Student Modeling for Collaborative Medical Problem-Based Learning

Today a great many medical schools have turned to a problem-based learning (PBL) approach to teaching. PBL instructional models vary but the general approach is student-centered, small group, collaborative problem-based learning activities. While PBL has many strengths, effective PBL requires the tutor to provide a high degree of personal attention to the students. In the current academic environment where resources are becoming increasingly scarce and costs must be reduced, providing such attention becomes increasingly difficult. This is exacerbated by the fact that medical school faculty, in particular, often have limited time to devote to teaching. As a consequence, medical students often do not get as much facilitated PBL training as they might need or want. Our proposed work combines concepts from Intelligent Tutoring System with those from Computer Supported Collaborative Learning to develop an intelligent groupbased medical PBL system. Our proposed work departs from previous efforts to incorporate user modeling into computer supported collaborative environments by focusing on modeling individual and group problem solving behavior. Since problem solving in group PBL is a collaborative process, modeling individuals and the group is necessary if we wish to develop tutoring algorithms that can do things like focus the group discussion, promote collaboration, and suggest peer helpers.