All Ireland Society for Higher Education
| Name: | Carol Barron |
|---|---|
| Email: | carol.barron@dcu.ie |
| Institution: | Dublin City University |
Lambert, Veronica, veronica.lambert@dcu.ie MacDermott, Siobhan,siobhan.macdermott@dcu.ie Corcoran, Yvonne, yvonne.corcoran@dcu.ie
While the effectiveness of Problem Based Learning (PBL) within post registration nurse education programmes is well established (Albanese and Mitchell, 1993), less consideration has been afforded to the incorporation of PBL within undergraduate nursing curricula (Barrow et al, 2002). Furthermore, the fundamental importance of preparing lecturers to embark on a change in their teaching style has received limited attention, although PBL shifts the emphasis from teacher to student centeredness (Cleverly, 2003). It is extensively documented that the preparation of lecturers is pivotal to the successful implementation of PBL into a curriculum (Cleverly, 2003; Wilkie & Burns, 2003). Thus, a three day workshop was planned and delivered, over a three week period, in advance of the introduction of the first PBL module to an undergraduate nursing programme in Dublin City University.
The purpose of this paper is to present lecturer's reflections and evaluations of their participation in the three day workshop. Utilising a qualitative approach, focus group interviews were employed. This enabled lecturers to explore and clarify their personal views in addition to stimulating discussion and debate among lecturers more successfully than individual interviews (Kitzinger 1995). Non-probability sampling was employed to recruit all lecturers who participated in the workshop.
The core theme to emerge was the need to balance lecturer support conceptualised as, 'stepping back' and 'moving forward'. Positive and negative challenges were identified that influenced lecturers' ability to step back or move forward. Indeed, Farmer (2004) acknowledged change management as a major challenge in creating and delivering a PBL curriculum. Thus, additional evaluative research may inform both the process and content of future preparation for lecturers wishing to employ PBL. This will in turn contribute to the evaluation of change in relation to educational values and practice's in higher education.