Life in PBL : two PBL teams

Problem-based learning (PBL) continues to challenge educational institutions in terms of demonstrating its effectiveness. Prior studies have offered insight into the methods, application, and experiences of teaching using PBL. However, student behaviours and the learning cultures that develop in PBL settings are also important. In this paper, we present the ways students of a first year engineering course at an Australian university approach PBL. A number of PBL teams in the same subject were observed throughout two semesters with their consent. This paper reports on two of these teams. Some observations were video taped to aid analysis. The purpose of this study was to analyse and compare learning approaches that help or hinder successful group outcomes. It is evident from the data that individuals in the groups have a strong influence on what is learnt. Some students also focus more on exploiting the assessment system than on maximising their learning

Methods of assessment used by osteopathic educational institutions

Background: The methods used for assessment of students in osteopathic teaching institutions are not widely documented in the literature. A number of commentaries around clinical competency assessment have drawn on the health professional assessment literature, particularly in medicine. Objective: To ascertain how osteopathic teaching institutions assess their students and to identify issues associated with the assessment process. Design: A series of focus groups and interviews was undertaken with osteopathic teaching institutions. Participants: Twenty-five participants across eleven osteopathic teaching institutions from the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy and Australia. Results: Four themes were identified from the focus groups: Assessing; Processes; Examining; Cost Efficiency. Institutions utilised assessment types such as multiple choice questions and written papers in the early years of a program and progressed towards the long case assessment and Objective Structured Clinical Examination in the later stages of a program. Although examiner cost and training were common themes across all of the institutions, they were perceived to be necessary for developing and conducting assessments. Conclusion: Most institutions relied on traditional assessment methods such as the long case assessment, however, there is increasing recognition of newer forms of assessment, such as the portfolio. The assessment methods employed were typically written assessments in the early years of a program, progressing to long case and Objective Structured Clinical Examination format assessments. © 2012

Assessing fitness-to-practice of overseas-trained health practitioners by Australian registration & accreditation bodies

Assessment of fitness-to-practice of health professionals trained overseas and who wish to practice in Australia is undertaken by a range of organisations. These organisations conduct assessments using a range of methods. However there is very little published about how these organisations conduct their assessments. The purpose of the current paper is to investigate the methods of assessment used by these organisations and the issues associated with conducting these assessments

Putting Learning into the Learning Commons : A Literature Review

For decades academic libraries have been seen as portals to information, print resources and more recently digital resources, but, as Demas states, 'we have reawakened to the fact that libraries are fundamentally about people:-how they learn, how they use information, and how they participate in the life of a learning community' (Demas 2005, p. 25). As a result 'Libraries today are in transition both as institutions and as a building type' (Hartman 2000, p. 112)

Designing problem-based learning for student success

A recent review of engineering education in Australia challenged universities to improve the quality of their courses by integrating the development of graduate capabilities throughout their courses, strengthening problem-solving and other areas and including engineering application activities that address contemporary issues and human dimensions. It also advocated the wider adoption of active-learning approaches, including project and problem-based learning. Over the past four years, Victoria University has been working towards a problem based learning (PBL) approach that is designed to address challenges such as these in a way that reflects both our students and our setting. The majority of our students have just completed secondary school, often with modest grades. Many are the first in their family to attend university, are typically from homes where a language other than English is spoken and come from areas with a relatively low average income. Most need to work part-time while studying to support themselves. Despite these impediments, many complete the course successfully but at least an equal number do not. We are therefore currently undertaking a review of our engineering courses that focuses, amongst other things, on improving the academic success of our students. This paper reports on the strategies that we are exploring to do this

Work-Based Learning Curricula in Nursing : A Literature Review

The goal of undergraduate nursing education is to prepare nurses for practice in a demanding and dynamic health care environment. Among other factors, the increased demand for nurses, the rapid growth in nursing knowledge, increased use of technology and the changing demographics of Australia's population have all resulted in significant challenges to educational institutions that are preparing nurses for practice. This report explores how some of these challenges can be met using curricular models that emphasise work-based learning and strong articulation between programs preparing division 2 and division 1 nurses

Making PBL teams successful : a study on student diversity in a first year electrical engineering programme

Problem based learning (PBL) is a group learning environment that involves a radical change in the way students learn and the role that academic staff play in facilitating learning. The PBL approach claims to build extended technological and social understandings as it offers a context for development of autonomous learners. It has an emphasis on collective and individual learning motivation and decision-making behaviours.In this paper, we present the responses of students to the heterogeneous characteristic of PBL teams in a first year electrical engineering degree course at an Australian University. The learning cultures in PBL teams that emerge as a result of the diverse characteristics of teams are also presented in this paper.A number of PBL teams were observed and interviewed throughout their first year course with their consent. Analysis of the data collected about students’ learning and outcomes in PBL teams informed the ways in which individual students approach their learning, the ways in which they control, regulate and direct their learning individually and as a group and the extent to which they participate, engage and thereby learn in the course.It is evident that some students have a strong influence on the behaviour of other students in their team. These students also influenced what is learnt as a team, the ways in which they interrelated, worked as a team and problem solved in changing circumstances. Therefore, when designing student teams for PBL academics should not assume that a mono-cultural group or a mixed-ability group of students will work successfully together. We think that the results of this research inform both the design of PBL courses and the facilitation of PBL groups to accomplish successful group learning outcomes

Learning cultures of problem-based learning teams

The learning experiences of first-year engineering students to a newly implemented engineering problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum is reported here, with an emphasis on student approaches to learning. Ethnographic approaches were used for data collection and analysis. This study found that student learning in a PBL team in this setting was mainly influenced by the attitudes, behaviour and learning approaches of the student members in that team. Three different learning cultures that emerged from the analysis of eight PBL teams are reported here. They are the finishing culture, the performing culture and the collaborative learning culture. It was found that the team that used a collaborative approach to learning benefited the most in this PBL setting. Students in this team approached learning at a deep level. The findings of this study imply that students in a problem-based, or project-based, learning setting may not automatically adopt a collaborative learning culture. Hence, it is important for institutions and teachers to identify and consider the factors that influence student learning in their particular setting, provide students with necessary tools and ongoing coaching to nurture deep learning approaches in PBL teams