PBL core skills faculty development workshop 1: An experiential exercise with the PBL process.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Pedagogy

Background:

• Faculty development is crucial for implementing innovative instructional methods.
• Problem-based learning (PBL) is an effective pedagogical approach gaining traction in higher education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the design and outcomes of a faculty development workshop focused on the problem-based learning (PBL) instructional methodology.
• To evaluate participant satisfaction and perceived effectiveness of the PBL Process workshop.

Main Methods:

• A series of faculty development workshops were conducted, with this report detailing the first workshop.
• The workshop incorporated learning theory topics supporting PBL and utilized an extended roleplay method for experiential learning.
• The workshop design aligned with adult learning principles and was refined based on feedback.

Main Results:

• Participants reported overall satisfaction with the workshop methods and content.
• A majority found simulating a complete PBL process iteration to be an effective learning method.
• Participants experienced greater difficulty with qualitative assessment of learning processes compared to other PBL components.

Conclusions:

• The PBL Process workshop successfully provided faculty with experiential learning of the PBL cycle.
• Refinements have enhanced both the experiential and theoretical components of the workshop.
• Future iterations will integrate an online distance-learning component to further address PBL learning theory.