I don't like PBL!

Hey,

As with most other people, I am beginning the long haul of sorting out unis, UCAS and all the rest of it.

I've basically been working my way down the Times' good university guide and so far I've found about two universities that don't structure their course around PBL.

Now, I've not been to uni yet, so I'm not absolutely certain, but going by what I've heard about PBL it does not seem my scene at all. I'd much rather have an integrated/traditional approach.

So I was wondering if there was a list, or something, which showed whether a uni was a PBL structured course or not, because it would save a lot of time.

Thanks.

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Reply 1

modini

You've obviously not been looking hard enough :wtf:

I'm sure there are more than 2 that don't do PBL :s-smilie:

Reply 2

Renal

Woody.

Now, I've not been to uni yet, so I'm not absolutely certain, but going by what I've heard about PBL it does not seem my scene at all. I'd much rather have an integrated/traditional approach.

You're looking at the wrong job then.

Medicine is, once you get through preclin, almost entirely about ******* off and finding out.

Reply 3

Phugoid

I'm sure there's only three universities in the UK which offer PBL. One is Glasgow and another is Liverpool, I'm not sure what the third is. So if you avoid these two, chances are it's a traditional medicine course.

Some courses are semi-PBL, for example, in edinburgh.

Reply 4

terpineol

I hate PBL too, avoid it like the plauge.

Phugoid

Renal

You're looking at the wrong job then.

Medicine is, once you get through preclin, almost entirely about ******* off and finding out.

Renal's right, Even though I go to a traditional styled university, PBL could be advantageous towards your clinical years by getting you ready for it, because all universities are pretty much PBL style come clinics.

Reply 7

Woody.

Renal

You're looking at the wrong job then.

Medicine is, once you get through preclin, almost entirely about ******* off and finding out.

I think Bristol puts it the best:
Is the course at Bristol, Problem Based Learning (PBL)?
There is no formal problem based learning at Bristol. The course is traditional with the first teaching being a series of lectures, tutorials and practicals. It is arguable that all clinical based teaching around a patient is effectively a PBL exercise.

I am happy to do that. What I don't want to do is sit in a group of four people and be set the task of finding out how the respiratory system works.

I'm looking at the wrong job? Why don't you tell everyone at Oxbridge that?

Reply 8

clad in armour

Woody.

no theres loadsa uni's that dont do PBL, but yeah it seems incredibly unfair, i am refering to the cohort marking shizz i mean come on WHY!!

Reply 9

blonde-beth

there are lists on the intenet, but this is what i know so far (dont hold me too it as i am only going from what i have heard from books and websites!)

PBL: peninsula, glasgow, liverpool, manchester, barts
Integrated, Systems based (mix of the two): nottingham, birmingham, sheffield, cardiff, leeds, southampton, leicester (and others, although some of these use more lectures than others (cardiff and notts) and some use more group learning (leicester) so do your research!)
Traditional: oxford, cambridge, st andrews

anyone feel free to correct me!

personally im going for integrated ones, apart from birmingham, as i 'only' got 6 A*s at gcse grr lol :P

Reply 10

Renal

Woody.

I am happy to do that. What I don't want to do is sit in a group of four people and be set the task of finding out how the respiratory system works.

******** hell, five years in and it turns out BL have been doing it all wrong...

I'm looking at the wrong job? Why don't you tell everyone at Oxbridge that?

Cos they ain't on TSR announcing that learning independently isn't their bag.

Reply 11

Renal

blonde-beth

I'd suggest that integrated and 'traditional' aren't relevant to this. It's a simple sliding scale from 100& PBL to 100% didactic will all medical schools coming somewhere near the middle.

Reply 12

username153949

PBL is a joke, most unis uses some pbl and some lecture to deliver their course contents, u'll just have to do with them...

Reply 13

Woody.

Renal

******** hell, five years in and it turns out BL have been doing it all wrong...

Cos they ain't on TSR announcing that learning independently isn't their bag.

Did I ever say that PBL was wrong? No. I just said it wasn't for me.

There's a difference between independent learning and PBL. I am more than happy to work on my own researching and learning for myself (independent learning) and if 100% of the time I work in a dedicated group and we manage to function well, then I'm more than happy to work as a team. However, this is very rarely the case so I do not wish to devote 5 years of my life doing something that I would not enjoy. Is that fair enough with you?

All I'm looking for is some help finding some unis and trying to do some work. I was under the impression TSR was a place where I could do this, and I know most of the time it is. So if you've got nothing better to say than mouth off at me then why bother posting?

Seeing as some of the best and brightest come from Oxbridge, I don't think all the people that go there are doing the wrong job.

Reply 14

OriginofSymmetry

billykwok

PBL is a joke

But obviously you know better... :rolleyes:

You're a joke.

Reply 15

username153949

OriginofSymmetry

But obviously you know better... :rolleyes:

You're a joke.

Okay, shall i add in "in my opinion" in front of my original comment then? That insult was uncalled for; but yes, i admit it, i am a joke... why else would god place me here to torment you?

Reply 16

Blatant Troll

GMC requires ALL Medical Schools to include x % of PBL in the course anyway, no? So there's no escaping it. Only a few universities take it to the extreme though - they're not hard to find

Reply 17

theatrical

billykwok

PBL is a joke

It amuses me that the majority of people on TSR who post professing that PBL isn't for them or that PBL is a joke etc, are the people who have no or very limited experience/understanding of it.

Woody.

What I don't want to do is sit in a group of four people and be set the task of finding out how the respiratory system works.

This isn't PBL.

terpineol

I hate PBL too, avoid it like the plauge.

I've got a mate who's a 3rd year medic at St. Andrews - he's not too fond of PBL either, though his descriptions of his encounters with PBL there seem to bare no relation to how proper PBL is run here.

Reply 18

aphex.twin

I'm neither pro or anti PBL but it only forms two years of the course and isn't much of a problem if you're good at managing your own time and coming up with you own learning objectives alongside those that you create with your PBL group.

On the upside you work with a group who might come up with objectives that you haven't really thought much about (for e.g. I'm more into sciency stuff relating to physiology/anatomy/pharmacology etc. and tend to ignore the human science aspect of the case such as coping with death, living with a disabled child etc.) so PBL works in that sense because I will turn up to the session knowing (or pretending to know) a bit more about aforementioned things. Plus PBL only constitues 6-8 hours of teaching over the entire case unit while the rest is filled with relevant lectures, workshops, clinical skills and biomedical scinece teaching.

On the downside I found was the is massive variation in the facilitators and how involved they are with the group. I've had friends who had a consultant as their PBL tutor and although he grilled them for everything they got wrong, the majority of them aced their exams because he made sure they knew everything relating to the case. My tutor on the other hand was alot more laid back and didn't really mind if you turned up not knowing certain learning points (probably because he didn't know them himself). I know which one of the two I'd have preffered. Also, PBL was horribly boring in the first year but you have to start with basics I guess.

But yeah, maybe check the open days for some more info. relating to course structure etc. to get a clearer idea rather than from some people arguing on a forum.