Faculty attitudes and opinions about problem-based learning

Systematic research on faculty attitudes toward problem-based learning (PBL) has focused exclusively on the opinions of tutors. The purpose of the present study was to examine the attitudes of faculty at a single medical school who either (1) did not participate in the first year of a new PBL curriculum or (2) participated in ways other than as PBL tutors.

In 1993-94, at the end of the first year of a new PBL curriculum, a questionnaire used in an earlier, larger study of PBL tutors was sent to all 494 faculty at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine.

The response rate was better for participants (76%, 115 of 151) than for non-participants (28%, 96 of 343). Overall, nonparticipants judged the new curriculum to be approximately equal to the "old" curriculum that preceded it. In contrast, participants were significantly more positive and judged the new PBL curriculum to be superior in most respects. For both groups the new curriculum received its highest ratings in the areas of student interest, clinical preparation, and medical reasoning and its lowest ratings in the teaching of factual knowledge in the basic sciences and efficiency of learning. The attitudes of participating faculty varied with their teaching roles in the new curriculum. Those whose primary roles were as PBL tutors or as leaders of other small discussion groups were more favorable to the new curriculum than those who primarily served as lecturers. Faculty who served in several different roles were more positive than faculty who served in only one role. There were also plausible qualitative differences among the teaching-role groups in what they liked and disliked about the new curriculum.

In general, the attitudes and opinions of the faculty varied with the degrees and types of participation in the new curriculum. The attitudes and opinions of faculty with different teaching roles were plausibly related to differences in these roles. The opinions of the faculty about the strengths and weaknesses of PBL that emerged in this survey are much like those found in prior research. In addition, student performances on Step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination suggest that the faculty may have underestimated the value of the new PBL curriculum for helping students acquire factual knowledge in the basic sciences.