Problem-Based Learning About Problem-Based Learning: Lessons Learned from a Student-Led Initiative to Improve Tutor Group Interaction.

This article summarizes a student-led effort to improve tutor group interactions among second-year medical students in a hybrid problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum. Dissatisfaction with PBL had led to superficial tutorial discussions that students escaped to study for board certification exams. Following the PBL principle of using intrinsically motivating problems, the student investigators created board-style questions with accompanying facilitation guides for tutors to present as 'mini-problems' to stimulate case-related discussion. Tutor groups used and enjoyed the questions, but interaction quality did not improve. Like the hybrid curriculum itself, the intervention embodied conflicting educational philosophies; implementation challenges reflected the tension between them.