What is Problem-Based Learning?

Employers today are demanding communication, team, and problem-solving skills. Few of these skills are evident in the classroom, as students memorise facts for regurgitation. According to Vernon and Blake (1993), problem-based learning is more than a teaching method. It is a complex mixture of general teaching philosophy, learning objectives, and goals. PBL is an instructional approach that uses problems as a context for students to acquire problem-solving skills and knowledge. This chapter describes the shift from traditional teaching methods to PBL. It discusses the characteristics of PBL and explains how it differs from other approaches, such as case-based, project-based, and lecture-based approaches.

Postscript

We hope that by the time you have reached this chapter, you will have become enthusiastic to incorporate principles and practice of PBL into your teaching. In the chapters of this book, we have tried to explore issues that are central to successfully implementing PBL. There are clearly many differences from the traditional transmission model of teaching, since PBL is fundamentally a different philosophy, based on student enquiry. However, if we set aside labels, it is also clear that there are principles and aspects of PBL practice that are often incorporated in many courses and we would argue that there is a continuum of pedagogical approaches from what might be regarded as pure transmission, in the archetypal lecture, through to pure research. Problem-based learning is somewhere near the research end.

Curriculum and Organisational Issues

The subject of problem-based learning can raise some surprisingly strong emotions, both in terms of the right process to use and the right curriculum model. For example, on the PBL Initiative Web site (director, Howard Barrows, n.d.), the minimum essentials for PBL are stated, and include: “Problem-based learning should not occur within a single discipline or subject.” Specifically for medical education, the recommendations are further specified: Problem-based learning must be the pedagogical base in the curriculum and not part of a didactic curriculum. Problem-based learning should not be episodic, added on to or mixed in with more traditional, didactic, teacher-directed, passive, memorization-based and lecture-based educational methods. (PBL Initiative) This requires a large-scale intervention, obtaining commitment, collaboration, and consensus from staff in multiple subject areas, followed by much planning and training. It can be quite discouraging for a teacher who can see many benefits in the PBL approach and would like to try out PBL “in the small.” While there are numerous benefits for implementing PBL throughout a curriculum—we will discuss in more depth later in the chapter—there is an alternative view of PBL as a pedagogical approach, one that can be applied at several levels, from a single session to a fully integrated curriculum. Ranald Macdonald (2001) puts it like this: So, what is the big deal with PBL? For me it’s nothing more nor less than the fact that problems, tasks, queries (Boud, 1995), or the every day necessity to learn to meet unexpected situations, form the starting point for learning. The real motivation for using it, whatever ‘it’ is, is a desire to improve the quality of student learning and to prepare students for future learning needs by giving them greater responsibility for their own learning now. As such, it doesn’t matter whether we adopt PBL across a whole programme, within a single subject, or as the basis for a single learning experience. It is the intention to provide a need to acquire knowledge, develop skills, or demonstrate applied understanding that is the starting point for PBL. In this chapter, we will explore some of the curriculum and organizational issues of implementing PBL, both “in the small,” that is at a module level, and “in the large,” throughout the curriculum.

Assessment

Assessment probably has a more important effect on student learning than anything else. For the student, high grades and good qualifications signify success and open better opportunities in life. The converse is also true; so it is no wonder assessment drives student behaviour. Ramsden (1992, p. 187) expresses it succinctly: “From our students’ point of view, assessment always defines the actual curriculum.” When you add to this the consideration that assessment results are not only important to students, but also to teachers, departments, and whole institutions that are also judged on the results of their students, assessment becomes a hot topic. Thus, whatever we say we value, however well we design PBL cases and facilitate tutorials, at the end of the day the assessment is the key driver for student learning. What we value must be reflected in what we assess. In this chapter we explore a number of issues connected with assessment of PBL. PBL raises some particular difficulties, but in many ways it can quite naturally provide a constructively aligned system for teaching, learning, and assessment (Biggs, 1999). There are five fundamental questions we need to answer when considering assessment. Why are we assessing? What is the purpose of the assessment? What are we going to assess? How do we decide which learning outcomes will be assessed? How do we assess them? How do we develop the assessment tasksand grading criteria? When are we going to perform the assessment and, finally, who will do the assessing? In this chapter we will consider these in turn.

Traditional vs. Cognitive Learning

In order to help our readers to have a better understanding of the PBL process, we feel that it is important first to understand something about traditional methods of learning and cognitive learning. Since the focus of PBL is to help students to learn better, an understanding of learning itself would give a better perspective of the process in PBL. This chapter will look at traditional approaches in learning and compare them with cognitive learning. This is followed by constructivist learning, a type of cognitive learning. Several models of constructivist learning are briefly reviewed.

Integrating E-Learning Technology

Information technology has been used in teaching, learning, and assessment for many years, from programmed learning and on-line tutorials, which are teaching-centred, at one end of the spectrum, to computer-supported collaborative environments, which are learning-centred. The term e-learning has developed over recent years to subsume these and related terms. The UK Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) provides the following useful explanation: E-Learning can cover a spectrum of activities from supporting learning, to blended learning (the combination of traditional and e-learning practices), to learning that is delivered entirely online. Whatever the technology, however, learning is the vital element. (JISC, n.d.) A number of specifications and standards are starting to emerge around e-learning. For example, relating to the Communication Interface: how resources communicate with other systems or meta-data; how to describe e-learning resources in a consistent manner and packaging; and how to gather resources into useful bundles. Organisations such as the IMS Global Learning Consortium 1 help contribute specifications in this area.

The Tutorial Process

The tutorial process is at the heart of PBL. In addition to the acquisition of knowledge and conceptual understanding relevant to the given problem, we believe the tutorial group also has positive cognitive and motivational effects on students’ learning. There are variations of the PBL tutorial process, based on the Barrows’ model. This chapter describes the tutorial process we used for our students.

Developing Problems / Triggers

The starting point for problem-based learning is a problem statement, which is also often called a trigger since it starts the PBL case and prompts the development of learning issues. It is formulated as a problem, query or puzzle that the team has to investigate and may be presented in a number of ways, for example as a video or as a simple piece of text. In many ways, the problem statement is the key to successful PBL. If it does not stimulate the students’ interest or enable students to generate learning issues that relate closely to the desired learning outcomes, then there are likely to be difficulties with both team work and achieving cognitive learning outcomes. In this chapter we will explore the issues around the development of problem statements and collect advice from a variety of experienced practitioners on what makes an effective problem statement as well as what to avoid. We will also describe a possible process for the development of problem statements (triggers) and discuss examples.

Lessons Learned and Tips

We have been applying PBL to learning by our students since 1996. Although many lessons have been learned, we are still continually learning and discovering new insights each year in our PBL process. Our desire is to find out and learn as much as we can about how students learn and how we can make the PBL process more effective for our students. We are very thankful to our students for their continuing support of our endeavors to make learning interesting, effective, and fun for them. Students continue to give us feedback and their input has shed much light on our PBL process. As a result of their feedback and honest discussion, we are continually striving to improve on our tutorial process. We must confess that our experiences with PBL were not easy ones to start with. There were times of encouragement and frustration, especially early in the course when students were facing a major change in their educational mindset, when motivation and encouragement were important. Above all, we have learned that implementing PBL is not easy! We have learned many insights during our experiences with PBL. It is our belief that some of these insights would help others to better understand the implementation of PBL. In this chapter, we share with readers some of the issues that we have learned are important to PBL implementation. For each of the issues discussed, we have also incorporated guidelines to help readers.

Preparing Students for PBL

Students working in PBL must be responsible for their own learning and for what they will actually do in their research. Throughout the PBL process, students have to define and analyse the problem, generate learning issues, and apply what they have learned to solve the problem. Instead of working as individuals in the class, students in PBL work as a team and they have to share their knowledge with others. This means that students who are used to traditional methods of learning do not necessarily have the required skills to cope with the different roles expected of them in PBL. This chapter begins with a brief review of the differences between conventional leaning and PBL. Subsequent sections of the chapter describe several important issues that are needed to prepare students for PBL.