Do Kings use PBL?

**ramzy** · 30-10-2009, 07:48 PM

How much does kings use PBL?

**Hannes** · 01-11-2009, 10:59 PM

very little, it is nearly all lecture based

**Generation** · 10-11-2009, 03:15 AM

I thought Kings is a PBL school...?

**heavenlyjohnson** · 10-11-2009, 06:56 PM

My understanding it that for the graduate entry course the first year is PBL. After this you jump to the third year of the standard course which isn't PBL.

**469er** · 11-11-2009, 12:59 AM

King's uses no PBL on either the 5-year or 4-year courses. The first 2 years are very heavily lecture-based. There are additionally tutorials and workshops (though precious few), but these are tutor-led. There is nothing at all that other medical schools would recognise as PBL. Thank god.

**heavenlyjohnson** · 11-11-2009, 01:52 AM

Originally Posted by 469er

King's uses no PBL on either the 5-year or 4-year courses. The first 2 years are very heavily lecture-based. There are additionally tutorials and workshops (though precious few), but these are tutor-led. There is nothing at all that other medical schools would recognise as PBL. Thank god.

Hi 469er, you make it sound like this is a good thing. Could you explain why this format is better? I'd love to know as Kings is one of my choices.

**Knowalot2** · 11-11-2009, 02:11 AM

Imperial and Kings teach the Traditional way - 2 years non-clinical and then 3 yrs clinical

Its Barts that teaches using the PBL method, rather than Traditional.

However we do have 1 or 2 of PBL sessions once in a while.

**heavenlyjohnson** · 11-11-2009, 03:39 AM

My understanding from the prospectus is:

YEAR 1
Teaching will be delivered through case-based, problem-solving and patient contact learning, in small groups. Clinical demonstrations and laboratory practicals will involve the whole cohort on a particular site. There will be particular emphasis on learning together with students from other health professionals, and thereby to value the contribution made by the range of professionals contributing to the delivery of healthcare.

YEAR 2
Graduate/Professional Entry Programme students join, after their introductory first year, the third year of the standard five year MBBS programme.

King's College London : Online prospectus - Undergraduate programmes - medicine graduate professional entry programme - Structure

Does this not equate to PBL?

**469er** · 11-11-2009, 04:15 AM

Originally Posted by heavenlyjohnson

Hi 469er, you make it sound like this is a good thing. Could you explain why this format is better? I'd love to know as Kings is one of my choices.

No, just my personal choice. You can see more of my views here: Oldies for 2010
The important thing is to know what your views are.

The prospectus may be a bit misleading. After a term of basic medical sciences, the King's preclinical course is scenario-based, which is to say that teaching is grouped around various clinical scenarios, e.g. respiratory illness, or diabetes. 'Scenario-based' seems to sound like 'problem-based' in a lot of people's minds, but the style of teaching is very traditional, and not at all the sort of student-driven learning that you will find on a heavily PBL course. There is a sprinkling of practical work and group learning, and, particularly in Year 1, small group tutorial work to consolidate basic science learning, but the main bulk of the teaching is lectures in a theatre holding 400 students. If this doesn't sound like a good learning style for you, think very carefully before coming to King's. The 'particular emphasis on learning together with students from other health professions' refers to a 4-week series of non-core presentation work in year 1, which almost everyone loathes. As for clinical contact, there is vanishingly little in Year 1, and less still in Year 2. I was expecting this to be a down-side to the course, but in reality, your plate will be so full with academic work that what little clinical contact there is will seem like an unwanted distraction. There is all the clinical exposure you can eat in the form of various extracurricular opportunities anyway, if that's your bag.

It sounds as though I'm criticising the course, and I'm not at all. I absolutely love it, and it suits my learning style very well. But if you're looking for PBL or similar, don't look here. I imagine the clinical years are similar everywhere, but 2 preclinical years swimming against the tide of a teaching structure which doesn't suit you would be a miserable experience, I feel sure. God knows, there's enough to learn whatever method you use.

As for whatever you have heard about the 4-year course, it's true that students do a one year course followed by the standard 3 clinical years, but all that means is that they cram 2 years' lectures into one. The teaching style remains the same. Possibly you're thinking of the SGUL course, where the GEP course is PBL while the 5-year isn't (I believe).

HTH