Evaluation of educational approaches to undergraduate teaching : their effect on life-long learning attitudes and clinical competence

Abstract

National policies on third level education within Europe are being driven by the agenda of the Bologna process and its objective to create a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) by 2010. There is a shift from the traditional “teacher-centred” approach to a “student centred” approach which focuses on what the students are expected to do at the end of a modular program. In an attempt to find an alternative educational philosophy, which would improve the outcome of higher education, Problem Based Learning (PBL) was introduced. Problem based learning (PBL) arguably represents the most significant development in education over the past five decades. It has been widely adopted by many medical and dental schools including Dublin Dental School and Hospital (DDSH). The intention was to classify and interpret the available evidence, extract relevant conclusions and propose recommendations regarding the relative benefits of PBL compared with conventional teaching. The literature was searched using PubMed, ERIC and PsycLIT and the reference lists of selected papers. Articles were chosen and included according to specific selection criteria. Studies were further classified as randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or comparative studies. These studies were then analysed according to intervention type. At the level of RCTs and comparative studies (whole curricula), no clear difference was observed between PBL and conventional teaching. It was only comparative studies of single PBL intervention in a traditional curriculum that yielded results that were consistently in favour of PBL.