Continuing medical education has been characterized as didactic and ineffective. This thesis explores the use of Knowledge Building theory, pedagogy, and technology to test an alternative model for physician engagement—one that emphasizes sustained and creative work with ideas. Several important conceptual changes in continuing medical education are implied by the Knowledge Building model—changes that extend the traditional approach through engagement in (a) collective responsibility for group achievements rather than exclusive focus on individual advancement and (b) work in design-mode, with ideas treated as objects of creation and assemblage into larger wholes and new applications, with extension beyond belief-mode where evidence-based acceptance or rejection of beliefs dominates. The goal is to engage physicians in “cultures of participation” where individual learning and collective knowledge invention or metadesign advance in parallel.
This study was conducted in a continuing medical education End-of-Life Care Distance Education course, for family physicians, from 2004 to 2009. A mixed methods case study methodology was used to determine if social-mediated Knowledge Building improved physicians’ knowledge, and if so, what social network structural relationships and sociocognitive dynamics support knowledge improvement, democratization of knowledge, and a metadesign perspective.
Traditional pre-/posttest learning measures across 4-years showed significant gains (9% on paired t-test = 5.34, p < 0.001) and large effect size (0.82). Social network analysis of ten 2008/2009 modules showed significant difference in density of build-on notes across groups. Additional results demonstrated a relationship between high knowledge gains and social network measures of centrality/distribution and cohesion. Correlation of posttest scores with centrality variables were all positive. Position/power analyses highlighted core-periphery sociocognitive dynamics between the facilitator and students. Facilitators most often evoked partner/expert relationships. Questions rather than statements dominated the discourse; discourse complexity was elaborated/compiled as opposed to reduced/dispersed. Themes beyond predefined learning objectives emerged and Knowledge Building principles of community responsibility, idea improvability, and democratization of knowledge were evident. Overall, results demonstrate the potential of collective Knowledge Building and design-mode work in continuing medical education, with individual learning representing an important by-product. There were no discernible decrements in performance, suggesting significant advantages rather than tradeoffs from engagement in Knowledge Building.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/32313 |
| Date | 26 March 2012 |
| Creators | Lax, Leila |
| Contributors | Scardamalia, Marlene |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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