PBL and educational innovation

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PBL and educational innovation
Problem based Learning in Engineering and Science
Development of Facilitator
Lars Peter Jensen Associate profesor Department
of Control Engineering lpj_at_es.aau.dk
Xiangyun Du Associate professor Department of
Education, Learning and Philosophy xiangyun_at_learni
ng.aau.dk
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Overview

• Reflection on university teaching and learning
• Why PBL - Challenges and changes
• PBL history and related theories
• Diversity and ongoing change
• Reflection and discussions

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Reflection on own learning stories
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The way I was educated Big class, little room
for individual ideas
http//www.cnsphoto.com/
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Same materials year after year
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Memory is more important than application skills
for high scores
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Transferred knowledge will be returned after exams
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Your learning stories

• Please spend 3 minutes sharing your learning
  stories with your neighbours

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• Am I teaching the same way I was taught?
• Need for Innovation in Engineering Education

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Room for innovation?
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Can innovation be facilitated in this way?
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5 minutes discussion

• What is your understanding of learning?
• Based on your own experiences, what are the roles
  of university teaching in relation to learning?

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Teaching Learning ?
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Teaching learning?
Yes, its actually true you can get a degree by
repeating everything the teacher says.
We pretend that there is co-incidence between
what is being taught and what is being learned
(Knud Illeriis, 1998)
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Teaching Learning?
Teaching does not mean transferring knowledge
but creating opportunities for producing and
constructing it. (Paulo Freire)
(Karl Smith, UMN)
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Learning is it only about how brain works?
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Theories related to PBL

• Constructivism
• Knowledge and learning is created by the
  students not given to them

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Life Long Learning and professional identity
development
Original figure in Wenger 2004
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Learning in Communities of Practice
Participation Informal Unintended Knowledge
sharing

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Experiential learning - Kolbs learning cycle
Concrete Experience
Active Experiment
Reflective Observation
Abstract conceptualisation
Learning is the process whereby knowledge is
created through the transformation of experiences
- David Kolb 1984
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Experiential learning the Cowan loopy diagram
on
action
Reflection
for
in
Time
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Blooms taxonomy 1956
Competence Skills demonstrated
1. Knowledge Observation and recall of information (describe, identify, who, when, where)
2. Comprehension Understanding information Translate knowledge into new context
3. Application Use information, methods, concepts, theories in new situations
4. Analysis Seeing patterns, organization of parts, rcognition of hidden meanings
5. Synthesis Use old ideas to create new ones. Generalize from given facts. Draw conclusions
6. Evaluation Compare and discremininate between ideas. Assess value of theories. Make choices based on reasoned arguments. Verify value of evidence

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PBL Learning Principles
Learning Principles (Graff Kolmos 2003)
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A conceptualisation of PBL

• PBL can be conceptualised as three central
  dimensions or processes that are stretched
  between teacher and participant control
• Problem who defines and re-formulate?
• Work Process who chooses theory, methods and
  ways of working?
• Solution who owns the solution?

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Why change? Why PBL ? NEW Competencies
Scientific knowledge

• Process and professional competencies
• Project management
• Communication
• Teamwork
• Organization

Technical competencies
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Need for change accreditations
Diverse capabilities

• National Academy of Engineering, The Engineer of
  2020, 2004
• EUR-ACE (Accreditation of European Engineering
  Programmes and Graduates, http//www.feani.org/EUR
  _ACE/EUR_ACE_Main_Page.htm
• - ABET http//www.abet.org/
•  

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Need for change industry expectations Comparaison
of capabilities taught at universities and
required in professional life by young
profesionals - Germany
(Becker 2006)
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Ranking of capabilities important in professional
life by young electrical engineers five years
after graduation - Germany
(Becker 2006)
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Change of profession and interdisciplinarity

• Changes in the medical education system in many
  countries have been endorsed aiming to reduce the
  volume of factual knowledge taught didactically
  and to increase students abilities to direct and
  maintain their own learning through methods such
  as Problem Based Learning

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Educational changes in Denmark

• New study programs enriched engineering
  disciplines
• New expectations broadened engineering skills
  and competences
• New study forms implementing student centred and
  work place-imitated learning environment (for
  example, PBL as an educational strategy)

New challenges and tasks for educators
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PBL as a strategy for change development and
diversity of practice
McMaster 1968 Maastricht 1972 Linkoping
1972 Roskilde 72 Aalborg 74

• Problem orientation
• Interdisciplinarity
• Exemplary learning
• Participant directed
• Group work

• Problems as focus and stimulus for learning
• Self directed learning
• Student-centred and tutors as facilitators/guides
  
• Team work

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• Objectives of PBL (Barrows 1986)
• Structuring of knowledge and clinical context
• Clinical reasoning
• Self directed learning skills
• Intrinsic motivation

• Motivation and drivers (Barrows 1996)
• Failure of conventional teaching methods in
  improving students the clinical reasoning and
  problem-solving ability
• Students dissatisfaction
• Need for involving medical practice into
  curriculum

PBL literature theories

• Five major characteristics (Vernon and Blake
  1993,550-551)
• real or hypothetical clinical cases
• small discussion groups
• collaborative independent study
• hypothetico-deductive reasoning
• Focus on group process rather than provision of
  information

• Evaluation (quantitative studies)
  
• Effectiveness (Albanese and Mitchell 1993, Vernon
  and Blake 1993) Norman and Schmidt (1992),
  Barrows (1996), Norman and Schmidt (2000),
  Colliver (2000), Enarson and Cariaga-Lo (2001)
• Academic achievement
• Academic process
• Clinical functioning
• Concerns (Colliver 1993, 2000, Newman 2000,
  Morrison 2004)
• Basic medical science knowledge
• cost

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What is/are PBL(s)?
What do people do

• Some who claim to be doing might not be
• Some are doing without realizing

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PBL Learning Principles
Learning Principles (Graff Kolmos 2003)
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Variation

• Ways of implementation
• Problem solving techniques in the lecture
• Problem Based Learning in subjects / at
  institutional level
• Project Based Learning in subjects / at
  institutional level
• Problem and Project Based Learning
• Inquiry Based Learning
• Outcome Based Learning

• Modes of practice
• Senario
• Case
• Transdisciplinary
• Intercultural projects
• Mega project
• Individual / team
• Online Based / Face to face

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DIVERSITY OF PRACTICE PBL curriculum relations
Tadahiko (2008)
Hybrid track
PBL track
Partial attachment
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Diversity of PBL practice
Implementation
Moesby, E. 2004. "Reflections on making a change
towards Project Oriented and Problem-Based
Learning (POPBL), World Transactions on
Engineering Technology Education (WTETE), UICEE,
Monash University, Australia. Volume 3, No. 2,
December 2004.
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Problem solving skills in the lecture

• Lectures
• Literature
• Questions
• Answers
• Seminars

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Project Based Learning
Moesby 2004
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Innovations
Moesby 2004
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PBL at institutional level
Problem and Project Based Learning - An
innovation of the Aalborg Model
Study courses 7,5 ECTS
50courses
Projectcourses 7,5 ECTS
One semester
Group examination Individual examination
50project
Project 15 ECTS
Model from The Aalborg PBL model - Progress,
Diversity and ChallengesAnette Kolmos, Flemming
K. Fink Lone Krogh
1 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) 30
working hours
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Evaluation from Danish industry on graduates
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Employers judgement of innovation, IDA, 2008
(N209)
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Overall assessment of Danish Engineering
Institutions. IDA, 2008
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DIVERSITY OF PRACTICE MODELS
Problem Process Team Assessment Role of teaching
Aalborg One semester Problems(5 months) - open and narrow Project Management and process skills 4-7 Ss Self-form, Discussing, writing and together, Individual judgement in a team based exam Facilitation based Consultancy (low level Of nstruction)
Maastricht One week - Case based Seven jumps 5-10 Ss Discussing together Individual exam progress Testing Facilitation based tutoring (low level of instruction)
Republic Polytechnic One day -structured 3 meetings a day Problem Solving process 5 Ss Discussing together Quiz and Individual Written reflection Problem giver and instruction
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Major changes of PBL curricula
Stage 3 2005 now COMPASS curriculum
(concept-oriented, multidisciplinary,
problem-based, practice for transfer, simulations
in clerkship, streaming).
Challenges insufficient assimilation of
fundamental basic science concepts, insufficient
attention on behavior and population
perspectives, professional competencies, etc.
Stage 2 1983 - 2005 Curriculum focused on
population problems. Aiming at essential
knowledge, fundamental skills, personal
qualities, values, and attitudes to becoming
physicians.
Challenges students required a broad-based basic
medical science foundation before they could
begin problem solving.
Stage 1 1969 -1983 Curriculum focused on
Biomedical problems. Aiming at skills of
self-directed learning for information explosion,
critical appraisal, self-assessment, etc.
(Neville et al 2007)
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Major changes of PBL curricula
Stage 3 2009-2010 Integrated courses of basic
medical sciences
Stage 2 2006-2008 increased number of courses and
PBL percentage in overall curricula
Stage 1 2004-2005 11 basic medical courses and 12
clinical courses (100, over 50, and less than
50 of curriculum)
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The case PBL model in medicine at AAU
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Bachelor program (project-oriented PBL in green)
otherwise case-based PBL all shared with
medicine
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Comparison of the three models
Students number /year Starting time of PBL Drivers for change Curriculum model
McMaster 3 year master Around 140 1969 Altanative teaching and learning Problem Based Learning (COMPASS)
AAU 5-6year master 50-70 1974 AAU Project Based Learing, 2006 medicine PBL AAU tradition? Case Project based Learning
CMU 7 years master More than 1000 200? GMER Hybrid PBL Shoestring model (Savin-Baden 2009)
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Comparison of the three models

• History, backgrounds, goals
• Students and staff resources
• Curriculum design in relation to educational
  philosophy and theories (How much percentage of
  the curricula)
• Assessment and evaluation
• Educational/Staff development

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Questions and discussions