This paper presents findings from a small-scale research study eliciting students' perceptions of benefits and challenges of working in interdisciplinary groups to solve an engineering challenge using problem-based learning. Penultimate and final year undergraduates and postgraduate MSc students in the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences…

This systematic review reports the state-of-the-art and evidence supporting interprofessional problem-based learning (iPBL) as a developmental tool for interprofessional competences. A targeted search strategy deployed across seven electronic databases identified 32 studies which met inclusion criteria following independent double review. All…

The education of healthcare professionals is critical for the safe delivery of services to patients (Ricciardi & de Paolis, 2014). Postgraduate psychology students undertaking a professional degree encounter a steep learning curve when transitioning from theoretical knowledge to professional practice. This beginning student stage of…

Purpose: The paper aims to examine, within the context of professional practice and learning, how designers collaboratively working in international teams experience practice-based learning and how such occasions contribute to professional development. Design/methodology/approach: The paper introduces the cooperation project between Tibro Training…

The research aimed to study and experimentally verify the efficiency of the use of problem-based methods in teaching future air traffic controllers to conduct radio exchange in non-routine situations. The professional readiness to conduct radio exchange is viewed as a complex of professional skills and knowledge (communicative, cognitive and…

Purpose: Collaboration between universities and industry is increasingly perceived as a vehicle to enhance innovation. Educational institutions are encouraged to build partnerships and multidisciplinary projects based around real-world open problems. Projects need to benefit student learning, not only the organisations looking for innovations. The…

This paper appraises a simulation activity which forms part of the postgraduate social work curriculum offered at the University of Strathclyde. It shows how simulations that are based on activities that are as close as possible to actual "real-life" situations can be applied as a teaching strategy so as to enable students to integrate…

Donald Schon's theory of reflective learning (1983, 1987) has been the model of professional education for decades. Yet little research is done to examine the role of practitioners as part-time teachers in professional education in light of his ideas. This research investigated four programmes of professional education in Hong Kong: (a) a master…

Interdisciplinarity is widely practised and theorised. However, relatively few studies have reflected on university-wide attempts to foster the concept. This article examines interdisciplinary teaching and learning at Griffith University, Australia. It reflects on the foundations of interdisciplinarity at the university and situates them within…

A study investigated student use of a collection of self-directed anatomy learning modules designed to help students prepare for tutorial discussions of health care problems. The surveyed students (n=80) reported that module use depended on program level and premedical background in biology, not on tutor or preceptor requirements. Students who…

A University of Limburg (Netherlands) medical school study investigated the relationship between student-generated learning issues and faculty instructional objectives (i.e., the effectiveness of the problems posed) in a problem-centered obstetrics and child development curriculum. Subjects were 120 students and 12 faculty. Results indicated…

In an instructional exercise at the University of Newcastle (Australia), social work students, staff, and organizations role-play in a simulated city to solve complex problems in a realistic but safe learning context. Experience suggests the extended simulation technique is effective. (MSE)

Since 1991, the problem-based learning (PBL) approach has been incorporated into the distance education program culminating in a Bachelor of Building degree from the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Newcastle, Australia. The Newcastle conceptual PBL model for on-campus courses was adapted to the special needs of distance learners. The…

The evolution of Burma's much-needed medical school curriculum for child survival and development is chronicled, including discussion of constraints on and resistance to the curriculum. (MSE)

Describes problem-based learning at South Africa's University of Transkei (Unitra) medical school, including the curriculum's design and instructional strategies in use. Reports a survey of 20 faculty and 35 students studying to be medical doctors (MBChBs). Results indicated a majority of faculty and students agreed on the effectiveness of the…