MIGRATING FROM A SUBJECT-CENTRED TO A DOMAIN-BASED PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING IN A MARKETING CURRICULUM

The Problem-Based Learning (PBL) approach to education has had proven success in many fields of studies, most notably in the areas of medicine, architecture, and construction management. The Diploma in Marketing (DM), Temasek Business School began an initial phase of PBL implementation in January 2000, by introducing PBL into ten subjects in the current curriculum. Due to the current subject-based academic structure, there were limitations in the implementation. In its quest for academic excellence, and to differentiate itself in the realm of Polytechnic education, the DM adopts a learner-centred model for its Business education to help its graduates to "hit the ground running" when they enter the world of work. The staff's response to this challenge was to develop a domain-based PBL approach for the second and final year Marketing curriculum that embraces PBL as a philosophy rather than a tool. This is a radical change from the current approaches of implementing PBL in Business education. This paper explores the rationale for migrating from the current subject-centred academic model to the domain-based PBL model; explains the proposed model and addresses the likely issues that may arise from its implementation.