BIMHSE News Issue 12

10 Project: Identifying and articulating the student learning experience in the MBBS 130 curriculum Enrichment Year Principal Investigator: Dr Eric Yuk Fai Wan, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care & Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy (E: yfwan@hku.hk ) Co-investigators: Mr Zhihao Li, Dr Julie Yun Chen, Dr Weng Yee Chin, Prof Cindy Lo Kuen Lam, Dr Tai Pong Lam, Dr Gordon Tin Chun Wong, Dr George Lim Tipoe, Dr Kai Sing Tony Sun, Dr So Ching Sarah Chan The new innovative 130-curriculum for the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery Programme (MBBS) began in 2016–17. Students were allowed to design their own learning experience by choosing from a combination of activities such as intercalation or exchange programmes, research attachments, and service and humanitarian work in Hong Kong and/or overseas during the third year (Enrichment Year (EY)). However, the barriers and facilitators, and the overall student learning during EY are unknown. The aim of this project is to identify the barriers and facilitators to achieve the proposed learning outcomes in the EY using a mixed-method design for all 206 MBBSIII students who participated in the EY during 2018–19. The empirical findings from this study can help to inform the future planning of the programme to enhance the student learning experience. Project: Virtual ER: A serious online game for enhancing clinical competence and teamwork in medical and nursing undergraduates Principal Investigator: Dr Janet Yuen Ha Wong, School of Nursing (E: janetyh@hku.hk ) Co-investigators: Dr Veronica Lam, Ms Jessica Cheuk, Ms Zoe Ng, Dr Maggie Chan, Dr Abraham Wai, Dr LP Leung, Dr Gordon Wong, Dr To Kwok, Prof Ricky Kwok Serious gamification in clinical education has emerged exponentially in recent decades. It uses game mechanics to enhance learners’ motivation and influence their behaviours. Learning objectives of serious games vary considerably from specific technical skills training to general case-based scenarios that require clinical reasoning and problem- solving skills. In this project, we plan to develop a serious online game with the specific learning goals of enhancing clinical competence and teamwork in both medical and nursing students at emergency units in a virtual hospital. As clinical competence in decision making and teamwork are two promising soft skills substantially required in emergency care, we expect serious gamification will be an effective pedagogic approach to engage students in emergency medicine and nursing. In addition, by analysing the relevant data, we will be able to understand which game mechanics will lead students toward engaging behaviours. Project: Introduction, development and evaluation of the Task- Oriented Practical (TOP) Principal Investigator: Dr Tomasz Stanislaw Cecot, School of Biomedical Sciences (E: tscecot@hku.hk ) Co-investigators: Dr Jian Yang, Dr George Lim Tipoe, Dr Andrew O’Malley Learning by exploration and direct experience is regarded as the most natural, intuitive and highly effective way of gathering information, acquiring new skills and changing attitudes. To support the learning of anatomy, histology and embryology we propose a new approach to teaching in the format of Task-Oriented Practical (TOP). TOP is a learning session which comprises a series of tasks that are carried out at stations by groups of students. A station is a physical area equipped with relevant teaching resources to enable students to complete the task and achieve the specified learning outcomes. The task itself will contain open-ended instructions for students to accomplish at the station, align to the learning outcomes, correspond with higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, help students to understand complex concepts and promote communication and team learning. We hope to create a truly stimulating and creative learning environment for our students. Dr Eric Yuk Fai Wan Dr Janet Yuen Ha Wong Dr Tomasz Stanislaw Cecot