PBL, the best method??

[zaiva]

I read many posts in a french pre-med forum saying how good the PBL method is!!

 

It basically says that you will be a better doctor if you learn that way.....

 

What do you guys think??

 

Also, which facs uses PBL and which don't??

[Satsuma]

I think pretty much every school has some version of PBL.

 

Whether you like/learn from the PBL format depends on things such as your learning style and the make-up of your group.

 

I initially thought I would like PBL...but I really didn`t. At least not in the manner it was set-up was U of Ottawa (I believe they are reformatting for next year or sometime soon anyway).

 

Also, I had a couple of decent groups, 1 really good group and 1 really bad group. What I got out of PBL varied based on the group! (oh and the tutor....also had some pretty good tutors and some really bad ones)

 

So in summary.... I could have done without PBL.

[Adversary]

Most medical (and dental) students I know at UBC hates the PBL system. The only people who actually told me they like PBL are international dental students who join us (Dentistry) in 3rd year. They like it because they enjoy the discussion especially since they already have a strong grasp of the basic foundation of knowledge. I think part of the problem is the pressure that goes with such intense programs. It's hard to support something that basically takes the longer route to obtain information when there's so much to do and study. Furthermore, some things are best learned through lectures which are really hard to learn on own.

 

With that said, it is true most schools utilize PBL, but to different extents, ie. McM all PBL, UBC mostly PBL supp lectures (approx. 6 hours/week), UWO once a week (was last told this 2 years ago so might have changed).

[Talon01]

I hate PBL. It ends up turning into a few people who try to sound smart to get a better grade while the rest count down the minutes until it's over.

[Satsuma]

I hate PBL. It ends up turning into a few people who try to sound smart to get a better grade while the rest count down the minutes until it's over.

 

Yeah...this is the dumbest thing about PBL. You are supposed to work as a group and yet you are evaluated and are expected to excel individually.

[Jochi1543]

LOL, yeah, I sat in on a PBL at a US med school, and it was basically just 2 out of the 8 people talking all the time. I found it kind of annoying that the preceptor didn't interfere. I was sitting next to the preceptor, so I could see his scoring sheet, and when I left halfway through the PBL session (45 mins into it), he still didn't have anything for like half the people in the group.

 

I'm not the type to interrupt discussions and yell over other people, so I don't feel like PBL is really the best approach for me.

 

Everyone I talked to who's had PBL either hated it or was indifferent to it.

[Lactic Folly]

I liked small groups when we had physicians guiding us through an approach to a case scenario and giving us the benefit of their clinical experience.

 

I liked PBL less when the role of these physicians (as one told me) was to remain silent unless the group really got off track.

[Jasx]

The thing with PBL is that it is self-directed. You must have the mindset to value learning, not studying for the sake of recieving a grade. What you get out of it depends on how much you put in.

 

I am currently in the Health Sciences program at McMaster and I enjoy PBL very much. It is a core component of our cirrculum and I've found it helped me to develop many key groupwork and research skills. I also find I retain what I learn from PBL a lot better than lecture-based classes. But PBL took quite a while to get adjusted to. It wasn't until my second year that I really began to appreciate its merits.

[ChicoMaki]

I'm going to agree with Jasx. I'm also in the same program and find that I'm able to retain much more information from my PBL classes over lecture-based classes. I can still discuss projects and presentations from last term and even 1st year. However, its not all fun and games as sometimes, if the group is dysfunctional, you'll see yourself putting more hours into a PBL class than some other courses (combined some weeks). I'd also like to add to the comment about groups. Yes, you may find one of two people talking continuously and without knowing the context, i would say that the group isn't working to its potential. It is hard to give out individual marks for group projects, which is why, I'm assuming, that all the group projects I've done so far have been group marks, so everyone gets an A+ or a B+, etc. However, come end of the course, we fill out group-evaluations (usually 10% of final mark) and if you didn't pull your weight, and the group recognizes it, you'll find yourself a different, lower mark than the rest of the group. I am leaving a lot out about group process and facilitators.

[register]

PBL is catered towards people with a good foundation of knowledge, hence Mac's preference for older applicants with higher degrees. The problem with PBL that so many people are frustrated with is that they often don't have the necessary information needed to make PBL as good as it should be.

 

Group work becomes a big burden when the material hasn't even been covered and nobody has anything to talk about. I don't think the problem is that students are lazy, unmotivated, aren't self-directed learners. A lot of students would rather just have that time to study the materials than sit around and figure out "what's going on" through this "self-discovery" learning with a bunch of peers, while being marked.

[lostintime]

PBLs seem like a fancy name for "group work" to me. We had it in undergrad...where there was one slacker in the group who made everyone suffer. And a horrible horrible TA who made the experience all that much worse.