Background/Purpose Problem-Based Learning (PBL) has been used in medical education since the 1970s and recently has been implemented in health education, nursing and health care professional training. The intent of PBL is to increase student motivation to learn and to promote critical thinking. This constructivist teaching method is felt to positively impact students' ability to apply their learning to future professional practice.
Method This poster presents design strategies for online PBL and discusses the experience of undergraduate students who completed it as part of a health and nutrition course. Students worked in groups and assumed one of three roles to complete a problem related to nutrition and lifestyle therapy for cardiovascular disease.
Analysis/Results Data were collected from 134 participants using two survey instruments and open ended questions. Student attitudes about the learning experience and group collaboration were found to be mostly positive.
Conclusions These findings suggest that online PBL has the potential to provide an interesting, effective, collaborative and engaging learning experience for health education and health care professional training.