Objectives: To determine whether team based learning (TBL) is superior to traditional lecture -based learning in confidence and knowledge retention one year later.
Design: A survey was administered 17 months after a completion of a required over-the-counter /self-care (OTC) course to two different cohorts of students. The survey assessed confidence and knowledge related to OTC topics. The lecture group had a traditional lecture based classroom experience; the intervention group experienced a TBL format throughout the entire course.
Assessment: One hundred forty-seven students of 283 enrolled (51.9%) in the lecture group and 222 of 305 (72.8%) students in the TBL group participated in the knowledge assessment and survey. Demographic data including student grade point averages (GPA) and confidence were similar in both groups. Mean assessment scores (±SD) on OTC knowledge was significantly higher in the traditional lecture based group versus the TBL group; 62.9±19.3 vs. 54.9±15.7 (p=0.001).
Conclusion: Although TBL is thought to improve student engagement and mastery of material, after an initial implementation of TBL, knowledge retention in the long term appears to be lower than lecture based learning.
Keywords: Knowledge retention; Self-care; Team-based learning.
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.