A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

368 ❘
Teaching in the disciplines
5 Students are encouraged to identify their own learning needs and the appropriate use
of available resources.
6 Students use the knowledge gained to solve the original problem and to define new
learning issues for themselves.
(adapted from Boud and Feletti, 1997: 4)
In some disciplines, such as medicine and architecture, PBL has been adopted as a holistic
approach to a complete programme. Elsewhere it often forms the basis for delivering a
module or a substantial project.
It should be noted that there are a number of different approaches which may designate
themselves as problem-based learning. Some commentators seek to identify an ‘authentic’
PBL approach which sticks closely to a set of principles and processes first systematised
by medical educationalists at McMaster University, Canada. However, for the purposes
of this chapter it is the intention rather than the model that is important: namely that
problems, tasks and unexpected situations form the starting point for learning.
In ‘traditional’ curricula teachers tend to start by providing information and then expect
students to use the information to solve problems. This is certainly a model that is
prevalent in law where it is common for students to be set a problem in a seminar relating
to law which has been previously covered in a lecture. The problem generally consists of
an incident or set of incidents involving two or more characters. Based on the facts as
presented, students are posed a number of questions about the law that applies and are
generally asked to advise one or more of the characters involved accordingly.
In a problem-based approach to learning, the problem comes first. Students both define
the problem and gather information to explore it. Working in self-directed groups,
students thus take an active and systematic approach to defining and ‘resolving’ the
problem. (They are not necessarily expected to reach the ‘right’ answer. There may not
be a right answer.) The technique is characterised by team-based exploration and
synthesis combined with individual research and analysis. An example of how this might
be done in law is provided in Case study 1.
Case study 1: The estate agent’s problem
Group A
Your office has recently been engaged by a Mr Alun Ash to advise on a dispute
with the English Estate Agency Association. The EEAA is a private company that
regulates the delivery of residential property services against a Code of
Professional Practice.
An article concerning Mr Ash’s experiences appeared in the regional newspaper
last week. By this morning, in light of the publication of the newspaper article,