TED Talk – Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education by Salman Khan

Logan Altizer, Pharm.D.

PGY-1 Managed Care Pharmacy Resident

Kaiser Permanente

Over the past decade, along with the rise of technology and social media, there has been a great push to utilize these two sectors more and more and to incorporate them further into the realm of education. We know that for students to best learn, there are a multitude of things to consider and two of the areas that the traditional classroom teaching method often fails are accessibility and feedback.

In the TED Talk, “Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education” by Salman Khan, he goes into great detail as to how and why he created his amazing Khan Academy, a very structured series of educational videos posted online that is accessibly to anyone at any time, and talks about how as educators, we should spend less time lecturing in the classroom, and instead utilize that time to do homework with the instructor there available to help.1

The first component of accessibility is where the Khan Academy really demonstrates the power of an instructional video. The Khan Academy has over 4,000 videos covering a huge range of topics including math, science, finance, and history.2 These videos are very structured in their design and delivery so that the method of teaching is the same despite the content changing. This allows students to spend less time adapting to different educational styles, and instead can focus on the actual content being taught. These videos enable students to watch and listen to the lectures at their own speed, allowing them to pause to take notes and re-watch if they feel they need to hear the content again, and can be accessed on their own schedule. These videos allow for a variety of learning styles to thrive as it provides narrated audio over a visually clear and detailed video, all under the guise of a teaching lecture model. This allows students to take these modules at home where they can learn independently and try to develop their own understanding of the content which is then assessed with interactive exercises built into the content that provides evaluation of learning and provides explanations for correct answers.

Feedback is incredibly important for learning as it provides an objective measure of evaluation and allows for more directed learning as follow up to close any educational gaps and understanding of content. Salman Khan makes the argument that the classroom should instead of being a place to be lectured, it should be a place to do homework and receive help and individualized learning and feedback. His philosophy is that the students can watch these instructional videos at home, try to learn the content independently and then are able to complete assignments with the teacher available to help and provide additional teaching as required.

I think this concept of receiving the lecture materials at home and first participating in independent learning and having interactive assessments for understanding and feedback really facilitates a more thorough understanding once in the classroom where more advanced content can be discussed. This is often utilized, although arguably not enough, in pharmacy school when professors require you to read chapters or complete cases in advance of the lecture so that you have some foundational understanding of the topic prior to receiving the in-person lecture so that you can spend less time listening to the professor teach, and can spend more time interacting and participating in more advanced cases or discussion of content to better solidify the information.

I feel as though this idea of getting to independently watch video lectures and learn under less pressured, time unrestrictive settings and developing foundational understanding of the material would allow for a much better learning experience in person where the professor could spend more time teaching the application of the material and students would be completing interactive assignments that would focus on facilitating deeper understanding. Hopefully as educational design and theory continues to develop with technology, as educators we can move away from traditional delivery into a system like this.

1. Khan, S. Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education. https://ed.ted.com/lessons/let-s-use-video-to-reinvent-education-salman-khan#digdeeper

2. Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/about

Mind Mapping and Pharmacy Education

Shanique K James, PharmD

PGY-1 Pharmacy Resident

Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic States

“Mind mapping is a method by which you can make notes, take notes and help your memory because you are working in a way that helps your brain instead of getting in the way.” – Hazel Wagner, Ph.D., MBA, CMC

Hazel Wagner specializes in a concept called mind mapping, teaching others how to use this tool to augment and enhance their memory, studies and planning. As a lifelong learner with 4 degrees and a Ph.D. in mathematics, she has spent her life learning how to learn. Dr. Wagner shared her work on mind mapping and what it can do for understanding, memorization, and retention during a TEDx Talk in Naperville, IL.

What is Mind-Mapping?

Mind mapping is a method that helps your brain to organize ideas, collect knowledge and understand concepts better.¹ The tool called the mind map was initially developed for use in mathematics but has been applied to numerous subject areas. A mind map has a natural organizational structure that radiates from the center and use lines, symbols, words, color and images according to simple, brain-friendly concepts.² It is said to be a freer, non-sequential way to organize material, making the process more coherent. Mind-mapping allows the individual to use visual and kinesthetic methods to document only what is most important to them. The use of trigger words or key phrases enable the individual to pay attention and personalize their ideas while actively thinking and not blindly transcribing. Mind mapping allows you to pay attention to what you want and write what you want.^1,2

Mind mapping has also been recognized as an assistive tool for students who may not be process oriented, but visually oriented. It has also been shown to have benefit in students with learning disabilities such as Asperger or dyslexia.³

Potential Impact of Mind Mapping

A pilot study for students in a Nursing Program was conducted by David A. Boley, Professor at John Hopkins University.³ Students were divided into two groups, one group using mind mapping and mind mapping templates for various subject areas, the other group continuing with their usual learning methods. The study concluded that pre-made mind maps enhanced simulation learning significantly, positively impacted the learning experience and produced a 12% increase in test scores. When the group that did not use mind-mapping was later introduced to the mind mapping method, their achievements increased equally validating the results.

Mind-mapping in Pharmacy Education

As the role of the pharmacist continues to evolve, student pharmacists are required to attain knowledge in a vast number of areas to align with expectations for practice. Students may in turn have difficulty retaining and recalling information. A pharmacy student can simply concepts taught in Pharmacotherapy by using a mind map; a single sheet of paper, a single diagram with branches and links to represent a single ‘unit’ or topic.  This alleviates the need to document pages of notes. Mind mapping allows for quick reference and recollection of information and aids in efficiency and quality of work.

The pharmacy educator may also gain much benefit from utilizing a mind map during curriculum planning and teaching. In curriculum planning, the branches can be used to represent specific objectives. In teaching, the full diagram can provide a full representation of the topic for the students to visualize as an aid to promote flexibility and consistency in delivery.

I have my own experience of using mind-maps, not knowing at the time. I recall using these diagrams to breakdown topics in Infectious Diseases and Cardiology and this helped significantly with my retention of the topics. A mind map allows students to be creative, efficient and resourceful with their learning experience.

References:

1. Wagner, H. Want to Learn better? Start Mind-mapping. TEDx Talks. November 2017
2. Woods, D. The Power of Mind Mapping. Forbes. June 2009
3. Mind Mapping in Education. MindMapping.com. 2018

Catch ya on the flipside’ or Will you wipe out? The do’s and don’t’s of the flipped classroom

Christian Bernhardi, PharmD

PGY-1 Pharmacy Practice Resident

University of Maryland Medical Center

In 2012 Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sims published the book Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student in Every Class Every Day, to become what are considered the pioneers of the flipped classroom model.  The flipped classroom model is becoming popular across educational institutions worldwide, and in its simplest form is “watching a lecture at home and doing homework in class.” While there has been a significant amount of success in student performance and student perception with this model, there still are plenty of crucial obstacles that often get overlooked and can potentially bring failure to this paradigm shift in teaching styles.

What really is the flipped classroom?

 

While a simple definition can be sufficient for some, the flipped classroom according to the Flipped Learning Network:1 “Is a pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter.”

This approach utilizes the valuable time of the instructor during class for more active learning opportunities and higher levels of learning such as applying and analyzing according to Bloom’s Taxonomy. In a traditional non-flipped classroom setting the instructor can still utilize some of those higher levels of learning, but valuable time is taken up to provide a live pedagogical lecture.  

Why should I utilize the flipped classroom approach?

In pharmacy school, one of the most important skills for a pharmacy student to learn is learning how to learn new concepts independently.  The flipped classroom places the background learning responsibility into the hands of the student, and the responsibility of teaching how to apply what has been learned into the hands of the instructor.  Studies have shown that pharmacy student performance in core pharmacy classes has improved with the flipped classroom method.2,3 This concept of moving away from regurgitation styles of learning into application styles of learning may improve professional student’s readiness into the workforce of taking care of patients as well.

As an added bonus to improved performance with the flipped classroom, Prescott and colleagues showed that student perception and satisfaction to be more positive with the flipped classroom model as compared to the traditional didactic lecture approach.4

What are some obstacles to the flipped classroom?

Just because the flipped classroom has shown improvement in performance does not mean that it will always be more effective. In a 3^rd year oncology pharmacotherapy course Bossaer et al. found that student performance was worse with utilizing a flipped classroom approach.5 The major obstacles that caused this negative outcome were the large proportion of the class going from non-flipped to flipped all at once (67%) and the lack of holding students accountable for completing pre-class assignments.  There are plenty of other obstacles that can set back this methodology of learning and assessments that need to be addressed to assure it is appropriate to flip a classroom.

Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sims posted a video in 2014 called The Flipped Class: Overcoming Common Hurdles.6 In this video there are 5 important steps described to help success of the flipped classroom model. These tips include:

·       Making sure there is adequate access to the content

o    As our technological society continues to advance this is not as much of an issue anymore. However, the use of flash drives or other resources not requiring internet can help mitigate this access issue.

·         Teaching the students how to watch a video effectively

o    Even in pharmacy school it should be exercised with students at the beginning of a course how you would like your videos to be utilized to ensure adequate preparation for in-class active learning.

·         Including safeguards to hold students accountable for completing pre-class work

o    Student accountability and buy in for the flipped classroom is a necessity to have success.  By utilizing technologies through google forms or pre-class quizzes/surveys in blackboard, course instructors can track that students are completing what is required of them before coming to class.

·         Understanding that perfection is not expected with videos

o    Bergmann and Sims make an excellent point that an instructor can become bogged down by trying to make a video perfect. In reality, most live lessons are not perfect however.  The idea of a video not being perfect can seem more human and help with workload of posting a video for an instructor thus increasing buy-in from faculty.

·         Starting out small before flipping an entire class all at once.

o    This is a common problem that instructors don’t realize upfront.  For a professor flipping a class for the first time, starting out with just flipping an individual lesson or section can help success of the new model and can be grown from there.

Is it right for me?

The flipped classroom may not be appropriate in every single setting, so it is crucial to assess thoroughly the logistics and resources that will be required to make flipping a classroom a success.

References:

1.    “Definition of Flipped Learning.” Flipped Learning Network Hub. Accessed November 18, 2018. https://flippedlearning.org/definition-of-flipped-learning/.

2.    Koo, Cathy L., Elaine L. Demps, Charlotte Farris, John D. Bowman, Ladan Panahi, and Paul Boyle. “Impact of Flipped Classroom Design on Student Performance and Perceptions in a Pharmacotherapy Course.” American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 80, no. 2 (March 25, 2016). https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe80233.

3.    Wong, Terri H., Eric J. Ip, Ingrid Lopes, and Vanishree Rajagopalan. “Pharmacy Students’ Performance and Perceptions in a Flipped Teaching Pilot on Cardiac Arrhythmias.” American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 78, no. 10 (December 15, 2014). https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe7810185.

4.    Prescott, William Allan, Ashley Woodruff, Gina M. Prescott, Nicole Albanese, Christian Bernhardi, and Fred Doloresco. “Introduction and Assessment of a Blended-Learning Model to Teach Patient Assessment in a Doctor of Pharmacy Program.” American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 80, no. 10 (December 25, 2016). https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe8010176.

5.    Bossaer, John B., Peter Panus, David W. Stewart, Nick E Hagemeier, and Joshua George. “Student Performance in a Pharmacotherapy Oncology Module Before and After Flipping the Classroom.” American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 80, no. 2 (March 25, 2016). https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe80231.

6.    Edutopia. The Flipped Class: Overcoming Common Hurdles. Accessed November 18, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=bwvXFlLQClU.