If PBL is the answer, then what is the problem?

Hans Hüttel – Aalborg University, DenmarkDorina Gnaur – VIA University College, Denmark

CHER 2015 Lisbon

PBL = Problem-Based Learning

PBL arose in various settings and now exists in several incarnations in higher education

In our work we consider project-organized PBL that is used at the universities of Aalborg and Roskilde in Denmark

PBL is becoming ritualized

Our findings indicate that PBL practice is becoming increasingly ritualized; teachers and students often appear to be “going through the motions” instead of engaging in a problem-based approach.

A missed opportunity?It is often argued that PBL is an efficient approach that will encourage deep learning.

Many universities now try to adopt elements of PBL; some universities in Asia (e.g. the National University of Singapore, the Technical University of Malaysia and the University of Hong Kong) now introduce forms of PBL as their main approach to teaching.

If PBL becomes the victim of ritualization, then the advantages of the approach may fail to materialize.

Where does the project-organized PBL tradition come from?

Around 1970 several things happened:

A perceived need for graduates with more relevant and specialized skills

The anti-authoritarian student movement

The German school of critical pedagocy (Negt, Wagenschein et al.)

The University of Roskilde (1972) and the University of Aalborg (1974)

Project-organized

PBLKnud Illeris is a pioneer of project-organized PBL

What is project-organized PBL?

• Students work together in groups

• The group chooses a problem setting

• The group analyzes the problem and, based on this, provides a problem statement and an analysis of how to solve the problem

• The group attempts to solve the problem

• The problem analysis, methodological decisions and account of the activities and reflections related to problem solving are most often documented in a project report

What is project-organized PBL ideally ?

1.Introduction and definition of the framework for the project work,

2.Introduction of methods and the general subject area,

3.Social introduction and group formation,

4.Choice of topic and problem to be worked on,

5.Formulation of the project idea,

6.Writing, evaluation and corrections of the project.

(Illeris, 1974)

What is project-organized PBL ideally ?

Once you have formed a project group, you need to define a problem together that you want to examine. The problem forms the basis of your project and you are to a great extent responsible for defining this yourselves within a set though often very broad theme frame. 

(AAU, official description of PBL practice)

What is project-organized PBL in reality at AAU?

• A project takes a semester

• A semester coordinator collects project proposals from potential supervisors before the start of the semester

• The project proposals are presented to the students at the semester introduction

• Students form groups based on the project proposals

• At the end of the semester, the semester coordinator writes a final evaluation report based on written comments from students and teachers/supervisors

“PBL” as a ritual

An excerpt from an 4th semester evaluation report:

The students were well motivated this semester because the courses fit together and the project work was mostly a check list.

“PBL” as a ritual

An excerpt from a 6th semester evaluation report:

The students have, like the students from the previous year, very limited experience with independently developing a problem statement in their project work. They see this semester as “more loose”. Future semester coordinators should devote some time to summarizing PBL at the start of the semester.

“PBL” as a ritualAn excerpt from an 8th semester evaluation report:

One rarely comes across an actual problem statement in reports. The problem is often described with a clear delimitation and unambiguous content. Often simple scenarios are described, in which the need for a solution appears unproblematic and absolute.

The reports frequently lack a chapter about the choice of theory and method. The project is frequently seen as a large construction assignment with well-defined tasks and known solution strategies.

Many students wish to choose their project from a project catalogue instead of stating a problem themselves. The freedom involved in making one’s own decisions is sometimes seen as a source of uncertainty.

“PBL” as a ritualProject proposals often focus on a “solution” (not on a problem):

In this project your task will be to build a system where word of mouth is used for recommendation purposes. You are welcome to use the data available online …

These data need to be correlated in order to create a recommender system based on that. You will need to compare the algorithm at least with collaborative filtering.

“PBL” as a ritualProject proposals often focus on a “solution” (not on a problem):

To improve on this, we can take advantage of a compute cluster to parallelise the task by verifying hundreds of models concurrently. Then, we can employ heuristics for selecting "good" parameter variables to avoid exploring all combinations. This is exactly what this project proposes.

The students should develop a small parameter sweeping client that uses an existing RESTful web service to perform and distribute the model checking task using UPPAAL… The students are expected to investigate heuristics and implement heuristics for selecting parameters during the parameter sweep.

Who owns the project?

The students?

The supervisor?

Whoever wrote the project proposal?

(Roskilde University, the 1970s)

Who owns the project?In official parlance, project ownership is central to learning:

According to Illeris (1981), enquiry, on its own, does not constitute the basis for an active process of acquiring knowledge through critical reflection: “A problem is not a problem in a psychological sense if the person who has to work with it does not experience it as a problem.” (p. 83, our translation). Therefore, participant control is an interrelated principle. When students themselves define and formulate the enquiry, they have a conscious relation of ownership to it, and they experience it as a problem (anomaly), which implicitly encourages involvement and motivation. Participant control and the ownership of the problem setting are therefore seen as fundamental for the students' engagement in the learning process.

(Dirckinck-Holmfeld, 2009)

Three modes of learning

Reproductive learning

Productive learning

Creative learning

Reproductive learningUses conditioning models of learning, resulting in routinized actions that are performed without much conscious attention and control. Reproduction of knowledge and methods becomes central.

Reproductive learning can create the impression that learning = being able to reproduce (aka surface learning)

If someone else owns the project, students are more tempted to use reproductive learning.

Creative and productive learning

Creative and productive learning are forms of developmental learning.

Productive learners have to invent and test a solution to a given problem based on knowledge about the task and about possible alternative solutions

Creative learners need to develop and use their own authority to evaluate outcomes and choose methods but also to define the task and the conditions at hand; the learner must diagnose a situation that may be unclear or puzzling.

This is what we expect graduates to be able to! One cannot be creative by “going through the motions”.

Where does “PBL as ritual” come from?

Students try to live up to expectations!

Project catalogues can be prepared beforehand and the supervisor tend to “think about the entire project”.

Many supervisors think in terms of solutions and products, not in terms of problems.

It is easy to think of standard solutions that are known to fit the curriculum and are guaranteed to work!

What can we do to address these concerns?

A change of practice: Get rid of project catalogues! Supervisors need to reflect on what it means for a project to be problem-based.

What can we do to address these concerns?

Current experiments in the degree programme in computer science:

No project catalogues for the 3rd and 4th semester

Project supervision focuses explicitly on problem analysis and is supported by a status seminar after one third of the semester has passed. The status seminar focuses on the problem statement and the choice of methods to be used.

What supervisors saidFor both groups the status seminar was time well spent. It helped the groups see their projects from another angle and exposed substantial deficiencies in both projects. I think it addressed some concerns in the process at an early stage for both groups. The way the groups handled the feedback was substantially different: afterwards, group A had many questions about the consequences of the choices that they had made [in their project], whereas group B was more interested in my opinions as to what the right choices would be. 

What supervisors saidGroup A were relatively quick to find their “own” project and the rest of their analysis was to a large extent characterized by them carrying the project by themselves – my role was to help them with delimiting the problem and with the search for information. Group B found the format very difficult and sought a lot of inspiration in the examples of projects that I had. This also meant that the groups did not end up “owning” the project, and the analysis phase was characterized by an expectation that I would contribute with the essential insights.

What supervisors said

One group was very quick to think of an interesting problem… The other group told me that they had looked at old project reports and wanted to choose a project topic from one of these even though they had been told not to do this! This was fairly frustrating; I told them that this was not acceptable and eventually they chose a problem setting that I had mentioned. … I am unfortunately still not sure if this group “owned” their project the way they should have.

What students said

We carried out a survey among 4th semester students. One student wrote:

Concerning the project report it can sometimes appear as if it is the only purpose of the project. Since this is what one is assessed on the basis of eventually.

This is another indicator of ritualization – the focus on the product.

What students said

What students said

What can we do to address these concerns?

Institutional support: Encourage problem-based PBL! Use the semester descriptions to describe best practice in this respect.

Technological support: Use technological tools that can support the problem analysis of the project.

Further work

Institution-wide action research: Further experiments with de-ritualization of PBL projects. Are the issues that need to be addressed the same for all degree programmes?

At the international level: Make institutions that adopt PBL aware of the dangers of ritualization.