Problem-based Learning - an Occupational Perspective of Higher Education

Problem-based learning (PBL) is recognised as a major alternative curriculum design in higher education globally. Developed fifty years for medical education, it has spread to many other subjects, especially in the health... [ view full abstract ]

Problem-based learning (PBL) is recognised as a major alternative curriculum design in higher education globally. Developed fifty years for medical education, it has spread to many other subjects, especially in the health professions and engineering. Many European occupational therapy programmes claim to use PBL, but often for just part of the progrmme. As an active, person-focused, problem-solving, peer-supported, structured, enjoyable and collaborative learning process, where all learning has meaning and is in context, PBL matches the principles of occupational therapy. To support and promote the use of high quality whole-system PBL by ENOTHE members, this workshop invites participants to become PBL OT students, guided by the workshop facilitators acting as your tutors. An authentic digital 'trigger' will promt the first reactions of the group, while the whole demonstration will provoke many questions about enacting PBL. This 'first tutorial in the PBL cycle' ends with an agreed list of questions that need answering.
Through the following workshop discussion and questions, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the potential vitality of PBL within OT programmes at all levels, or for CPD. Indeed, staff-led PBL brings great potential for the transformation of workplaces into communities of learning, enhancing job and life satisfaction. The tutor was a pioneer of PBL in Europe, introducing it, with the teaching team, to the then London School of Occupational Therapy, in 1984. Her doctoral thesis in OT education in 1997 revealed that the higher the 'dose' of PBL within a curriculum, the greater the quality of learning.