Evaluation of Marmara University Faculty of Health Sciences Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Students' Perspectives on Different Learning Practices
Authors: SEVİM Mustafa , KIROĞLU UZUN Sezin , YILDIRIM Alper , YEĞEN Berrak , SARIKAYA Özlem 
Published: August 2022

Aim: The team-based learning (TBL) method is a student-centered learning method and aims to improve students' ability to study as a team and solve problems. Compared with other learning methods, it allows educational interactions to occur at higher levels in groups working as a team throughout the course period. The disruption of education due to the COVID-19 pandemic and continuation of the courses online have shown that reaching the learning goals is related to the infrastructure resources of the universities as well as to differences in student’s learning profiles. In our study, it is aimed to evaluate how the possible changes that occur in the learning process by transforming the Physiology undergraduate courses, which were carried out with the classical lecture hall and EBÖ method in the Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Department at Marmara University Faculty of Health Sciences (MUSBF) before the pandemic, into online courses during the pandemic period, affect the students' participation and motivation in the lesson.Methods: The data of the 1st year's Physiology courses, 6 hours of classical lecture courses, 6 hours of TBL courses -which were held before the COVID-19 pandemic- and 6 hours of online courses of during the pandemic in March 2020 were included in the study. Reading materials related to the course were prepared before the TBL courses. In the first stage, the questions, which were expected to be answered individually at the beginning of the course, were then discussed in teams of 10-12 students determined by the instructor and asked to be answered. Afterwards, a short presentation about the course content was made by the instructor. In the second stage, discussion questions were given to the groups and they were asked to solve them as a team. The course was concluded with a test summarizing the content of the lecture. Learning lesson content, participation in the lesson, and attention levels were obtained by a questionnaire. By including open-ended questions in the questionnaire, the processes for learning before and after the course were evaluated, and additional opinions, if there were any, were also requested. The questions in the online form were summarized as descriptive data in the form of frequency distributions. Written notes about the participants' reflections, in which they have assessed the TBL, were evaluated by descriptive interpretive analysis and focus group interview records were evaluated using thematic content analysis.Results: Students emphasized that the teaching methods used in the course not only affected their participation in the lecture but also were compatible with their learning styles. When the questions about the students' learning experiences were assessed, it was seen that the majority of them learned the lesson better when they listened to the instructor (99%). Also, they expressed that either working with friends (78.8%) or studying the sourcebook (79.9%) helped them to learn better. Additionally, it was observed that 74.8% of the students had study habits that included the use of internet as a source. Students reported that TBL affected their learning processes at a higher rate than classical and online learning methods in terms of motivation for the course (91,9%), contribution to the learning processes (90,9%), attention during the course (73,7%), asking questions during the course (67,4%) and making preparation before the course (65,3%). The students stated the aims of making preparation before the course as to facilitate the understanding of the course, and to participate actively in the lesson. They stated that EBÖ makes positive contribution to their learning processes, as well as it was a method that increased productivity and focus.Conclusions: It is thought that TBL is an effective method in learning by discussing problems as a group and increasing the active participation of the students. It was observed that this situation played a positive role in the communication of the participants with their peers, allowing shy students to communicate better.