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On 29 August 2001, CDTL conducted a one-day symposium on Problem- based
Learning at the NUSS Kent Ridge Guild House. It was attended by 33 NUS
staff members and 165 educators from the Ministry of Education, SAFTI
Military Institute, Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, Universiti Malaya, Multimedia
University, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic, Temesek Polytechnic,
Serangoon Junior College, Institute of Technical Education, Jurong Institute,
various secondary schools and other private organisations. The guest of
honour was Prof Chong Chi Tat, Provost, NUS.
As part of the day’s programme, A/Profs Grace Ong and Lim Lum
Peng (Faculty of Dentistry) and A/Profs Khoo Hoon Eng and Rethy Chhem
(Faculty of Medicine), as well as Medical students Ms Cheryl Ngo Shufen
and Mr Tay Junmin, shared their experiences of conducting and taking part
in PBL. Prof K.P. Mohanan also presented, putting PBL in perspective;
and Dr Hendrik Meyer-Ohle (Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences) and
A/Prof W.A.M. Alwis (Faculty of Engineering) gave examples of applying
PBL in their respective disciplines. (To view the speakers’ PowerPoint
notes, please go to: http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/pbl/fr_pres.htm.)
Interspersed between presentations were opportunities for participants
to seek clarifications from each speaker.
How successful the symposium was in introducing PBL to Singaporean educators
can be seen in participants’ feedback such as the following:
‘Interesting sessions – varied and presented
clearly and systematically. The objectives of the symposium of raising
awareness of PBL have been met.’
‘Well balanced in the perspective presented. It had its
strong points and yet allowed organisations to decide how to use
PBL.’
‘The symposium provides a lot of food for thought &
certainly more reflection about PBL especially its effectiveness
in a secondary school context.’
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