Session Information
Contribution
Problem based learning has been a feature of professional education for some twenty five years, since the publication of the work of Barrows (1980, 1988 etc). First designed for use within the medical and health care fields, it has found acceptance within other professional disciplines (Boud and Felletti, 1997). More recently, it has found acceptance within the field of the professional education and formation of teachers (McPhee, 2002: McPhee and Patrick, 2003, Savin Baden 2000, 2004 etc.) Within the University of Glasgow, Scotland, problem based learning has been a feature of the professional education of doctors for some time. It has also been utilised as a teaching and learning methodology within courses of initial teacher education, both at undergraduate and graduate levels. Following upon a growing sense of professional co-operation between the Faculties of Medicine and Education, a special study module was devised for third year medical students in education and working with children. This module involved the employment of the Education Faculty's issues based methods, as well as a short period of school experience placement. The present study looks at the different perceptions of problem / issues based learning within medical education and teacher education, and in particular, seeks to expand our understandings of the students' own experiences of this methodology and how they perceive it as relating to their professional development and formation within their own disciplines. Two groups of students were invited to particpate, a group of medical undergraduates and a professional graduate group of education students. The study will look at the students' own perceptions of their experiences, how these relate to their theoretical understandings and how they relate to their professional work and lives.The study employs qualitative methods to ascertain the students' views and perceptions. Firstly, a questionnaire is administered to a PGDE group whose work is organised along issues based lines and also to a special study group in the Mb ChB degree programme. Secondly, focus groups comprising interesting cases arising from the questionnaire data are formed and their perceptions compared. The students on the medical degree programme have had two years' extensive experience of problem based learning approaches in small group settings by the time that they undertake their special study module in Year Three. However, this experience is related to medical and scientific concerns in the pre-clinical setting. Education students, on the other hand, will have less experience of this methodology in general, and their perceptions of its application in a setting which directly relates to their experiences in school will be of interest to those who wish to look widely at the applicability of PBL to professional education. Barrows, H and Tamblyn R (1980) Problem based learning - an approach to medical education. New York, Springer. Barrows, H (1988) The tutorial process. Springfield School of Medicine, Illinois Boud, D and Felletti, G ( 1997) The Challenge of Problem-based Learning. London, Kogan Page Colliver, J (2000) Effectiveness of Problem-Based Learning curricula: research and theory. Academic Medicine 75 (3) 259-266 McPhee, AD (2002) Problem based learning in Initial Teacher Education. Journal of Educational Enquiry 3 (1) 60-78 Patrick, F and McPhee, AD (2003) Problem-based Learning in a Postgraduate Course of Initial Teacher Education. Paper presented at European Conference on Educational Research, Hamburg Savin-Baden, M (2000) Problem based learning in higher education - untold stories. London, McGraw-Hill Savin-Baden, M and Major, CF (2004) Foundations of problem based learning. Buckingham, Open University Press. Tan, K et al ( 2005) Problem -based learning: New Directions and Approaches. Singapore, Learning Academy Conference proceedings, or a European journal relating to teacher/professional education.
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.