Applying Problem-Based Learning

Issues and Reflections on Theory and Practice

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

Case study

A single problem or trigger for a whole semester programme in Environmental Management

Fictional, yet based in a real setting

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.

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?

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

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)

Related but not problem-based approaches Approach Details

Lecture based cases Lecturer talks about cases

Case-based lectures Cases given to students prior to lecture, which is about the case

Case method Cases given to students to study before seminar discussion of cases

Modified case method Incomplete cases used

Problem solving Problem sheet given to students to calculate the answer or find solution

Key principles in a PBL curriculum (after Engel, 1991 and 1992)

Active learning Integrated learning Cumulative learning Consistency in learning Learning for understanding

PBL and constructivismConstructivism PBL

Knowledge exists in people’s minds but is only activated by recollection and interpretation

Activation of prior knowledge through the tutorial process

Meanings and interpretations of knowledge depend on personal experience

Reflection as an integral part of the learning process

Knowledge is created by and through interaction with other people and the world

Group discussion and sharing of experience and understandings

Reliable knowledge can only be sustained through interaction with the world

Provisional knowledge and understanding always tested by reapplication to the problem

Creation of sustainable knowledge is an active process and requires time and application of mental effort

Stimulus and structure provided by the whole tutorial process

Mental effort requires appropriate feelings and levels of arousal

Supportive tutorial environment makes learning pleasurable and non-threatening (avoiding excessive arousal)

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

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

The Seven Jump PBL tutorialJump Activities Timing

1 Clarify terms and concepts First meeting

2 Define the problem First meeting

3 Analyse the problem and offer tentative explanations

First meeting

4 Draw up inventory of explanations First meeting

5 Formulate learning objectives First meeting

6 Collect further information through private study

Between meetings

7 Synthesise new information and test it against original problem. Reflection.

Second meeting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good triggers and problems Bad triggers and problems

Growing webComplex and indeterminateProblem and context inseparableSpace for growth

Convenient pegArbitraryProblem subordinated to knowledge transfer‘Trial of strength’

Question in question form“What is time?”Concept and values orientatedNo right answerNeither tutor nor students know answer

Question in statement form“What is the time?”Content orientatedA single right answerTutor knows the answer

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”

Ranking of criteria for problem construction (after des Marchais, 1999)

1. Stimulating thinking, analysis and reasoning2. Assuring self-directed learning3. Using previous knowledge4. Proposing a realistic context5. Leading to the discovery of learning objectives6. Choosing professionally relevant topics7. Assuring contextual detail8. Choosing an appropriate vocabulary

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)

Learning agenda questions (from Dahlgren and Oberg, 2001)

Question type Characteristic

Encyclopaedic Seeking simple answers, rigid definitions, “find out everything”

Meaning orientated Problematising meanings and definitions

Relational Exploring multiple dimensions and explicit causality

Value orientated Seeking norms upon which to base judgments

Solution orientated Not just seeking a solution to this problem but applied more widely to a problem set

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

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

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

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

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!

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)

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

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

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

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

The fortnightly cycle

Week Class activities Private study

1 First hour: Groups read problem, generate ideas, prepare short oral report

Second hour: Whole class discussion of ideas. Groups work up learning agendas. Final whole class review of learning agendas

Research for group and personal learning agendas

2 First hour: Groups share study learning and consolidate; prepare short oral report

Second hour: Groups report to class with whole class discussion of outstanding issues

Any necessary further research. Consolidation and reflection on learning

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)

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!)

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

John BradbeerUniversity of Portsmouth

john.bradbeer@port.ac.uk

Phone: 023 9284 5203