Improving education with research: Rahul Pandit on Team-Based Learning

In the world of educational development, research into one's own teaching practice, also called Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), plays a crucial role. It offers teachers an opportunity to improve their teaching based on systematic research and reflection. Lecturer Rahul Pandit decided to try something new in his teaching and introduced Team-Based Learning (TBL) in Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy (P&PT) teaching within the Medicine curriculum. He investigated its impact through surveys and performance on the test to understand how TBL contributed to the learning process. The results? More active engagement, deeper learning and better study results.

The start of the study: from passive to active learning

As coordinator of the P&PT learning line within the Bachelor of Medicine, Rahul noticed that students came to classes unprepared. This resulted in passive learning, whereas contact hours provide an opportunity to deepen knowledge and train problem-solving skills.

Students appreciated the classes, but were not making the best use of the contact time. That is why I introduced Team-Based Learning, says Rahul. This encourages active learning, starting with individual preparation and then moving into group discussions. This promotes self-directed learning and helps students test their knowledge against that of others.

Every research project has challenges, and it was no different here. Collecting sufficient data through questionnaires proved difficult, as a representative sample is needed to draw reliable conclusions. Therefore, I conducted the study over two consecutive academic years, explains Rahul. This not only provided a more robust dataset, but also increased reliability as we saw similar results in both groups.

Impact on educational innovation and personal growth

The results of the project fit seamlessly with broader educational innovations within the university. In recent years, classical lectures have increasingly been replaced by activating and interactive forms of teaching, and Team-Based Learning fits perfectly into this development.

I have shared the results with colleagues and continue to promote TBL as a flexible teaching method, says Rahul. The beauty is that it can be applied without major curriculum changes, which makes implementation more accessible.

Besides the impact on students, the SoTL project has also changed Rahul's own perspective. Every SoTL project teaches me something new, reflects Rahul, who is also SoTL advocate within his faculty. These experiences help me learn more about educational research and also support other teachers in their first steps in SoTL.

Practical tips for fellow lecturers

For teachers considering researching their own teaching, Rahul has valuable advice: Sometimes it is difficult to fully implement teaching innovations immediately. My tip is to pick out the working elements and apply them step by step.

For instance, Rahul chose to omit competition between groups within Team-Based Learning. I modified the TBL steps in certain ways. Students are already under a lot of performance pressure. I felt it was more important to create a safe learning environment where making mistakes is allowed. However, I did deliberately keep the elements of formative assessment, collaboration and working on an authentic problem, because these elements were most crucial for our own teaching situation. And even with a modified version of TBL, we saw that students who participated performed better on the exam.

Conclusion: continued curiosity and growth

This project shows how educational innovation and SoTL are mutually reinforcing. Staying curious, experimenting and systematically researching keeps education moving forward. By intertwining innovation and research, we can keep improving education, concludes Rahul. This way, we ensure that we not only inspire, but actually make an impact.