Problem-based learning: Where are we now?

Abstract

The definition of problem-based learning (PBL) as an educational concept is as elusive in 2008 as it has been since the concept was first expressed over forty years ago. A definitive guide to the practice of PBL is equally elusive. Like all worthwhile educational ideas, PBL has proved attractive to those teachers who seek improvements for their courses. Its appeal has transcended the traditional boundaries in formal education so that there are examples of PBL from primary to tertiary education, and across many disciplines within these. Dissemination, however, has wrought confusion in understanding and practice, and consequent difficulties for researchers in evaluating its efficacy, and lack of clear advice for those who would like to adopt PBL. Rather than attempting to be definitive, this Guide explores the various interpretations and practices that claim the label PBL, and critiques these against the original concept and practice. The primary aim is to provide insight into the causes of the confusion about PBL in 2008. The second aim is to point a feasible way forward so that, where appropriate, the potential of PBL as a whole-of-curriculum concept may be realised; and, where it is not possible to implement the whole concept, worthwhile educational principles that have been associated more or less with PBL may be recognised as such and given value in their own right.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David Taylor

DAVID TAYLOR is currently Deputy Director of Medical Studies in Liverpool, where he is responsible for Quality, Assessment and Education Research. He was heavily involved in the development of their reformed curriculum in 1996, in which PBL featured as a major curricular innovation and until recently he was Director of Problem Based Learning. He is actively involved with curriculum support at the University of Cape Town, Faculty of Health Sciences and has supported the re-emergence of the South African Association of Health Educators.

Barbara Miflin

BARBARA MIFLIN has a PhD in Medical Education, based on her work with teachers and students in preparing for radical change in medical education. From 2001 to June 2003, she headed the Teaching and Learning Development Unit in the School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Australia. From June 2003 until her retirement from full-time academic work at the end of 2006, she was the Director of the Medical Education Support Unit in the newly-founded School of Medicine at the University of Notre Dame Australia (Fremantle).