This study aims to explore how online searching plays a role during PBL tutorials in two undergraduate health sciences curricula, Medicine and Dentistry. Utilizing Interactional Ethnography (IE) as an organizing framework for data collection and analysis, and drawing on a critical theory of technology as an explanatory lens, enabled a textured…

We introduced a debate-style tutorial exercise into the third-year tutorial classes with the purpose of developing the students' logic, broadening their vision and encouraging them to express their opinions in public, before an audience. The issues for debate included medical (dental) and non-medical topics. Two separate debate exercises were…

Assesses the quality of tutorial sessions in the problem-based learning curriculum that was adopted at the University of Tampere in Finland. (Author/CCM)

In this study of students (N=112) invited to participate in a hematology-transfusion medicine tutorial, it was found that students (N=59) receiving problem-based instruction did more poorly than controls on short-term examination but maintained their knowledge after two years better than control groups. (MLW)

Understanding the relevance of basic science knowledge in the determination of patient assessment, diagnosis, and treatment is critical to good medical practice. One method often used to direct students in the fundamental process of integrating basic science and clinical information is problem-based learning (PBL). The faculty facilitated small…

Problem-based learning at the United Arab Emirates University has presented particular challenges. Students, used to a teacher-centered approach, needed more support in taking advantage of active learning and tutorial support than their Western counterparts required. Study guides have become valuable components of the curriculum. Discusses…

Four problem-based tutorial groups (n=23 students, n=4 faculty) in Harvard University Medical School's New Pathway track were studied to determine what interactions characterized student-directed discussion. It was found that students selected most topics discussed, that tutors questioned infrequently, provided limited information, and tolerated…

Discusses the incorporation of a problem-based anatomy course into a traditional curriculum in the School of Medicine at the University of Zagreb. Describes the course, challenges that arose during the transition, and institutional solutions. Students showed a high preference for the active learning process experienced in tutorials over the more…

Of concern in the problem-based learning process in medical student education is the effect of allowing students to generate their own learning issues while discussing cases and problems. This study considered learning issues in problem-based learning, studying faculty and student overlap and consistency across learning groups while adding the…

Questions about the necessity of tutors' content experience and what skills are required to make tutor behavior effective have received increased attention in the literature about problem-based learning. The present study attempts to examine the effects of context-specific variables through analysis of the generalizability of tutor behavior and…

Evaluation of problem-based learning tutorials with 70 medical students found that, when tutors had expertise in the clinical cases studied, student groups generated twice as many learning issues, and issues were three times more congruent with the case objectives. Additionally, groups with expert tutors spent more time overcoming identified…

A curriculum involving reduced lecture time, small-group tutorials, a commitment to problem-based learning (PBL), and a strong reliance on self-directed study, was implemented at Harvard Medical School in 1985. This study focuses on the attitudes of 14 faculty tutors who had never tutored in a PBL curriculum. (MLW)

A study of 336 staff-led, problem-based tutorial groups in a European university health sciences program found that students who were tutored by subject-matter experts achieved somewhat better and spent more time on self-directed learning. In addition, tutoring skill and content knowledge were important in effective tutoring. (Author/MSE)