“You decide ‘cause you’re the Chair” Using discursive psychology to show how students ‘do’ being a group member in PBL Gillian Hendry, Dr Sally Wiggins, Dr Tony Anderson PBL Summer Workshop, University of Leicester, 7-9 July 2014

About me 2 nd year PhD student at the University of Strathclyde HEA funded – first intake on Mike Baker doctoral programme Social psychology: “the study of how peoples’ thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by others” Research interests include PBL, discursive psychology and conversation analysis, the student experience, mental health, disability, group work…

My PhD project Investigating what makes group work ‘work’ – how is collaborative knowledge in PBL produced? -Existing research has highlighted the importance of focusing on group interaction between students in PBL sessions (e.g. Clouston, 2007; Holen, 2000; Visschers-Pleijers et al., 2004) -The effectiveness of PBL can often rest of the quality of such interactions, and understanding what’s going on in ‘real time’ is crucial -While students might report that they ‘worked well as a team’, for example, observations of actual PBL groups working together do not necessarily for with student and staff perceptions (Tipping et al., 1995)

Rationale Recent research has begun to explore the principles of ‘successful’ learning and, conversely, to identify areas of ‘poor interaction’ in PBL groups (Azer, 2009) While such concepts are helpful in theory, in practice the distinction between ‘poor’ and ‘successful’ group interactions is less clearly defined. A fine-grained approach to understanding interaction is required if we are to identify, in a practical and applicable way, the strategies through which effective learning can take place (Gukas et al., 2010)

Method Participants 8 x Final year Interdisciplinary Science students 23 x Final year Psychology students X x 1 st year Psychology students Excluding Abertay, these 31 students comprised 9 groups, who were recorded between October 2012 and November 2013

Method Data collectionGroups recorded naturalistically whilst partaking in PBL Total of 85 hours of footage collected (14 from Leicester, 71 from Strathclyde) Discursive research: although guided by a research question, no in-depth literature review needed before data collection. Data informs research; we don’t go in with any presumptions about what data will show!

Method Analytic Procedure Discursive psychology is a branch of discourse analysis that focuses on re-understanding psychological themes The ‘opposite’ of cognitive psychology (which assumes we each live with a set of underlying mental processes), and that what we say is a ‘window’ to our internal thoughts DP argues that who we are and what we say is a direct result of our interaction with the world. Can you be shy all by yourself?

Analysis Decision Making How individuals deal with ensuring everyone has a say What counts as a valuable suggestion/ contribution? Identity How students ‘do’ being a student Who has authority, and how is this managed? Topic shift interaction What functions do ‘going off topic’ have? Technology interaction Legitimising mobile phone use/ implications therein

Analysis Three quick clips, three quick points… Clip 1 Three Interdisciplinary Science students are working on a problem which requires them to produce a podcast. They are currently discussing how long it should be and what should be included.

Analysis

Analysis ‘Doing’ being the leader/ teacher/ non-student However, continues conversation - perhaps so as not to be seen as the one who spoils the fun? Student identity literature

Analysis Clip 2 Five (although only three can be seen) Psychology students are deciding which of two papers they should start with. The girl in the centre (Kate) is the Chair.

Analysis

Analysis Decision making doesn’t usually happen this quickly in groups – there’s often a lot of uhming and ahhing – but Kate isn’t Kate in this context; she’s the chair and therefore has the right to make the decision without any scrutiny from anyone else

Analysis Clip 3 A different three (although only one a half can be seen!) Interdisciplinary Science students are also working on their podcast. The female member of the group has a question for her peers regarding how to word a section of her talk.

Analysis Clip 3 A different three (although only one a half can be seen!) Interdisciplinary Science students are also working on their podcast. The female member of the group has a question for her peers regarding how to word a section of her talk. Neither colleague gives her a definitive answer, but rather make her think and thus answer her own question. This is excellent group work collaboration!

A brief summary Halfway through PhD: data collection is finished, analysis is on-going, as is writing Main area of interest is currently on group ‘socialness’, and how laughter, off-topic interaction and disagreement can facilitate effective PBL Students as consumers: enhancing employability skills, a shift to deep learning, and not just passing exams and gaining a degree!

Thank you for listening References Azer, S.A. (2009). Interactions between students and tutor in problem-based learning: the significance of deep learning. The Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences, 25 (5), Clouston, T. (2007) Exploring methods of analysing talking in problem-based learning tutorials. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 31 (2), Gukas, I., Leinster, S. & Walker, R. (2010) Verbal and nonverbal indices of learning during PBL among first year medical students and the threshold for tutor intervention. Medical Teacher, 32, e5-e11. Holen, A. (2000). The PBL group: self-reflections and feedback for improved learning and growth. Medical Teacher, 22 (5), Tipping, J., Freeman, R.F. & Rachlis, A.R. (1995). Using faculty and student perceptions of droup-dynamics to develop recommendations for PBL training. Academic Medicine, 70 (11), Visschers-Pleijers, A.J., Dolmans, D.H., Wolfhagen, I.H. & Van Der Vleuten, C.P. (2004). Exploration of a method to analyze group interactions in problem-based learning. Medical Teacher, 26 (5),