We have gone through one of the most profound and sudden changes in health professions education in living memory. Students and faculty, suddenly and without choice, found themselves in a mandatory online learning environment at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether requiring a change to virtual teaching disrupted or shifted health educators’ dominant perspectives on teaching.
Methods: This is an instrumental case study of the educators enrolled in the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators in the Health Professions. We used the Teaching Perspectives Inventory data for six consecutive cohorts of enrollees (2016-21), resulting in a sample of 815 educators.
Results: Four patterns emerged from this data relating to dominant teaching perspectives, starting with trends across cohorts and concluding with sharp changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data shows how educators’ pedagogical identities were disrupted due to changes in the physical, social and temporal contexts of teaching and demonstrates the impact of mandating a switch to a virtual context for teaching.
Conclusions: If we are to help people adapt to virtual contexts, while also trying to enact their pedagogical identity, we must proactively address the impact on the physical, social and temporal contexts of teaching and learning.
This paper is being prepared for submission
Attitudes Towards Working in Student Teams: A Systematic Review of Validity Evidence.
Research Team: Shayna A. Rusticus & Leonardo Landaverde-Umana.
Abstract
Working in small groups of peers is a common activity in classroom settings; however, students are mixed on whether they perceive teamwork positively or negatively. Being able to assess students’ attitudes towards teamwork can help identify facilitators and barriers towards working with peers and can contribute to fostering a more positive learning environment. In this paper, we present a systematic review that identifies measures that are available to assess student attitudes toward teamwork and the validity evidence for these measures. The scope of this review consisted of studies that provided quantitative self-report data relevant to adolescent or adult students’ attitudes towards working in a team of peers in a classroom setting. We excluded studies that focused on interprofessional medical teams (clinicians and students), workplace teams, and sports teams. We also excluded studies that focused on the assessment of team performance rather than general attitudes about working in a team. We conducted our search through to May 27, 2021. Of the 15,346 initial citations, 10 studies, representing eight unique measures, were included in this review. An overall validity percentage score was calculated for each of the studies, with the average score equal to 46%. The Feelings Toward Group Work Questionnaire Greek version (Goudas et al., 2009) achieved the highest score at 88%. Taken together, these findings provide guidance for those looking for a measure of teamwork attitudes.
This paper has been submitted to Social Psychology of Education
Trends and Disruptions in Teaching as a Result of the COVID-19 Pandemic: What was Lost and Gained?
Research Team: Daniel D. Pratt, Amanda R. Dumoulin, Shayna A. Rusticus, Sandra Jarvis Selinger ,Elizabeth Armstrong, Holly C. Gooding.
Abstract
Background: We have gone through one of the most profound and sudden changes in health professions education in living memory. Students and faculty, suddenly and without choice, found themselves in a mandatory online learning environment at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether requiring a change to virtual teaching disrupted or shifted health educators’ orientations to teaching.
Methods: This is an instrumental case study of the educators enrolled in the Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators in the Health Professions. We used the Teaching Perspectives Inventory data for six consecutive cohorts (2016-21), resulting in a sample of 815 educators.
Results: Four patterns emerged from this data relating to dominant teaching perspectives, starting with trends over time and concluding with sharp changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data shows how educators’ pedagogical identity was disrupted in several ways and demonstrates the impact of mandating a switch to a virtual context for teaching.
Conclusions: If we are to help people adapt to virtual contexts, while also trying to enact their pedagogical identity, we must consider physical, social and temporal contexts of teaching and learning.
This paper is under review at Medical Teacher.