Is a PBL curriculum a better nutrient medium for student-generated learning issues than a PBL island?

Abstract

Problem based learning (PBL) is often introduced in curricula in form of short segments. In the literature the value of these PBL-islands is doubted. In order to gain more insight in this curricular approach, we compared student generated learning issues, from a 7-week PBL-island introduced in a traditional curriculum (PBL-I), with the gold standard of a PBL-based model-curriculum (PBL-B) existing in parallel at the same University (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany). Both tracks use five identical PBL-cases. Thousand seven hundred and three student-generated learning issues of 252 tutorial groups (193 PBL-I and 59 PBL-B groups with six to seven students per group) were analysed in seven different categories. Results showed that overall there were no substantial differences between both curricula. PBL-B students generated more problem-related and less basic science clinical learning issues than PBL-I students, but in both groups learning issues were related to the same number of different subjects. Furthermore, students in the PBL-curriculum tend to generate little less but slightly better phrased issues. Taken together, we found no substantial evidence with respect to student-generated learning issues that could prove that students cannot work with the PBL-method, even if it is introduced later in the curriculum and last only for a short period of time.

15 years of the model study course in medicine at the Ruhr University Bochum

“…To produce an integrated curriculum according to the so-called “Z model”, scientific basic knowledge was interlinked with clinical content from the first to the 10 th semester. Instead of systematic lectures, the relevant basic topics were suggested through carefully selected POL cases for independent work and studied in greater depth in accompanying seminars [10]. …”

The modular curriculum of medicine at the Charité Berlin – a project report based on an across-semester student evaluation

“…At the core of the competency-based curriculum is the definition of outcomes, which are, on the one hand, derived from the demands of future professional activities and, on the other hand, provide guiding principles for curriculum design [2]. With the introduction of a new “model” clause for reforms in the licensing laws for medical doctors in 1999, numerous German medical faculties have designed and implemented alternative curricula for undergraduate medical education [http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/_appro_2002/index.html], [3], [4], [5]. Based on experiences with the regular and reformed medical track, the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité) developed and implemented a new modular curriculum of medicine between 2010 and 2016 [6].…”