Guide for Students - Problem Based Learning

Welcome to the Biz/ed students' guide to Problem Based Learning (PBL). PBL is a learning process that places you, the student, at the centre. Unlike traditional teaching methods, PBL will not seek to open your brain and fill it with facts and figures so that you can regurgitate these on demand in an examination! Instead the process mimics the natural learning process whereby you learn through action, through making connections with what you already know, learning in collaboration with others and through making mistakes.

If you are new to PBL, the process can be daunting and a bit scary. Experienced PBLers, however, have found the process to be liberating, more appropriate and more challenging, providing them with a deeper understanding of the issues that you will have to cover during the course of your studies.

You may experience PBL as part of a mixture of learning and instructional strategies in your institution. In PBL, you will learn in small groups of between 5 and 12 people, depending on your circumstances. You will be expected to take responsibility for your own and your group's learning and so must ensure that you meet deadlines and contribute effectively to the process.

Your tutor will guide you through the process but it is important to note that your tutor is not there to solve problems for you or to answer your questions to your satisfaction! This can be a culture shock to those who regard teaching as a knowledge transmission process. Tutors may be using this approach for the first time and may well be in a situation where they need to learn to take a more hands off approach to your learning. Evidence suggests that traditional 'lecture/seminar' approaches to learning do not help learners to understand material deeply. PBL is a strategy that could go some way to solving that problem. You can ask your tutor for guidance, whether you are on the right track, whether resources are appropriate, etc. but do not ask direct questions on the problem - you should not get the answer you are looking for in any event!

As you go through the process you will find that there will be frustrations and obstacles. Treat these as part of the learning process. After all, you did not learn to walk without being frustrated, overcoming obstacles and making mistakes along the way so why should learning about issues in economics and business be any different?

The PBL approach, therefore, implies that there must be an atmosphere of collaboration and cooperation between group members. You may make ignorant statements, you may come up with naïve questions, you are likely to make mistakes and to feel out of your depth at times. These are perfectly normal characteristics in the learning process and you should look upon your experience in such a way and importantly look upon your colleagues in the group in the same way!

The Process

You will be working in groups of between 5 and 12 people. Remember that each person in your group will be in the same position since none of them will have seen the problem before, although each person will be able to bring different experiences and knowledge levels to bear on the problem.

The group will have a Chair and a Minutes Secretary. Through the PBL process each person will act as Chair or Secretary at some point. The Chair is responsible for the flow and conduct of the meetings. Good chairing is an important interpersonal skill and your tutor may decide to assess your competencies in this role. If so, he/she will provide you with an outline of what they are seeking to assess.

The Minutes Secretary will be responsible for recording and disseminating the results of the meetings and for writing up the summary report of the group's activities at the end of the process. This may form part of a formal assessment procedure depending on the type of institution you are studying in. As each member of the group will act as Minutes Secretary during the PBL cycle, each person will be producing a written piece of work for assessment. The report should also be distributed to the rest of the group so that all members have a record of the discussions and the outcomes of the process.

The PBL process will follow 7 main steps:

The Chair and the group read the problem; the Chair will ask if any of the group do not understand any of the vocabulary in the problem - not concepts or theories but literally the vocabulary. Any queries can be resolved through the use of a dictionary!
The Chair asks the group to identify what they think the problem statement is about. At this stage, you may be clueless about the depth of the knowledge inherent in the statement but this will become clearer as the process continues. Some of the answers therefore may be naïve or ignorant but this does not matter. The important thing is for the group to begin to explore the issues relating to the problem - lateral thinking may be necessary!
A brainstorm session is held to ascertain what, if anything, is known about the subject matter by any of the group at this point in time.
The Minutes Secretary identifies the key issues that have been discussed. The Chair ensures that a clear list of what is known, what is unclear and what needs to be investigated in more detail is established. This is designed to help the group understand the issues surrounding the problem.
The group agree on the learning objectives that they will have to research before the next meeting.
Individual Study - depending on which research route the group decides to go down, each member should either tackle all of the learning objectives, or specific objectives designated to each individual. The former is more time consuming and may avoid inculcating the collaborative team based learning experience. However, the latter option may result in gaps in an individual's knowledge and understanding. You may be provided with a list of references to help guide you in your line of investigation. Biz/ed will be providing a list of relevant Web links and key texts which you may use as a starting point to your research, although this is not meant to be an exhaustive or exclusive list.
The group meets for the second time. Each learning objective is considered and the students contribute the results of their research to the discussion. It is suggested that this can be done either formally, i.e. in turn, or through group discussion. At the end of this stage of the process the Minutes Secretary will be given time (subsequent to the meeting) to write out the report. The group will then be given a further problem and the process will begin again with a different Secretary and Chair.

Biz/ed wishes to thank Graham Clayton of Plymouth Business School and Wim H. Gijselaers of the University of Maastricht for their assistance in developing this resource.

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