Problem-Based Learning Activities
Learning activities that emphasize content acquisition and the development of problem-solving skills in realistic situations can be greatly enhanced through the use of digital technologies. Through the use of rich multimedia information sources that support multiple learning styles, heuristic decision-support aids, and communication tools that facilitate peer-to-peer and student-to-instructor interaction, students can develop strategies for solving problems like the ones they will face in their careers.
Seminar
November 5, 2003
12:00 p.m.-1:30 p.m.
101 Walter Library
Moderator:
Laura Molgaard
College of Veterinary Medicine
Panelists:
Cryss Brunner
Department of Educational Policy and Administration, College of Education and Human Development
Mary Jo Kreitzer and Louise Delagran
Center for Spirituality and Healing, Academic Health Center
At the seminar, we asked the panelists to consider questions such as the following:
- What issues should instructors who plan to develop technology-enhanced problem-based learning modules consider?
- What strategies can instructors use to combine the use of technology-enhanced learning modules with that of more traditional instructional activities and materials?
- What challenges and opportunities arise when students use technology and must take more responsiblity for their own learning experiences? How does the instructor's role change? How do student group dynamics change as interactions move from the classroom to the chatroom?
Campus Projects
TEL Grant Proposals
The moderator and panelists have been awarded TEL grants to develop the following technology-enhanced problem-based learning activities. The panelists described their projects at the seminar.
Brunner, Cryss. C. "Technologically Delivered Experiential Simulations (ES): Conception Power, Constructions of Identity, and Socially Just Decision Making" [2002-03 Technology-Enhanced Learning Grant proposal]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota), 2003. http://dmc.umn.edu/grants/2002/Brunner.pdf (17 October 2003).
Kreitzer, Mary Jo, and Louise Delagran. "Tools for Creating Virtual Integrated Care Scenarios" [2002-03 Technology-Enhanced Learning Grant proposal]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota), 2003. http://dmc.umn.edu/grants/2002/Kreitzer.pdf (17 October 2003).
Molgaard, Laura, and Abby Sage. "Physical Examination of the Canine Patient" [1999-00 Technology-Enhanced Learning Grant proposal]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1999. http://dmc.umn.edu/grants/1999/Molgaard.pdf (17 October 2003).
Sage, Abby, and Laura Molgaard. "Physical Examination of the Equine Patient [2000-01 Technology-Enhanced Learning Grant proposal]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2000. http://dmc.umn.edu/grants/2000/Sage.pdf (17 October 2003).
Exemplary Project Case Studies
Case studies of Brunner's Technologically Delivered Experiential Simulations and Kreitzer and Delagran's Tools for Creating Virtual Integrated Care Scenarios projects are available in the Exemplary Projects section of our site.
Questions and Comments
About 36 people, including the moderator and panelists, attended the seminar.
Moderator's Comments
Moderator Laura Molgaard began by defining problem-based learning (PBL). In the health sciences, it refers to posing a problem that small groups of students have to solve collaboratively with a faculty facilitator who doesn't give them content. Educators in other disciplines may define PBL more broadly as any learning activity that requires students to solve a problem, even if the content is provided by the instructor or through technology-enhanced learning modules.
Questions for Mary Jo Kreitzer and Louise Delagran
The seminar participants asked questions and discussed topics such as the following.
How will the faculty input tool will work?
It will be Macromedia Flash-based and faculty members will be able to consult a workbook and take workshops to learn to use it.
Will the integrated care scenario tool be used to assess students?
Maybe in the future.
How many problems will be included? One suggestion: scenarios could be converted from textbooks.
Kreitzer and Delagran haven't set a limit; faculty members can submit as many as they want.
Do you have an instructional designer or instructional design guide?
Louise Delagran is an instructional designer. Some instructional design suggestions will be included in the workbook and Kreitzer and Delagran will be available to consult with faculty members.
Will you pilot test your interface?
Yes, plus they also will pilot test the input tool.
What is your timeline?
They plan to finish the tool in March and have workshops in April.
Questions for Cryss Brunner
Do the students know others are respresented by false identities?
They know she is working on pseudo identities but not her exact methods. The students' "engagement in learning is so essentialized because of the loss of real power."
Is there a loss of trust?
In the online discussions, the students will ask, "Is Cryss here with a masked identity?" She asks them to not tell students outside the class about the masked identities and they don't, even though she doesn't ask them to sign anything.
The students also mentor others who take class later because many find the experience unnerving. For example, one white male admitted that he discovered during the experience that he is a bigot. Another woman said she was so ashamed because she realized she had been bullying others and that her behavior created a model for others in her school district and for her own children.
Why was a live chat tool used rather than an asynchronous discussion tool?
Because decision-making is usually live and dynamic and affected by frequency of speech. Also, she wanted to enable English-as-a-second-language students to participate and suggested they spellcheck their chat responses; they later said they had never participated in a class discussion here so much. Additionally, she wanted to create a real-world setting in which participants prepare for a board meeting but do not consult sources during the meeting.
Could students take these classes more than once, and if so, how did their behavior change?
One student has particpated in two rounds of masked identity discussions so far and others have requested to do so. The first was initially very shy but gained a tremendous amount of communication skills the first time and was selected to be the narrator of her group's presentation the second time because she had learned she could do it. Brunner is working on another chat project that would enable students to opt to join in a masked identity discussion.
Is there research literature about chat discussions in which participants mask their identities?
Yes, but Brunner's students are unlike participants in these kinds of chats because they don't know what identities they are assuming and they voice real thoughts more, like "I am falling asleep" or "This is a bunch of hooey," etc. Participants in traditional chats probably wouldn't do this except maybe in sidebars to individuals.
Is this a distance education or face-to-face course?
The students participate in several distance discussions and then attend four face-to-face classes.
Questions for All Participants
Does anyone have a question about how their idea for a problem-based learning project might work in a technology-enhanced environment?
Someone suggested having fake guest lecturers. Brunner said that is actually something she is considering. Molgaard said her students are biased about who they believe; only veterinarians are credible.
How much time does it take to develop and teach with such activities and what kind of support do you have?
Kreitzer said they don't know yet. Brunner has a fulltime graduate assistant help her; one semester he received over 300 e-mail messages about technical problems associated with the online activities she assigned.
Are your materials accessible?
Kreitzer is not sure yet. Brunner has one visually-impaired student who is participating in the online discussions right now. She can read some of the text when it is enlarged, and someone else types for her. She participates as much as the other students, and the other students don't seem to notice that she is visually-impaired. A hearing-impaired student has also participated in the online activities and said he could participate more than he usually does.
Bibliography
For more information about problem-based learning issues and techniques, the panelists and our consultants recommend the following:
Albion, Peter R., and Ian W. Gibson. Interactive Multimedia and Problem-Based Learning: Challenges for Instructional Design, 1998. ERIC ID: ED428647.
Discusses design issues related to using computers in support of problem-based learning activities.
Bransford, J. D. et al. Anchored Instruction: Why We Need It and How Technology Can Help. In D. Nix and R. Sprio, eds. Cognition, Education and Multimedia. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates, 1990.
Bransford, J. D., and B. S. Stein. The Ideal Problem Solver (2nd ed). New York: Freeman, 1993.
Brown, J. S., A. Collins, and S. Duguid. "Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning." Educational Researcher, 18(1), 1990, pp. 32-42.
Bransford's work is related to J. Lave and J. S. Brown's on situated learning: "Learning as it normally occurs is a function of the activity, context, and culture in which it occurs (i.e., it is situated)".
Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (CTGV). "Anchored Instruction and Situated Cognition Revisited." Educational Technology, 33(3), 1993, pp. 52-70.
-----. "Anchored Instruction and Its Relationship to Situated Cognition." Educational Researcher, 19(6),1990, pp. 2-10.
The writings of John Bransford and the CTGV on anchored instruction provide an interesting paradigm for technology-based learning: that problem-solving alone is not enough and has to be done in a realistic situation that mirrors some of the complexity of the real world and that encourages students.
Duch, Barbara J., Susan E. Groh, and Deborah E. Allen. The Power of Problem Based Learning: A Practical "How-To" for Teaching Undergraduate Courses in Any Discipline. Sterling (VA): Stylus Publishing, 2001.
A useful introduction to practical aspects of problem-based learning (not technology-specific).
Koschmann, Timothy D. CSCL [Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning]: Theory and Practice of an Emerging Paradigm. Mahwah (NJ): Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996.
An overview of computer-supported problem-based learning pedagogy.
McLellan, H. Situated Learning Perspectives. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Educational Technology Publications, 1995.
Queen's University School of Medicine. "Problem-Based Learning Home Page." Kingston: Queen's University, 2003. http://meds.queensu.ca/medicine/pbl/pblhome.htm
Their handbook gives a really good definition of problem-based learning in the health sciences as well as good information on how to create it in the classroom.
Williams, Douglas C., Min Liu, and Denise Benton. "Analysis of Navigation in a Problem-Based Learning Environment." 2001. ERIC ID: ED466230.
Discusses design issues related to using computers in support of problem-based learning activities.
