Date: Friday, 13 March 2015
Time: 9 am
Venue: Quality Assurance Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Hariri Building, BAU
Speaker: Dr. Mohammad Houri, Assistant Dean, Faculty of Medicine

Inter Professional Education (IPE) program facilitators from various medical faculties gathered in quality assurance unit at the Faculty of Medicine to attend a training session on problem-based learning (PBL) in the presence of IPE program coordinators.

Dr. Mohammad Houri introduced IPE program facilitators to PBL, as a method of learning in which students first encounter a problem followed by student-centered inquiry, reflection, and solving process.

During his presentation, Dr. Mohammad Houri, pointed out the significance of applying PBL in developing students’ specific skills including the ability to think critically, analyze and solve complex problems using appropriate learning resources. He also highlighted the aim of PBL to encourage students to work in teams, demonstrate effective communication skills, and use their knowledge and skills to become continual learners, which are in turn the main objectives of IPE program.

Eventually, Dr. Mohammad Houri presented the key steps that students should follow in PBL process and the different roles of students in each group. He also emphasized the role of the IPE program facilitators in bringing out the best from the groups by: asking leading and open-ended questions, helping students to reflect on their experience, monitoring progress, stimulating, encouraging and maintaining a warm, safe atmosphere in which students will be willing to share ideas without fear of being judged.

‘The training session successfully helped me to better understand how PBL is applied in medical faculties and its importance in empowering students to conduct research and apply their knowledge and skills to solve a defined problem’ quoted Deema Rahme, IPE program facilitator.