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Problem-Based Learning in the Information Age: New Directions for Teaching and Learning #95
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  • Wiley

More About This Title Problem-Based Learning in the Information Age: New Directions for Teaching and Learning #95

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This issue provides information about theories and practices associated with Problem-based learning (PBL). Partially because of changes in the Information Age that are transforming the nature of knowledge and the types of problems that people face, professors are adopting PBL in order to facilitate a broader and more up-to-date role of what it means "to learn." Professors will encounter, however, their own set of problems when designing and implementing a problem-based curriculum. Not unlike PBL assignments to their students, the issues and obstacles professors will encounter require practical solutions.

The authors of this issue have practical experience in the design and implementation of PBL. Based on their experiences, they offer insightful commentaries and useful guidelines about various aspects of PBL. These guidelines include ideas for designing useful problems that can serve as the basis of PBL activities, creating environments conducive to problem solving, facilitating students' problem solving activities, and assessing students' efforts in problem solving.

This is the 95th issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Teaching and Learning.

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EDITORS’ NOTES (Dave S. Knowlton, David C. Sharp).

1. Preparing Students for Educated Living: Virtues of Problem-Based Learning Across the Higher Education Curriculum (Dave S. Knowlton)
The processes of becoming educated and developing problem-solving skills are parallel and related. Therefore, professors must engage students in problem-based learning because to ignore problem-solving skills is to undermine the academy’s responsibility to develop educated individuals.

2. Exploring the Tensions of Problem-Based Learning: Insights from Research (Woei Hung, Jessica Harpole Bailey, David H. Jonassen)
As professors contemplate designing and implementing problem-based learning, they are likely to encounter numerous tensions in using problem-based learning that give them pause. To help alleviate professors’ concerns, insights are provided into how they can address these tensions philosophically and practically.

3. Designing Problems to Promote Higher-Order Thinking (Renée E. Weiss)
The design of a good problem is imperative if problem-based learning is to be educationally productive. In designing a good problem, professors should consider their purpose in using problem-based learning. Professors also should design their problem around numerous characteristics that will likely promote critical thinking among students.

4. Integrating Computers into the Problem-Solving Process (Deborah L. Lowther, Gary R. Morrison)
Within the context of problem-based learning environments, professors can encourage students to use computers as problem-solving tools. The ten-step INtegrating Technology for InQuiry (NteQ) model guides professors through the process of integrating computers into problembased learning activities.

5. Problem Solving Through Design (Wayne A. Nelson)
Design problems provide students with unique challenges. Using the metaphor of “design studios,” the author offers a practical example of how a professor implemented a problem-solving-through-design model. Based on this example, professors can redistribute resources and reconsider the role of both students and professors to support “design” as a method of problem solving.

6. Problem-Based Learning in an MBA Economics Course: Confessions of a First-Time User (David C. Sharp)
Attempting to use problem-based learning for the first time can be daunting and unsettling for many professors. These professors may benefit from the experiences of a professor as he tackled the issues of designing and implementing problem-based learning.

7. Heuristics and Problem Solving (Charles F. Abel)
Heuristics are cognitive “rules of thumb” that can help problem solvers work more efficiently and effectively. Professors can use a heuristic model of problem solving to guide students in all disciplines through the steps of problem solving.

8. Fostering Collaboration Among Students in Problem-Based Learning (Bruce W. Speck)
Facilitating effective collaboration among students requires more than urging students to work together well. Professors should carefully consider their method of forming groups and their process of training students to work effectively within groups.

9. Guiding Students Toward Solutions in Field Experiences (Julia Beckett, Nancy K. Grant)
When students are working in the field, the problems that they face are no longer limited by the artificiality of classrooms. Problems in the field are often large and ill structured. Professors should have a repertoire of strategies for helping students analyze and solve the problems that they face as a part of their field experiences.

10. Not All Metacognition Is Created Equal (Douglas J. Hacker, John Dunlosky)
Professors may want to help students think carefully about their own thinking. The authors offer a practical approach that professors can use to help individual students and students within classrooms think metacognitively about their own problem-solving efforts.

11. Assessing Students’ Problem-Solving Assignments (Rebecca S. Anderson, Jane B. Puckett)
When professors implement problem-based learning, they probably will discover that traditional tests are less useful for assessing students. Therefore, professors may want to design assessment rubrics and implement self- and peer assessment among students.

INDEX.

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