Evaluation of student and faculty perceptions of the PBL curriculum at two dental schools from a student perspective: a cross-sectional survey.

Full Abstract

Problem-based learning (PBL) research has primarily highlighted issues related to medical education and less evaluation has been reported from the field of dental education. Furthermore, literature reports tend to focus mainly on PBL from a pedagogic and curriculum constructional view and up to this date, studies from a student perspective are lacking. The aim of this study was to approach the evaluation of student and staff perceptions of PBL curricula from a student perspective at two separate schools:
the Faculty of Odontology at the University of Malmö, Sweden and the dental school of the University of Southern California, School of Dentistry (USCSD), Los Angeles, CA, USA. The study was initiated and conducted by two of the authors, at the time senior students at the Faculty of Odontology in Malmö, Sweden. The study was comprised of a literature search, a 2 week field trip to USCSD, USA, survey distribution to students and faculty in both schools, analysis of the data and a written report for oral defence. The results from the survey were intended to provide feedback on student and faculty perceptions regarding the PBL curriculum. The results indicate a general student and faculty satisfaction with the PBL curriculum. Perhaps, surprisingly their perceptions did not differ significantly despite differences in geography, culture and implementation of PBL pedagogy.

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Author information

Author/s: Haghparast, N (N); Sedghizadeh, P P (PP); Shuler, C F (CF); Ferati, D (D); Christersson, C (C);

Affiliation: Department of Dental Technology, Faculty of Odontology, University of Malmö, Malmö, Sweden. haghpara(-atsign-)usc.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article

Journal: European journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe (Eur J Dent Educ), published in Denmark. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Feb; vol 11 (issue 1) : pp 14-22

Dates: Created 2007/01/17; Completed 2007/03/13;

PMID: 17227391, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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