Reflective Writing Year 2 It was a fine morning; as usual we started the Problem Based Learning (PBL) class on time.

The lecturer was Dr. Abdul Salam from the Medical Education Department of UKM; this is his last session with us for the respiratory system module. The chairperson, Amirah kick started the discussion with the first learning issue to be discussed among us. Everything seems smooth and peaceful until she finished her part of discussion for that learning issue. Out of the blue, everybody wanted to present the next learning issue about the mechanism of breathing and it became worse with every learning issues discussed. The discussion turned towards the aggressive members favor while the docile members were hesitant to share their part for the discussion. A lack of team cohesion and coordination is what caused the incident to happen. There were a few PBL mates who jumps at every opportunity to discuss regardless of others. They wanted to impress the doctor so much that they take this PBL as a battleground to see who could discuss more. There were also submissive PBL mates who give up the discussion when another member interrupts with a question or statement. As the situation gets out of hand, the chairperson demonstrates her leadership by taking initiative to redirect learning issues to those who were submissive and things improved as the enthusiastic members realized that they were not obeying the ethics and rules of PBL agreed before. They started to ask for consent before interrupting or discussing a new learning issue. In fact, they even pass along some cues and questions to the submissive members in order for them to speak up and be more involved in the discussion.

At the beginning of the PBL, we were taught to be tolerating, systematic, patient and mindful of others during discussion. However, everyone seems to neglect the ethics and rules behind PBL discussions in their attempt to impress the doctor in order to gain higher scores. I had learnt that one must not be selfish, rude and intolerant during a PBL discussion. The rules of PBL were just like any group conversation in our lives for instance, be polite, think before you speak and let others speak. I can clearly see the significance of passing around cues or questions to other members in order to make the discussion even livelier. Moreover, I came to realize the importance of asking for consent before speaking out during a discussion so as to ensure that I am not being rude or interrupting anyone. After this incident, I believe that I can improve myself by practicing good team communication skills such as staying positive and respectful, ask for consent before speaking, be open minded to ideas and help clarify ideas that are not well understood during the discussion. I will set a good example to my team members by abiding ethics and ground rules of PBL. I will also reflect on myself after each PBL session in order to correct myself if I were wrong at any point of discussion.