Application-Based Learning Exercises
Fall Year 1 - Spring Year 1 - Fall Year 2 - Spring Year 2 - Fall Year 3 - Spring Year 3 - Year 4
Year 4 Clinical Experience - Application-Based Learning Exercises (ABLE)
Application-Based Learning Exercises (A.B.L.E.)
PURPOSE: The new UTCVM curriculum includes six individual weeks of A.B.L.E. during semesters 1-5. The goals of these sessions include increasing student responsibility for learning, integrating basic and clinical information, taking steps to increase problem solving and student communication skills, and providing the opportunity for students to find information on their own from a variety of sources. It is generally accepted that these skills 8ie essential for success in both clinical practice and research. Material incorporated in A.B.L.E.s will relate backward and forward in the. curriculum, becoming reinforcement of previously acquired knowledge, and first time exposure to some new information. These six weeks represent a highly student-centered, student-driven addition to our current didactic teaching. The A.B.L.E. periods in each semester will constitute a required course for which students must register.
A.B.L.E. SESSIONS: Each ABLE session will be focused on a clinical case or other clinical situation. Students will be assigned to groups of 6-7, with one faculty member functioning as their tutor (facilitator). Faculty tutors provide guidance and direction, but not factual information, and thus need not be content experts themselves. Students are expected to identify the limits of their own knowledge, and seek out the majority of new information on their own or in small groups. After formulation of initial learning objectives, students request, and are given additional historical and physical exam findings, and results of further ancillary diagnostic tests that were performed. They then refine and prioritize learning issues based on this information. From this point on, they decide how to proceed, making use of a wide variety of supporting materials such as more lab data, radiographs, results of other diagnostic tests, anatomic specimens, printed materials (journal articles, texts, etc.), and computerized or other multimedia materials. Information and data should be pursued by students in a sequential manner, allowing the case to develop naturally. Cases will be designed so that a logical ending point is reached by students at the end of the week. This need not always be complete resolution of all clinical problems.
Most A.B.L.E. periods will begin in the late morning on a Monday, allowing 8:00 -10:00 AM to be used for exams in didactic courses. Daily required meetings between students and their tutors will be scheduled, totaling about 2-4 hours of each day. The group has some say in setting these times, providing them a sense of control over the pace of the learning process. Some groups may decide to meet twice a day (morning session followed by a brief late afternoon session). The role of tutors in these sessions will be very different from that in typical didactic teaching situations. The tutor will help maintain group dynamics, help students identify new learning issues, help focus and summarize discussions, and guide students to sources of information. Tutors are not responsible for teaching new material, nor is it expected that tutors necessarily be experts in any aspect of the case being discussed. During the week, class-wide meetings with other faculty members may be scheduled if this is deemed desirable (an example might be for a physiology demonstration). A final 8:00 -10:00 AM session on the following Monday may be used to bring all students and tutors together to summarize the case and to answer any lingering questions. This time may also be used for appropriate student assessment activities.
Students will be actively evaluated by tutors during the A.B.L.E. sessions and a final grade assigned. The format and emphasis of all assessment activities will be consistent with the goals of tutorial learning which are very different than in the didactic parts of the curriculum. The evaluation process is primarily subjective (student participation, preparation, completion of assignments, answers to verbal questioning, etc.). Self assessment and peer evaluation have been shown to be important components of the overall assessment plan for small group leaning situations.