Problem-Based Learning

This volume collects recent studies conducted within the area of medical education that investigate two of the critical components of problem-based curricula--the group meeting and self-directed learning--and demonstrates that understanding these complex phenomena is critical to the operation of this innovative curriculum. It is the editors' contention that it is these components of problem-based learning that connect the initiating "problem" with the process of effective "learning." Revealing how this occurs is the task taken on by researchers contributing to this volume. The studies include use of self-reports, interviews, observations, verbal protocols, and micro-analysis to find ways into the psychological processes and sociological contexts that constitute the world of problem-based learning.

A comprehensive introduction to adult education and vocational training from leading international educators.

Learner-Centered Theory and Practice in Distance Education: Cases From Higher Education brings the voice of the learning sciences to the study and design of distance learning. The contributors examine critical issues in the design of theoretically and pedagogically based distance education programs. Eight distance education programs are described in enough detail to allow readers with different interests to understand the pedagogical approaches and the implications of implementing those approaches. Issues of theory, pedagogy, design, assessment, communities of practice, collaboration, and faculty development are discussed. Each section of the book includes: a primary chapter written by an author or authors involved with a distance education program that reflects learner-centered principles; a formal reaction to the chapter by a specialist from the learning sciences, educational evaluation and policy, administration, or the corporate sector with expertise in issues of distance learning; and an edited transcript of the authors' discussion of the primary chapter held at a symposium at the Asilomar Conference Center. A final "summing up" section offers two perspectives-from leading scholars outside the fields of instructional design, evaluation, and the learning sciences-on the approaches and thinking reflected in the rest of the book. This book is essential for researchers, as well as all those engaged in delivering, supporting, or administrating distance education programs at the post-secondary level. The descriptions, strategies, and principles will inform the design of continuing education, as well as degree-based education and corporate education and training, and distance education programs for adults.

The idea for this book was originally conceived by Terrill Mast in conversations with Roland Folse. Dr. Mast was dedicated to the belief that all medical teachers should be generalists with skills and knowledge in all aspects of the field. Before his untimely death, he recruited most of the prestigious contributors to this important new book. This comprehensive volume features a review of the major topics in medical and surgical education by today's leading authorities in the field. The assembled authors represent a "Who's Who" in medical education around the world. Each chapter provides a state-of-the-art overview of the topic along with the projected changes most likely to occur over the next decade. A "must-have" for anyone responsible for educating students, residents, and physicians in the medical and surgical fields, this new book addresses the critical medical educational issues of the next millennium, in one, comprehensive volume.