Center on Religion & the Professions

Course Title
General Honors 1030: Religion and the Professions (2 credit hours)

Jill Raitt

Instructor
Professor Jill Raitt

Schedule
September 6 to November 17, 2005
Tuesday/Thursday, 3:30 – 4:45 p.m.

Location
314 General Classroom Building

Purpose
This course provides an overview of duties and responsibilities of various professions. It also shows students how diverse cultural and religious beliefs and practices can affect relationships between professionals and the people they serve. The course introduces basic terms and concepts in the academic study of religion, helps students to get into the world of another culture, and explains the relation of religion to culture.

Requirements
The course requires the following:

Attendance
Independent research on PBL cases
Oral reports on research
Class participation
Written work (weekly papers)
Portfolio (containing all weekly papers, reading notes, and PBL research notes)

Readings

Borgmann, Albert. Power Failure: Christianity in the Culture of Technology. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2003.
Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997.
Zinbarg, Edward. Faith, Morals, and Money: What the World's Religions Tell Us About Ethics in the Marketplace. New York: Continuum, 2001.
Custom Publishing packet of readings (from the MU Bookstore)

Visiting Lecturers
In addition to mini-lectures from Professor Raitt, one visiting lecturer will visit the class each week. Those lecturers are from diverse professions, including business, engineering, health professions, journalism, law, medicine, nursing, and social work. Most visiting lecturers have provided readings (articles or book chapters) which are included in the packet from MU Custom Publishing. Visiting lecturers also listen to reports from the PBL work groups.

Problem-Based Learning
This course utilizes a modified version of problem-based learning (PBL). Problem-based learning, often used in medical schools, involves the use of cases to stimulate learning through research, analysis, and discussion. PBL is a dynamic and exciting way to learn because it requires cooperation with other members of a PBL work group, time management, and independent initiative. Students become very engaged in the learning process and report that they retain more of the knowledge they gain.

PBL Work Groups

Students are divided into groups of six to eight individuals.
Each group designates a leader (who facilitates the discussion) and a scribe (who is in charge of recording notes). A tutor sits with each group to make sure the conversation stays on track, but the tutor interjects as little as possible.

PBL Cases

The instructor carefully develops a problem (typically less than one page in length) that is designed to fulfill certain learning objectives.
Below is a sample set of learning objectives and the PBL case designed to fulfill them.

The Case

Lia Lee, a young child of Hmong immigrants, has been brought to the emergency room of a California medical clinic. It took several days for the doctors to diagnose the case because the interpreter, a Hmong whose English was poor, was inadequate. The problem was made worse because the parents considered Lia’s illness to be both a threat to her health—hence their trip to the clinic—and a sign that she may be destined to be a shaman. The doctors prescribed a drug regimen. The parents said they understood how to administer the medicine, although they couldn’t understand English or read what was written on the bottles.

(Developed from The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down)

Learning Objectives

Understand the history of the Hmong people and their immigration to the United States.
Analyze the cultural barriers that can impede communication.
Examine the role of an interpreter in a hospital setting.
Research the role of the shaman in traditional societies.
Research the American medical culture.
Consider potential problems in prescribing a complicated drug regimen to a non-English speaking family that is unfamiliar with Western medicine.

How PBL Works

First, students evaluate the case and identify the facts that they know about the situation.
Students then identify what they need to know about the case.
Students develop research questions and divide them among the members of the work group.
Students conduct independent research (outside of class) using appropriate and relevant sources.
After completing independent research, students gather to report on their findings.
The students then discuss the case in light of the new insights they have gained and attempt to "solve" the problem.

Benefits of PBL

Students learn from their peers and are responsible to other members of the group.
PBL encourages gaining both knowledge (about topics in the cases) and skills (analyzing situations, conducting research, writing, giving oral presentations).
PBL requires significant research and the analysis of sources’ relevance and reliability.
Students can play a large role in shaping the direction of the class.

Problem-Based Learning Bibliography

Alavi, Christine, ed. Problem-based learning in a health sciences curriculum. London; New York: Routledge, 1995.

Baptiste, Sue. Problem based learning: A self-directed journey. Thorofare, N.J.: Slack, Inc., 2003.

Barrows, Howard S. and Tamblyn, Robyn M. Problem-based learning: an approach to medical education. New York: Springer Pub., 1980.

Boud, David and Feletti, Grahame, eds. The Challenge of problem based learning. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991.

Delisle, Robert. How to use problem-based learning in the classroom. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1997.

Duch, Barbara J., Groh, Susan E., and Allen, Deborah E., eds. The power of problem-based learning: a practical "how to" for teaching undergraduate courses in any discipline, first ed. Sterling, Va.: Stylus Pub., 2001.

Fogarty, Robin, ed. Problem-based learning: a collection of articles. Arlington Heights, Ill.: SkyLight Training and Pub., 1998.

Knowlton, Dave S. and Sharp, David C., eds. Problem-based learning in the informational age. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003.

Rideout, Elizabeth. Transforming nursing education through problem-based learning. Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2001.

Ronis, Diane. Problem-based learning for math and science: integrating inquiry and the Internet. Arlington Heights, Ill.: SkyLight Professional Development, 2001.

Savin-Baden, Maggi. Problem-based learning in higher education: untold stories. Buckingham [England]; Philadelphia: Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press, 2000.

Savin-Baden, Maggi. Facilitating problem-based learning. Buckingham [England]; Philadelphia: Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press, 2003.

Torp, Linda, and Sage, Sara. Problems as possibilities: problem-based learning for K-12 education. Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1998.

Wilkerson, LuAnn and Gijselaers, Wim H., ed. Bringing problem-based learning to higher education: theory and practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996.

For more information about the course, contact Professor Jill Raitt raittj@missouri.edu.