Student Perceptions of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Problem Based Learning

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Murphy, Kathleen

Affiliations: School of Clinical Speech and Language Studies, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Abstract: This paper aims to outline some of the advantages and disadvantages of the implementation of a problem based learning approach to education. A questionnaire was devised which consisted of five open-ended questions that explored students’ perceptions of PBL and was distributed to first year and second year speech and language therapy students at Trinity College Dublin. Some of the advantages found in teaching psychology through PBL were as follows: the learning is deeper and more meaningful; the learning is fostered by a problem which is relevant to the students’ profession and solutions are generated as a result of teamwork, analysis and synthesis. Some of the disadvantages can include: a lack of meaningful interaction between students until the process itself had been learned and a perception of increased workload. The results indicate that while some of the practical issues of PBL, like workload and the ambiguity of the learning issues, are seen as disadvantages by the students, they appreciate on problem resolution that they have explored the issues more thoroughly and have thereby learned more deeply.

Keywords: Problem based learning, education, speech and language therapy

DOI: 10.3233/ACS-2004-14105

Journal: Journal of Clinical Speech and Language Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 64-76, 2004