What is PBL?

Problem-Based Learning is an active, student-centered process. STUDENTS are primarily responsible for the learning that takes place in their PBL groups. A PBL group consists of five or six students and a facilitator. Facilitators may be full-time faculty, practitioners or veterinarians and non-veterinarians in graduate programs. The group meets for one to two hours every week for ten sessions in semester one and approximately thirteen sessions in semester two, using the problem-based learning process to work through specially designed cases.

Facilitators are guides and coaches, not lecturers or resources!!! Although each facilitator has a personal style, his or her principal role is to promote student-centered learning and critical thinking within the group. Facilitators do this by posing non-directive questions at appropriate times to encourage analytical thought and aid group process.

For example:

STUDENT: You can tell their factor VIII levels from their PT or PTT times.
FACILITATOR: How would you explain that to the lay client?

-or -

STUDENT: And since older dogs are more prone to heart disease ...
FACILITATOR: If you were challenged, can you produce evidence to support that claim?

-or-

STUDENT: So you see, if we consider the lifespans of spotted chickens in the Amazon jungle ...
FACILITATOR: How does this relate to your original hypothesis about gout?

The facilitator should not be the center of the discussion; as a member of the group, he or she intervenes to promote learning and support group function. As the group's problem-based learning skills improve, the facilitator's participation in the group process may change emphasis or gradually decrease.

The bottom line is that YOU are responsible for making PBL work. Your group will rely on the expertise of each group member, student research and problem solving skills to analyze the problems before you. The benefit that students receive from PBL sessions depends on their individual and group efforts.