Applying Problem-Based Learning

1. Applying Problem-Based Learning Issues and Reflections on Theory and Practice

2. An overview • A case study illustration • Characteristics and principles of PBL • The PBL tutorial • Problems and triggers in PBL • The tutor in PBL • Introducing PBL in the curriculum

3. Case study • A single problem or trigger for a whole semester programme in Environmental Management • Fictional, yet based in a real setting

4. Peppercombe • The National Trust has acquired further land in and around the Peppercombe Valley on the N Devon coast, 12 km w of Bideford. Now it owns the entire valley, it has engaged consultants to draw up a management plan. The plan will have to be acceptable to the Trust and in conformance with the Hartland Heritage Coast Plan, within which the valley lies. The plan must be ready within three months.

5. Desired learning agendas • Management Plans: what are they like? • Management Plans: how are they produced? What steps are entailed? • Background on the National Trust, Heritage Coasts, other conservation designations • What maps and documentary resources are available in the university and via the web? • Any parallel and relevant studies to hand?

6. Desired learning agendas (2) • What base line studies needed for the Management Plan? • Ecological surveys: how to do them • Background on coastal heath communities and Atlantic woodland communities • Rural landscape survey • Deeper understanding of the NT’s general management philosophies and practices

7. A distinguishing characteristic of PBL • “The characteristic that distinguishes PBL from other learning methods centring on what students do, rather than what teaching staff do (student-centred methods) is that the problem comes before the knowledge (in the broadest sense) need to solve or resolve it.” MacDonald and Isaacs (2001, p 317)

8. Related but not problem-based approaches

9. Key principles in a PBL curriculum (after Engel, 1991 and 1992) • Active learning • Integrated learning • Cumulative learning • Consistency in learning • Learning for understanding

10. PBL and constructivism

11. Five models of PBL (after Savin-Baden, 2000 pp 126-7 • PBL for Epistemological Competence • PBL for Professional Action • PBL for Interdisciplinary Understanding • PBL for Transdisciplinary Learning • PBL for Critical Contestability

12. The tutorial in the PBL process • Purists argue without tutorials there is no PBL • Variants of the tutorial exist • The “classic” tutorial is the Seven Jump model of the University of Maastricht • Maastricht uses a 2-3 week cycle around a single problem

13. The Seven Jump PBL tutorial

14. The tutor in PBL • “The role of the tutor in problem-based learning is to scaffold student learning.” de Grave, Dolmans and van der Vleuten 1999, p. 901

15. Some key dimensions in PBL tutoring (after de Grave, Dolmans and van der Vleuten, 1999) • Stimulation of elaboration of information and ideas • Guidance of the learning process, including stimulation of reflection upon it • Stimulation of the integration of knowledge • Stimulation and support of student interaction and individual accountability

16. The expert PBL tutor (after de Grave et al 1999) • Has subject matter knowledge but also subject specific pedagogical knowledge to deal with difficulties students encounter, and more general pedagogical knowledge • Displays a high level of affective support and nurtures students • Uses a Socratic style of questioning to help students build knowledge • Make increasing demands on students in successive sessions

17. The expert tutor (2) • Coveys high expectations in an indirect and understated fashion • Helps students to articulate their reasoning and the assumptions underlying their thinking and helps students to generate their own answers • Devotes substantial effort to encouraging and motivating students

18. Ways to improve tutors’ performance in PBL (after Oliffe 2000) • Reflect on one’s role • Meet other PBL tutors and discuss tactics • Read PBL research literature • Peer observation and feedback • Tolerate silences • Use split group tactics • Model good thought processes aloud • Gently create student dissatisfaction with their current ideas

19. Problems and triggers in PBL • Various forms such as single problem for a whole block/semester; successive but different problems over the block; successive and cumulative problems over the block • Common features in “good” problems and triggers

20. Good and bad triggers (after Margetson, 1987 and 1998)

21. Seven principles for effective problem design (after Dolmans et al 1997) • Appropriate use of prior knowledge • Potential for elaboration through discussion • Content relevant to future profession • Requires integration of knowledge • Encourages self-directed learning • Intrinsically interesting subject matter • Contributes to the “discipline map”

22. Ranking of criteria for problem construction (after des Marchais, 1999) • Stimulating thinking, analysis and reasoning • Assuring self-directed learning • Using previous knowledge • Proposing a realistic context • Leading to the discovery of learning objectives • Choosing professionally relevant topics • Assuring contextual detail • Choosing an appropriate vocabulary

23. Student questions and learning agendas as an indicator of good PBL triggers (after Dahlgren and Oberg, 2001) • A phenomenographic study of student learning agendas in an introductory environmental science module • Five categories of questions found, almost paralleling the deep and surface approaches to learning • “Good” PBL triggers yield more higher level (deeper) questions)

24. Learning agenda questions (from Dahlgren and Oberg, 2001)

25. Introducing PBL to your teaching • A PBL session in a non PBL module • A PBL block in a non PBL module • A single module taught via PBL • Two or more formerly separate modules now combined in a single PBL package • A whole semester entirely PBL • A whole year/level of study entirely PBL • An entire degree programme PBL

26. A PBL session in a non PBL module • Small and clear-cut • Takes limited time to prepare • Causes limited disruption to rest of module • Does not allow tutor or students to become familiar with PBL • Can too readily be seen as problem solving • Difficult to evaluate and difficult to assess

27. A PBL block in a non PBL module • Minimum of a fortnight allows a “real” PBL problem to be tackled • Still quite small but causing some disruption to rest of module • Still leaves tutor(s) and students limited time to become familiar with PBL • Could be seen as extended problem solving • Hard to assess

28. A single module taught through PBL • A clearly defined task • Needs major rethink of module content and assessment • Easier to align assessment with PBL objectives • Takes a long time to plan and prepare • Should give tutor(s) and students time to come to grips with demands of PBL • Probably will be seen as an “odd” module with “excessive” demands on student time and effort

29. Combining two (or more) formerly separate modules into a single PBL package • A clearly defined curriculum development task • Yields a pool of staff to act as PBL tutors • Major issues of curriculum reorganisation • Gives students time to come to terms with PBL • Realises PBL’s potential for integration of subject matter • Seems to be no examples of anyone doing this!

30. A whole semester through PBL • The next step up (and probably easier than combining some, but not all, modules) • All students across the programme experience PBL, its demands and learning benefits • Alignment of assessment and PBL easier • Impacts of PBL probably easier to evaluate • Still a major culture shock for students (and tutors)

31. A whole year through PBL • Advantages broadly those of the single semester • Further advantage is that students have longer to become comfortable and familiar with PBL • If PBL works well many students will not want to return to more traditional teaching • Danger of polarising the departmental staff into PBL enthusiasts and PBL haters • Big issues in staff development and curriculum design

32. An entire degree through PBL • The Maastricht experience and that of many medical faculties world-wide • The logical extension and realisation of PBL benefits • Major decision in curriculum design (but perhaps easier ab initio) and needs major investment in staff development • What do you do with the staff who don’t want to get involved in facilitation? • Students realise all the learning benefits from PBL • General experience is that a three year degree via PBL needs a two year preparation period plus action research cycles over the first three to five years of its operation

33. Personal experiences of a single PBL module • Level 2 20 credit module in semester 2 in Environmental Management (with a political geographical emphasis) • Two hours in single block per week • My module and with me as the sole teacher • Typically some 50-60 students • All had done a semester 1 environmental management module in traditional lectures, with no seminars or tutorials; I was one of three lecturers on this

34. Organisation of the module • Decision to use 5 problems (fortnight for each) • Problem one was to be modelled and directed by me, with the other four done in more conventional PBL fashion • Students self-form groups of 4 • PBL tutorials take place at the same time in the same room • I try to facilitate all the groups and run a mixture of group and whole class interaction • Stimulus of a problem written up in a piece of about 1,500 to 3,000 words

35. The fortnightly cycle

36. Assessment • Each problem was written up by a single student on behalf of the group. Each student awarded his/her own mark plus an average of the other reports. (20% personal mark; 20% group average mark) • In class test in week 12 for each individual student of a simpler problem case but otherwise similar to those studied in groups (60% of the module mark)

37. Student experiences • Students spend a very long time reading the problem and then summarising it rather than identifying problem features • Students very reluctant to offer much to whole class discussion • Learning agendas tended to Dahlgren and Oberg’s encyclopaedic • Some groups had poor attendance, leaving almost everything to the student whose turn it was to write the report • Many reports were superficial • Few students went beyond Google searches • Some liked the move away from lectures, other resented having to learn rather than be taught • Overall marks were marginally higher than the previous years’ course essay marks • One case study was unpopular because web searches yielded non English language material (it was intended to!)

38. Personal reflections • There was a lot of hard work getting the module ready in PBL form • HoD sympathetic, other staff indifferent or hostile • Students took much longer than expected to get into the PBL way of working (and some never did) • I was too optimistic in allocating just a fortnight to each case. Students did not elaborate on knowledge and were content to reproduce what they found. The elaboration and reapplication phase of PBL probably needs two hours to itself • To wean students off Google searches, library facilities need to be excellent

39. John BradbeerUniversity of Portsmouth john.bradbeer@port.ac.uk Phone: 023 9284 5203