Adoption Of Problem-based Learning Research Articles

Effects of the Education and Training Programme for Excellent Physicians in China on medical students’ academic performance: a cross-sectional study

ObjectivesTo evaluate the effect of the Education and Training Programme for Excellent Physicians in China on medical students’ academic performance.DesignThis study is a secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional...

Adoption of Problem-Based Learning in Medical Schools in Non-Western Countries: A Systematic Review

Phenomenon: In recent decades, medical education practices developed in Western countries have been widely adopted in non-Western countries. Problem-based Learning (PBL) was first developed in North America and it relies on Western educational and cultural values, thereby raising concerns about its ‘lift and shift’ to non-Western settings. Approach: This review systematically identified and interpretively synthesized studies on students’ and teachers’ experiences of PBL in non-Western medical schools. Three databases (ERIC, PsycINFO, and MEDLINE) were searched. Forty-one articles were assessed for quality using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) checklist and synthesized using meta-ethnography. The final synthesis represented over 5,400 participants from 18 countries. Findings: Findings were categorized into three different constructs: Student Engagement, Tutor Skills, and Organization and Planning. Our synthesis demonstrates that medical students and teachers in non-Western countries have varied experiences of PBL. Students engage variably with PBL, consider knowledge to be better acquired from authoritative figures, and deem PBL to be ineffective for assessment preparation. Student participation is limited by linguistic challenges when they are not native English speakers. Teachers are often unfamiliar with the underlying philosophical assumptions of PBL and struggle with the facilitation style needed. Both students and teachers have developed modifications to ensure that PBL better fits in their local settings. Insights: Given the significant adjustments and resource requirements needed to adopt PBL, medical school leaders and policy makers in non-Western countries should carefully consider possible consequences of its implementation for their students and teachers, and proactively consider ways to ‘hybridize’ it for local contexts.

Problem-Based Learning Diagnosis in Computing Higher Education: An Overview from Brazilian Public Institutions

In Computing Higher Education (CHE), the desired transformation of traditional teaching and learning methods, almost always based on the transmission of information and content-based curricula, has been the objective of several educational institutions that wish to combat students’ demotivation and dropout. Among successful approaches, Problem-Based Learning (PBL) stands out as one of the most effective and radical methods regarding pedagogical innovations. While the PBL implementation means a great opportunity to achieve better educational performance, it also represents many challenges that can only be managed if they are first known and understood. In this context, the motivation for this study comes from the following research question: “How to know if an institution at CHE is ready to implement the PBL?”. As a response, an institutional diagnostic model regarding the adoption of PBL is proposed. It conducted an opinion survey in two kinds of educational institutions: technical and academic ones. Thirty-eight technical educational institutions in computing answered this survey, involving 302 participants, and fifteen academic institutions, involving 20 participants. The results showed that the model reached its objective, allowing the identification of favorable, warning, and critical points regarding the adoption of PBL in these institutions. This study is an evolution of the results focusing only on technical institutions published at the CSEDU 2021 conference and conducted by the NEXT Research Group.

Reviewing the roles of extracurricular activities in developing employability skills: a bibliometric review

The process of employability skills improvement is reflected in the pedagogical approaches employed by institutions of higher learning (HEIs). While several studies have discussed these approaches, very few have microscoped them and examined their learning outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to review the concept of extracurricular activities (ECA) research published on the Elsevier Scopus database from 1990 to 2020 using a sequence of bibliometric analysis to identify the status, research trends and focus areas in recent ECA studies within the built environment context. Keywords such as ‘extracurricular activity’ OR ‘extracurricular activities’ OR ‘co-curricular activity’ OR ‘co-curricular activities’ OR ‘out of school activity’ OR ‘out of school activities’ AND ‘employability’ AND ‘built environment’ were used to extract papers from the database. Through the sequencing of cluster analysis, the results of this study revealed that the focus on ECA studies is placed on employability skills, academic performance, overall human development, parental involvement and improving cultural diversity. More so, the current research focus is tending towards the knowledge and adoption of problem-based learning (PBL) which is a key component of built environment education. This study provides a basis for encouraging ECA as a key pedagogical approach in developing the future workforce of the construction industry. Despite the novelty of this article, generalizations of the results must be done cautiously due to the use of a single database, which in this case is Elsevier’s Scopus.

The Use of Active Methodologies for Teaching–Learning Systems in Telecommunications

This article discusses the adoption of the Problem Based Learning (PBL) and Project Based Learning (P2BL) approaches in the teaching/learning process of telecommunications. A computational environment was defined to combine these two approaches which focused on the teaching of courses that cover topics related to telecommunications systems. Newly graduated professionals face difficulties when entering the job market, as they have to deal with situations that are not experienced in the academic world. There is still a tendency to rely on traditional approaches for the teaching of telecommunications systems that have proved to be inefficient, as they are only concerned with content and not the applications that the student will require in the job market. The aim of this research is to investigate whether the adoption of PBL and P2BL in a computational environment can enhance student learning more effectively than the traditional teaching approach. This involved conducting an experiment in 7 undergraduate classes to compare the performance of the students that adopted PBL and P2BL with that of the students who were taught with the traditional approach. Data were collected on the grades obtained by the students in the courses and these were statistically analyzed. The results show that the adoption of PBL and P2BL led to the students achieving a 32% increase in performance. However, it was noted that the infrastructure of the institutions directly influences the way the approaches are adopted and, hence affects, the results.

Students’ perceptions of lecturer power and authority in a higher education PBL business programme

ABSTRACTAlthough often suffering from a lack of conceptual clarity and definition, the use of problem-based learning (PBL) as a pedagogical approach has become almost ubiquitous across many disciplines in higher education in recent years. As well as purported benefits for student learning, the empowerment of students through increased autonomy is frequently cited as a rationale for the adoption and promotion of PBL. However, while significant research has been conducted on the relationship between student learning and PBL approaches, there exists a dearth in research regarding the impact on power relationships within the higher education classroom. This paper attempts to help address this dearth through the use of a qualitative research study involving interviews with 13 graduates (5 male and 8 female) from a PBL master’s degree programme. The results suggest that the adoption of PBL as a pedagogical strategy does not guarantee a significant shift in the power relationships evident within higher education. Participants perceived that the dominance of lecturer power was maintained in the classroom via the employment of both explicit and implicit techniques.

Aprendizaje basado en problemas como complemento de la enseñanza tradicional en Fisicoquímica

Physicochemistry's contents are considered as of little application in the future, and so a lot of the students direct their efforts towards a superficial learning. Problem-based learning (PBL) is a methodological strategy that seeks to stimulate the need of knowing in students and it is used as a mean to acquire knowledge and apply them to solve a real or fictitious problem. The purpose of this article is to describe the results of an experience in which PBL was used as a complement of traditional teaching in three student cohorts. Two instances of qualitative evaluation and three of quantitative evaluation were done. Results showed a high qualitative evaluation, emphasizing the studentś satisfaction with the close integration of theoretical and practical contents. At the same time, the group quantitative achievements were very encouraging, even though the individual performance of the group members did not reflect the same. In conclusion, the adoption of PBL as a complement to traditional teaching is an educational investment that is fruitful at least in the short and medium term, despite the initial resistance of the students and the time and effort demanded to teachers and students.

A SURVEY OF THE PRACTICES OF THE APPROACHES TAUGHT IN AN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

The Saudi labour market has recently witnessed intense competition between locally- graduated Industrial Engineers and those graduating from international universities. This has compelled local IE departments to find ways to improve the quality of their educational programmes and to ensure their alignment with the labour market’s needs. To this end, insightful information can be obtained by contacting alumni and soliciting their perceptions of their education. However, empirical investigations based on this approach are rarely reported in the literature. To fill this gap, this study reports the results of a survey that was conducted to examine the gap between what is practised and what is taught in the Industrial Engineering (IE) programme at King Abdulaziz University (KAU). Apart from discussing the main characteristics of the alumni’s employers, the study revealed that ‘Engineering Economy’ involves the most applied techniques in practice, whereas ‘Engineering Management’ incorporates the most applicable approaches. The limited use of IE techniques was mainly attributed to poor cooperation between practitioners and academics, and the simplistic nature of the problems addressed in the university curriculum compared with complex real-life ones. To deal with some of the identified problems, this paper argues for advisory board members to engage with industry when designing the curriculum, and for the adoption of problem-based learning.

The perspectives of major stakeholders on video enriched problem-based learning for Chinese teacher education

<p>The study described in this paper investigated how the major stakeholders of a teacher education institution responded to a particular suite of educational products that involved video-based educational learning objects. It aims to look into stakeholder attitudes to potential technological development in fostering student-centred learning in general and problem-based learning (PBL) in particular, with the ultimate goal of enhancing and improving the quality of teacher training. The research objectives are specifically focused upon (a) the experience of the major stakeholders when using multimedia technology and PBL pedagogy; (b) perceived benefits and challenges when applying the courseware in actual teaching situations; and (c) the possibility of these video-rich PBL cases being adjusted to better suit stakeholder needs and encourage their wider use in the particular context of this Chinese teacher education institution. The results show that previous training can exert a significant influence on the adoption of PBL by teachers and students. The data analysis is expected to form a useful baseline for a longitudinal study to determine the extent to which such multimedia educational courseware can affect the processes of learning, and to identify the learning outcomes that may be achievable through video-rich learning objects.</p><p> </p>

Using problem-based learning in large undergraduate fieldwork classes: an Australian example

Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of a suite of strategies based on the premise that placing students at the centre of the learning process ultimately improves skills, knowledge and understanding. To date, however, there remain relatively few reports on the application of PBL within geography curricula. This paper traces the evolution of a PBL project in a first-year geography course with large student enrolments. It shows that while the adoption of PBL was challenging, the majority of students found the approach rewarding and enjoyable. Student feedback indicated that the most valuable components of the project were independent learning and working “hands on”, while the least enjoyable included a sense of disorganisation and uncertainty that accompanied independence. The paper also reflects on the more general lessons drawn from the PBL project, focusing on issues such as assessment, staffing, resources and departmental culture.

Inovando no ensino de administração: uma experiência com a aprendizagem baseada em problemas (PBL)

O objetivo deste artigo é relatar uma experiência educacional inovadora de ensino-aprendizagem de administração em disciplinas de graduação e pós-graduação com a aprendizagem baseada em problemas ou PBL (problem-based learning), como é mundialmente conhecida. A experiência ocorreu numa escola de engenharia de uma universidade pública, em diversos cursos de graduação em engenharia e em disciplinas de pós-graduação. Todas as disciplinas tinham conteúdos de administração, especificamente de "teoria geral da administração" e "introdução à administração". O estudo almeja substituir abordagens didáticas tradicionais e a construção conjunta da mudança entre professor/tutor e alunos. A adoção do PBL foi motivada pelo descompasso entre as exigências e dinâmica da vida profissional e a passividade e alienação dos alunos em sala de aula. A avaliação geral do professor e de 90% dos alunos é que o PBL tem bom resultado na aprendizagem de conceitos, habilidades e atitudes.

A preliminary study to evaluate the impact of problem-based learning (PBL) to a postgraduate clinical pharmacy programme in the UK

Background: The expanding volume of information on drugs and their application requires pharmacy educators to undertake a paradigm shift from teaching knowledge to teaching problem-solving skills. Aim: This study compares the use of problem-based learning (PBL) to traditional tutorial sessions in an MSc in Clinical Pharmacy Programme. Evaluation considers both assessment of knowledge and understanding and student perception to the learning experience. Method: Seventeen students were recruited to a randomised crossover trial conducted in two therapeutic modules. Results: No significant difference was found for assessment scores. In relation to attitude, students favoured PBL. Non-attendance was an issue, as students, engaged in full time employment and additional on-call commitments, were not mandated to attend. The authors conclude that the adoption of PBL does not harm traditional educational outcomes and is preferred by students. This work provides a baseline for further studies and will assist in the introduction of PBL to the postgraduate pharmacy curriculum.

How strong is the case for the adoption of problem-based learning in physiotherapy education in the United Kingdom?

Despite its use in medical and health education in several countries, problem-based learning (PBL) has to date not been adopted in undergraduate physiotherapy education in the UK. Most of these physiotherapy curricula incorporate many of the educationally desirable features found in PBL.The question is whether the evidence for PBL is strong enough to justify the costs involved in adopting it on such programmes. The strength of the evidence for PBL was reviewed in relation to required graduate attributes and several aspects of learning theory. Overall the findings were equivocal. The evidence suggests that PBL is preferential to traditional curricular design, but does not seem to meet all the requirements of medical and health education. Adoption of PBL would be positive, but its processes and outcomes may be no more successful than those of other curricular designs that incorporate the same sound educational design features. Comparative research in this area is needed.

Following the forsaken: a procedural description of a problem-based learning program in a school of nursing studies.

This paper reports the findings of one stage in an ongoing project to evaluate, from the students' perspectives, a student-centered problem-based learning (PBL) program in a School of Nursing Studies. We begin by making a comparison between teacher-centered education and religious devotion, and liken PBL to a congregation without a priest. A topographical account of the setting follows, describing the typical activities and events that characterize the program. Throughout the course of this account, a number of issues arise: the role of the facilitator, group dynamics, mutual responsibility and motivation for learning. These are touched on briefly, but we do not attempt to make a substantive theoretical contribution. Despite the widespread popularity of PBL in nursing schools, there have been few empirical studies conducted and, consequently, the adoption of PBL in nursing has been dependent upon the research of the very different discipline of medicine and medical education.

What Can Studies of Problem-Based Learning Tell Us? Synthesizing and Modeling PBL Effects on National Board of Medical Examination Performance: Hierarchical Linear Modeling Meta-Analytic Approach.

This meta-analytic study 1) examines outcomes from primary research comparing the impact of problem-based learning (PBL) and traditional curricula on medical students' National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) I and II performance and 2) explores the use of Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) in identifying study and PBL implementation characteristics that predict these outcomes. NBME I and II overall scores were used as dependent variables, with study design (randomized/non-randomized), publication year, and PBL experience (number of years since the adoption of PBL as an instructional method at the time of the reported NBME results) as explanatory variables. Initial unconditional HLM (i.e., without inclusion of potential explanatory variables) results indicated PBL curricula had: 1) a positive, albeit not statistically significant, effect on NBME II, with an average effect size of 0.16; and 2) a negative effect on NBME I, with an average effect size of -0.15. Including explanatory variables in HLM analyses explained additional variability in NBME I effect sizes, and identified study design (gamma^1 = 0.82, p = 0.01) and PBL experience (gamma^3 = 0.07, p = 0.02) as significant predictors of positive PBL effects. Publication year, in contrast, had significant negative effects (gamma^2 = -0.06, p = 0.02). This study explained variability in NBME I effect sizes and clarified the impact of PBL discerned in previous reviews. Implications for future research include the need to examine curriculum features that operationally define PBL, as well as extend the consideration of outcomes on which PBL's impact can be examined.

Microanatomy courses in U.S. and Canadian medical schools, 1991-92.

Many medical schools are reevaluating their approaches to teaching the basic and clinical sciences, yet there is little systematic information available about how specific courses are being taught. A detailed questionnaire was sent to 139 U.S. and Canadian medical schools to obtain information about microanatomy courses in 1991-92. Overall, 114 (82%) of the schools responded. The responses showed that microanatomy courses were including more cell biology and related material in their curricula, and that many were coordinating subject presentation with other basic science courses. The courses relied primarily on lecture-based teaching for non-laboratory material and structured laboratory exercises for laboratory material. New approaches, such as small-group, problem-solving sessions, were being introduced slowly; most of the courses used faculty-provided learning objectives. Computer-aided instruction had been introduced at a small number of schools, usually in the form of self-instructional packages or reviews. Multiple-choice written examinations and short-answer practical examinations were usually used to assess student knowledge; computer-based testing was rare. The microanatomy curricula tended to be relatively conventional. The primary barrier to the introduction of computer-aided instruction may be the wide-spread use of other self-instructional tools that are effective and less expensive to develop and maintain. Because of the trend toward fewer student contact hours, the adoption of problem-based learning at the course level could have a significant negative impact on the amount of microanatomy material that could be covered.