PBL at UBC...one person's perspective

[Guest bcdentalgirl]

I know PBL gets dissed a lot and I'm not really sure why. I like it.

 

1) It's a great way to start the day. rather than snore your way through another boring lecture at 8 am, you get to chat about the material and get it straight in your head. Maybe even get into a heated debate. It's pretty social. You WILL NOT FALL ASLEEP.

 

2) It forces you to study and prep for lectures and reinforces the material. You generally get posed problems that you must try to tackle before you get the material in class. Bingo, you walk into a lecture having already at least TRIED to understand it. You've now got questions ready to go and the lecture merely facillitates the learning process, or fills in some blanks. In addition, come exam time, it truly is just review; you aren't cramming, you've already learned it in PBL. (this is very big for a hopeless crammer like me)

 

3) you get to exploit the wealth of knowledge in your fellow students. Don't understand Gluconeogenesis? Ask the Biochem major to draw it out and explain it to you until you get it. Think you've got some concept all neatly wrapped up? Try explaining it on the board. If you made a mistake it's great...you just caught it and now you and your group can get it hammered out for real. The idea is to move on only when everyone gets it, so your learning becomes the responsibility of the group as well as your own.

 

4) You get to work on your teamwork/interpersonal skills.

 

5) You get to know a new group in each new block. Keeps things from getting too cliquey.

 

6) You get to make things fun (eg treats on Friday...or everyday for that matter. whatever your group decides)

 

7) You get to integrate concepts with eachother and think about them in the clinical aspect. You are encouraged to consider the psychosocial, ethical, practical implications of certain conditions and identify areas of controversey. So they not only become relevant, but interesting.

 

If I was offered the option of not doing PBL at all, I really wouldn't take it. I get bored in lectures and find it hard to focus if I'm tired or the material is especially tedious, so it works for me. I can't speak for others, but I don't really hear a lot of complaining. People really get into it..

 

my $.02

[Guest predent2003]

Hey bcdentalgirl,

 

Your posting was very helpful. I mean PBL really do force us to work during the term instead of cramp all at once before the final.

 

The thing most important is that you really get to know a few more people in person. Imagine 4 years of education, I would like to make a few more friends rather than sitting together with the same person I've been sitting with during my undergrad!

 

However, honestly, I don't think I am the type of people who exel on doing presentation orr group project. But I am looking forward to PBL because it really sounds flexible and interesting. Most importantly, it is TIME for a little change from those old boring lectures we've all sat throught during our undergrad!!

Just my opinion