Portraits of PBL:Course objectives and students' study strategies in computer engineering, psychology and physiotherapy

Author: Dahlgren M.A.

Source: Instructional Science, Volume 28, Number 4, July 2000 , pp. 309-329(21)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

The central theme of the investigation concerns the role of course objectives in relation to students' study strategies in problem-based learning (PBL). The results comprise data from three different PBL programmes at Linköpings Universitet; a Bachelor's programme in physiotherapy, a Master's programme in psychology, and a Master's programme in Computer Engineering, respectively. In all three programmes, the faculty provides course objectives with the intention that these should function as a supportive structure and guide for the students' independent studies. The results show that the objectives were used differently in the different programmes; as an integrated tool in the learning process, as an administrative schedule or as a retroactive checklist, respectively. The students' use of the course objectives in the learning process varied according to how the objectives were formulated and conceived. The relationship between the format of objectives provided by the faculty and how students deal with them in the learning process could also denote fragments of the different educational cultures within the three programmes and how the meaning of problem-based learning is interpreted.

Keywords: problem-based learning; comparative study; students' perspective; course objectives; learning process; qualitative analysis

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköpings Universitet, S-581 83 Linköping, Sweden, e-mail: madab@inr.liu.se

Publication date: 2000-07-01