How to promote learning Through Problem Based Learning

1. How to promote learning Through Problem Based Learning Prof. Dr Lorna Uden Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Technology. Staffordshire University The Octagon. Stafford ST18 0AD E-mail: L.uden@staffs.ac.uk

2. Published by IGI – Global <www.igi-pub.com> ISBN 1-59140-744-3 (Hardback) ISBN 1-5940-745-1 (Soft cover) ISBN 1-59140-746-X (E-book).

3. First year experience and drop out • 40% drop out is normal in USA; • Reason may be mismatch between students expectations and perception and reality of first year undergraduate experience; • Norman: ‘It is strange that we expect students to learn yet seldom teach them about learning. We expect them to solve problems yet seldom teach them problem solving. How to help students to learn ? • By making learning fun and enjoyable!

4. Three issues: Concern for students; Making learning realistic; Helping students learn.

5. Concern for students • Take an interest in student; • Show student you care; • Student needs to know he/she can trust you; • Motivate the student; • Instil in student the desire to take ownership of his/her learning; • Be role model to student.

6. Making learning realistic • Student should be told of the objectives and criteria of assessment; • Learning must be realistic ; • Students should be actively involved in learning activities; • Students should have understanding of the learning process; • Create tools and activities under which students thinking can be revealed - a process that involves inquiry, dialogue and skill building.

7. Helping students to learn HIGHER–ORDER THINKING SKILLS • Skills that can be applied across subject matter domains. • Often referred to as generic skills. • Tend to be more complex and take longer to acquire than domain-specific skills. • Have a recall aspect in that it may entail remembering the sequence of several activities. • Have an understanding aspect in that certain understandings are often necessary to transfer the skills to such diverse situations across subject matter domains. • Have an application aspect in that one must learn to generalise the skills to various, previously un-encountered sets of inputs or conditions.

8. Hence, to learn to do higher-level thinking (e.g. problem solving), • it is helpful to be taught appropriate procedures (identify the goal, analyse the givens, etc.) • and understandings (what approaches or strategies work best in different situations). • Higher-order thinking skills can be categorised into two main groups: learning strategies and problem solving. Teaching higher-order thinking skills • Typically, there are two methods of teaching higher-order thinking skills: • (i) Detached training; and • (ii) Embedded training.

9. Learning strategies • Referred to as cognitive strategies, • Encourage a deeper level of cognitive processing and thus helps to promote the acquisition, retention and transfer of knowledge, e.g. an analogy may be used as an embedded instructional strategy to make the content more meaningful. Learning strategies that can be used across subject domains are: • (a) the chunking or organising strategies; • (b) the spatial strategies; • (c) bridging strategies; • (d) general-purpose strategies.

10. Problem solving skills • The most important higher-order thinking skills. • Involve the use and application of skills for finding solutions, making decisions, and thinking inventively. • Effective problem solving involves a number of specific skills that include: • problem identification/posing (including problem representation), • distinguishing relevant from irrelevant information and understanding the problem well enough to know what information is missing, searching for appropriate information (both existing knowledge and new information),

11. identifying and evaluating alternative outcomes and solution strategies, • knowing when and how to try out the selected alternative • and the ability to use both general and domain-specific strategies.

12. Constructivist principles • Provide authentic activities; (Spiro et al 1992) • Provide access to expert performance and the modelling process • Provide multiple roles and perspectives • Support collaborative construction of knowledge • Promote reflection • Promote articulation • Provide coaching and scaffolding • Provide for authentic assessment of learning within thetask • Provide exploration (Collins, Brown and others 1990; Duffy 1994, Jonassen 1995).

13. Students need information literacy Information literacy involves the abilities to: • know when there is a need for information; • identify information needed to address a given problem issue; • locate the needed information; • organise the information; • use the information to effectively address the problem or issue.

14. Traditional learning model. Teacher as expert model; textbook as primary source; facts as primary; information is packaged; emphasis on product; assessment is quantitative. Problem-based learning. Teacher as facilitator/guide; variety of sources/media; question as primary; information is discovered; emphasis on process; assessment is quantitative/qualitative Paradigm shift from traditional learning models to Problem-based learning model.

15. Problems Facing Students • Students find learning difficult. • Students tend to memorise facts, but fail to explain observed phenomena and solve real world problems, or to think critically. • Lecture style teaching is NOT effective. • Need to develop strategies to teach thinking and problem-solving skills

16. Now What? ?

17. Problem-based learning (PBL) PBL, according to Barrows is, " ... the learning which results from the process of working towards the understanding of, or resolution of, a problem." Barrows describes the main educational goals as: • To develop students' thinking or reasoning skills (problem solving, meta-cognition, critical thinking) and; • To help the students become independent, self-directed learners (learning to learn, learning management).

18. In Problem-Based Learning, teachers encourage students to: • be active, not passive in learning; • engage in inquiry approach to learning; • accept responsibility for their own learning; • develop problem-solving, decision-making and evaluation skills and • develop a broad outlook on the world.

19. Students develop the ability to: • recognise bias; • make systematic comparisons; • form and defend opinions; • identify and develop alternative solutions; • solve problems independently; and • use responsible behaviour.

20. The purpose of PBL is to produce students who will: • Engage a challenge (problem, complex task, and situation) with initiative and enthusiasm; • Reason effectively, accurately, and creatively from an integrated, flexible, usable knowledge base; • Monitor and assess their own adequacy to achieve a desirable outcome given a challenge; • Address their own perceived inadequacies in knowledge and skills effectively and efficiently; • Collaborate effectively as a member of a team working to achieve a common goal.

21. In PBL: • Students spend time in learning by identifying what they need to know, by finding out, by talking to each other and by applying their new knowledge; • The primary aim is learning itself not the completion of the project – the project is the means to the end; • It is different from standard project work in that the ways in which the students are encouraged to tackle the problem are designed to encourage learning in a structured manner (albeit with substantial learner control);

22. The key ingredients of PBL are: • the problem as the focus of learning; • learning as the purpose of the problem; • the problem as the integrator of concepts and skills • commitment to self-learning; • PBL is typically used in teamwork and small group situations as this encourages the development of reflective abilities;

23. PBL encourages independent learning and deeper understanding of the material rather than superficial coverage, giving students practice in tackling engaging problems and defining their own gaps in understanding of the context of those problems; • the small group setting used in PBL encourages an inquisitive and detailed look at all issues, concepts and principles contained within the problem;

24. The time spent outside of the group facilitates the development of skills such as literature retrieval, critical appraisal of available information and the seeking of opinions of peers and specialists; • PBL provides students with the opportunity to develop many skills including: appreciating the diversity of inputs from different group members, time management, information retrieval, communication, and self-managed learning; all critical for the practising software engineer.

25. PBL is powerful because: • it is a learning environment that embodies most of the principles that we know improve learning: active, cooperating, getting prompt feedback, tailored to student’s learning performance with student empowerment and accountability; • it forces students to learn the fundamental principles of the subject in the context of needing it to solve a problem; • it offers an opportunity to practice, use and even develop such processing skills as problem solving, interpersonal, group and team skills, the ability to cope with change, lifelong or self-directed learning skills and self assessment skills.

26. Benefits of PBL include: • increased retention of data; • integration of knowledge; • life-long learning; motivation to learn; • development of reasoning and critical thinking skills; • development of communication and interpersonal skills; • development of the ability to work effectively in a team.

27. Give the learner ownership of the process used to develop a solution; • Design the learner environment to support and challenge testing ideas against alternative views and alternative contexts • Provide opportunity for, and support reflection on both the context learned and the learning process. • PBL needs to be well designed and the tutor employing the method needs intensive preparation through hands-on educational experiences;

28. Barrows states: • "The ability of the tutor to use facilitory teaching skills during small group learning process is the major determinant of the quality and success of any educational methods aimed at 1) developing students' thinking or reasoning skills (problem solving, meta-cognition, critical thinking) as they learn, and 2) helping them to become independent, self-directed learners (learning to learn, learning management)"; • It is important to train tutors to adopt a new framework for the classroom when operating in PBL environments.

29. Personal Experiences The following is some of the feedback from students. • "PBL helps me how to solve problems, how to question myself on what and why I do certain things. It makes learning a very enjoyable process." • "I learned more with the group than I would have individually" • "PBL is the best thing I ever learned in my life." • "I have learned how to identify big issues which are relevant to the problem." • "I understand better by having to explain to the other members of the group."

30. Scott Dow • BSc (Hons) Computing Science • The PBL module taught me a completely new way to teach and learn. Using PBL is a very difficult concept to grasp early-on but, having learnt it, the value of it is immediately apparent. For the basis of our module we were split into groups along with students with many differing backgrounds and cultures. We were then set a task that would ordinarily be much too difficult to complete on our own. This forces the group to work together to solve that task. • My own project was implemented using PBL in the structure. This allowed me as an individual to also apply this model to my own work. In doing so I feel that I was able to produce a project that was far above anything I could have produced without PBL. It is my opinion that this module should be compulsory for every entry student at university as, equipped with this knowledge from the beginning; students would be able to perform much, much better throughout their time in education. • PBL also allows for much better retention of the course materials. During the exam I had little or no difficulty in recalling what I needed to know to answer the questions. Speaking to my fellow students they also felt the same way. It seemed as if the exam was easier, when in fact, with hindsight it was just that our knowledge was better having learnt it for ourselves. • So, as a final thought I would recommend PBL to anyone considering taking the subject. It will equip you with a means to learn that is very different, but also much better than anything you will have experienced previously. Although it involves much more work, in the long-term you will reap the benefits of this method. Already, the courseware I implemented using the methods discussed have seen improvements in the students using it at Clough Hall Technology School. I will continue to use the methods, not only in teaching but in my own personal and professional development. This is, without a doubt, the single most valuable subject I have studied at university in four years and anyone not taking it has truly missed out on a very valuable experience.

31. Mathew Cartwight • BSc (Hons) Computing Science • “From a more personal opinion this module has helped me complete my final year dissertation at university. My background has not been in computing and it was a struggle to meet the standards required of me, but after undertaking the PBL module, I have now completed a final year dissertation which I honestly did not think was possible.”

32. Sajid Bashir • BSc (Hons) Internet Technology student • “Overall I can confidently say that I have acquired a skill that I will use for the rest of my life. I knew that when I came to university I will walk away with many skills but not such a beneficial skill as PBL. PBL has provided me with a skill that has made me a confident person, it has provided me with the required knowledge I needed before I undertake a full time job. One of the things I was dreading after university was taking on a job, i thought I might not be able to achieve the tasks that were given to me. However, now that I have acquired this skill of PBL I can confidently say that I am looking forward to the working world.”

33. Asif Khalil BSc Computing Science Student • At first this method of learning seemed very difficult and challenging because it was a completely new approach. At that time I did not realise how useful PBL will be, not only for the given problem but also how the same method could be applied to other areas of my studies, fundamentally in tackling my final year project. The research was then challenged by being thoroughly questioned in every aspect, this demonstrated what knowledge I had learned and understood. I found this method of learning very effective in increasing self motivation as I enjoyed facing the challenge, as well as increasing the knowledge gained on a wider scope. • My final year project which was an ‘Interactive Training Package’ for Hanson Building Products – Hoveringham, adopted the PBL method. My final year project supervisor challenged me on the research around the problem area which resulted in a successful project. On reflection PBL has helped me to improve many of my existing skills including; independent research and linking different areas of research by recognising the key factors. This has aided in good time management and improving my organisation skills as I was able to recognise at a very early stage what type of research was required to solve the problem hence, resulting in solving the project efficiently and effectively.

34. Khoo Kok Lung • BSc (Hons) Computing Science • Unlike other module class that I have attended before, I felt that this module is not only talking about a particular subject area but it broadly teaches doing proper research, guides me in handling my FYP wholly and helps me to find and improve the way I learn and study. Having attended this lesson I also have learnt articulating with a group of my friends and the lecturer, giving me a lot of knowledge in gaining and improving critical thinking skills in the process of struggling with the actual problem. During the project development, PBL have helped me to develop critical thinking skills where I can: • Clearly define a problem • Develop alternative theories • Access, evaluate, and utilize data from a variety of sources • Alter theories given new information • Develop clearly stated solutions that fit the problem and its inherent conditions, based upon information and clearly clarified reasoning.

35. Long-term benefits: • "Confronted with limited information, I use the various problem-solving techniques taught in ISD to provide consultation for my clients." • "The ISD module was very useful to me ... in order to build our two working prototypes in time...” • "As software engineers, ISD has equipped us to be better team players, ... to master new languages and software tools." • "I personally found the ISD module extremely useful, particularly the principles of Problem-Based Learning, which I still use to tackle day-to-day research problems."

36. Conclusion • Today, students learn in an information age; • New technology will not automatically revolutionise learning, we need to change our learning paradigm; • Problem-based learning provides a practical means of contributing to the long-established educational goal of individualising the learning process.