EFFECTIVENESS OF PROBLEMS USED IN PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING

Where problem-based learning (PBL) is the main method used in medical curricula, the literature suggests that it is crucial that the problem s used are effective in facilitating students to identify relevant lea rning issues. These learning issues guide the students' studying. The present investigation explores the extent to which students identify r elevant issues following exposure to prepared paper problems. In the p reparatory year, in an Introduction to Medicine module, four groups of students were exposed to six themes (Health Care System, Environment and Health, Alternative and Islamic Medicine, Chronic Illness, Infecti ous Diseases, and Prevention and Health Promotion). Each group had two facilitators per theme. Having discussed the prepared problems, the s tudents identified learning issues which were collected for the purpos e of the study. Two content experts, using a Likert scale, analysed le arning issues for their concordance to staff objectives per theme. Kap pa coefficients were computed for the six PBL themes in order to asses s inter-rater agreement. Learning issues identified as having no relat ionship to theme objectives were further analysed for their relevance to theme objectives. No objective was totally omitted by any student g roup. There was a 100% concordance of objectives to learning issues de monstrated over four themes. The relationship of learning issues to th eme objectives ranged from 55-85% in the theme on health care system, and 73-94% in the theme on environment and health. Irrelevant learning issues were identified in the first two PBL themes addressed. Kappa c oefficients over the six PBL themes varied from 0.49 to 0.82.