‘Problem-based learning’ is a concept of learning in which students focus from the beginning of their course on a series of real professional issues, where the knowledge of the various academic disciplines that relate to these issues is integrated. The process evolved from dissatisfaction with the usual teaching methods in higher education, particularly in medicine. It seems eminently applicable to the education of occupational therapists, and its wider adoption is advocated. Part 1 of this article outlines the development of problem-based learning, describes its rationale, and discusses some of the evidence of its effectiveness. Part 2 will describe its implementation in the new BSc course at the London School of Occupational Therapy, West London Institute, College of Brunel University.
This paper describes some aspects of a short course in problem-solving devised by the authors for first-year chemical engineering undergraduates at Imperial College. The main features of the course are: (1) a distinction is made between the process and the product of design; (2) the process is, nonetheless, not divorced from the professional engineering context;(3) emphasis is placed on the diversity of solutions produced for a given problem; (4) students are taught to take professional responsibility for the definition of the design problems they undertake and to agree criteria of satisfactory completion with their clients; (5) the presentation of a design solution is itself seen as a design problem; (6) throughout, students work in groups as a design team rather than as individuals.The course takes the form of 26 contact hours spread over two weeks of afternoons. The intention is that the conventions and procedures learned by the students should be carried over into subsequent design and related projects throughout the rest of their undergraduate course and hence into their subsequent professional careers.
Can university teaching be counted a profession? The work of academics is examined against four criteria associated with professional life: members share a body of knowledge; professional identity is for life; professionals are accountable for the effects of what they do rather than for the actions they take; professional bodies restrict access and enforce codes of practice. The conclusion is that academics form a Janus‐faced profession in which their professionalism is more evident in respect of the subjects they teach than in respect of their academic duties of teaching and examining. Professional training is recommended as the appropriate treatment for this lop‐sided condition.
Drawing on 18 years of experience in university staff development the author considers the way staff training is regarded by academics and relates it to the concept of ‘professionalism’ among university teachers. He describes a two‐year in‐service course for teachers in higher education as an illustration of one form a professional training might take and argues the case for soundly basing such training on considerations of principle and theory. Changing attitudes and perceptions is perhaps more important than learning classroom skills, or management technique. Training should be informed by research but the author illustrates ambivalent attitudes rewards research on universities with a deception of recent personal experience in connection with a national research project on examiners. The inseparability of institutional research and staff development is illustrated with an account of a stuff development exercise associated with the introduction of staff appraised schemes. Lessons are dram from each of the illustrations to suggest some of the key characteristics desirable in a staff college for universities.
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