I received this question yesterday and got the person's permission to post it on here because I think I will be beneficial to others. Te question was:
I'm interviewing at LECOM XXXXXXXX and saw your post in the thread - thanks for providing some more insight to the overall experience at the school. It definitely seems like a place I'm interested in attending, and I'm excited/nervous for the interview. With the interview invite, they sent me a basic overview of the curriculum, but didn't expound much on PBL.
So, through some research on SDN and after reading the wikipedia page about PBL, I think I've developed a basic understanding of the educational model. But I was hoping you might be willing to provide an example or two of how it's actually used? Are you provided with mock cases (patients) and use them to guide your learning? I like the idea of working together in a group, discussing/explaining information with each other - I just am looking for an example of how it's used, practically.
I know you're busy with school and I appreciate any further insight you can provide me. Thanks for your posts in the LECOM thread - they're definitely a necessary balance to some of the negativity being spread about the school.
Best regards,
XXXXXXX
Here is my response:
Hey XXXXXXX,
Congratulations on the interview. They can be exciting and intimidating. But at LECOM, it is very relaxed, they do not intent to trick you in any way. They are upfront about everything. You are right about a lot of negative things going on SND about LECOM. But, if you notice, most do not attend LECOM. I love it here, as I do not know of one person that does not.
As for PBL, They will fully explain how it works at the interview, and the group interview is how the PBL setting is. But, here are some examples:
Right now we are in gross anatomy. We do not ave any lecture for this class. We have to read and learn on our own. Along with that we have a group of assigned students that meet twice a week. We get together and discuss the material. This way everyone helps out and plays an active role. But, most students have formed study groups outside of this to enhance the learning. And most study groups are comprised of students from other PBL groups. In this way, you get to learn what other groups discussed. It works very well.
As for the actual PBL, we start that in September. But, it will be the exact same way. The only difference, is that we will be given cases and we have to discuss it in order to obtain the main focus of the case, not solving the problem. Example: a person is having chest pains. We can say what is wrong with this person and it might be right. But do you know about heart arrhythmia, the medications that they take for the condition, do you know what interactions of meds that a dentist can prescribe that will affect this condition or make it worse. If you dont, then this is what you study, and will be tested on. Your read it outside of the group, and you come back to discuss. Then you move on to the next one. This is how we will learn all the basic sciences. You take a proactive approach in what you learn. You are not spoon fed the information.
Hopefully, this cleared up any confusion. Thanks for the good question.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Have a good one