Presented By: Peter Boedeker, Baylor College of Medicine
Co-Authors: Andrew Bergemann, Baylor College of Medicine
Cara Foldes, Baylor College of Medicine
Sandra Haudek, Baylor College of Medicine
Matthew McMillin, Baylor College of Medicine
Nancy Moreno, Baylor College of Medicine
Munder Zagaar, Baylor College of Medicine

Purpose
Curricular innovation in a medical school can be challenging. Transitioning from a lecture-based to an active learning curriculum with PBL as the primary driver introduces potential inconsistencies for both students and faculty due to the magnitude of this shift and the decentralized nature of PBL. An innovation configuration (IC) is a rubric-like tool that supports programmatic quality improvement by cataloguing the actual implementation of curricular elements. The IC enables leadership to spot concerns needing correction and offers faculty a concise guide for proper curricular implementation. Our purpose was to develop two ICs, one for student behaviors and another for facilitator behaviors, to support implementation of problem-based learning (PBL) activities.

Methods
We followed the IC development process outlined in Hord et al. (2006). Multiple stakeholders were involved in development of the PBL ICs, including faculty with experience creating ICs, curriculum leadership, and PBL experts/facilitators. An initial meeting introduced the IC format and function. Faculty met weekly to develop the two ICs, collaboratively refining each component and variation. A pilot was conducted in which a PBL session was observed; ICs were completed independently by an observer and the PBL facilitator.

Results
The observer and facilitator agreed on 13 (82%) of IC elements; differences were discussed resulting in further refinement of the tool. The process of IC development resulted in faculty and student ICs to support implementation of PBL. By the time of meeting, we will refine processes for collecting and integrating IC data with ongoing quality improvement efforts.

Conclusions
PBL ICs provide a standardized set of expectations beneficial for faculty who are in training or preparing to facilitate a session. They also serve as a valuable tool for leadership, enabling them to assess the current program implementation and make essential adjustments. We encourage the local development of ICs tailored to capture an institution's distinctive implementation of curricular elements like PBL.