Video as Context and Conduit for Problem-Based Learning

Abstract

An important role for video in education has been to create rich cases of practice for learners. It can allow learners to see the complexity of knowledge in use as they learn to bring their conceptual and theoretical ideas together with the world of practice. In particular, this research has explored the use of video triggers to help medical students learn about culturally competent communication. To help support the goal of learning to consider culture in medical communication, we connected teams from Hong Kong and Canada via video conference. In this way, technology could play a second important role, by serving as a conduit, or a means for learning and communication. This conduit role was particularly important in dealing with the emotionally laden issue of delivering bad news. In this proof-of-concept study, medical students and faculty from Hong Kong and Canada came together to consider two cases of telling a patient that they were HIV positive. The goal of the PBL was to help the students learn about the SPIKES protocol for delivering bad news and to consider how that might be affected by patients from different cultures. The synchronous video proved important in helping students to become a community of inquiry at an accelerated pace. Moreover, using both the video and chat tools provided opportunities for just in time professional development. Although this was a short PBL implementation, it provided many lessons for future research and practice. •Video triggers can be used as a focus for cross-cultural communication •Problem-based learning mediated by technology provides opportunities to study medical students social and emotional regulation •Web-based video conferencing systems provide opportunities for scaffolding facilitation As a proof-of-concept study, we reviewed how researchers of computer-mediated learning had popularly used the community of inquiry (CoI) framework. Then, examining the role of culture in learning in general and in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL), we suggested an extended CoI framework with cultural overlays. We present an example of how the new CoI framework could be used in a culturally diverse CSCL situation specifically when emotionally laden issues, which empower learners to unpack their cultural assumptions, are targeted for learning.