Project-based learning (PBL) involves students working in groups on interdisciplinary real-world projects over an extended period of time. PBL aims to improve students' skills and increase completion and retention rates. Students provide feedback that working in groups, receiving feedback, and meeting with mentors are beneficial aspects of PBL. However, students also report issues with disorganization, unclear expectations, and working with the same groups for too long. In response, educators implemented changes like improved preparation, managing expectations better, and modeling effective team behaviors. While PBL requires more work, its benefits may be worth the costs if it helps students develop skills in a way that enhances learning and academic performance.

1. Learning through
project-based learning
Marjolein Schaddelee
marje.schaddelee@op.ac.nz
NTLT Conference 2013

2. Project-based learning (PBL)
- Why?
- How?
- What do the students think?
- Outcomes and changes….

3. Why PBL?
WHY PBL?

4. Kolmos (2010):
Improvement of skills
for students
Higher completion
and retention rates

5. And if we needed convincing….
• First year is the best place to start (really?)
• Staff reflection and student evaluations
• Challenges are good for you
• And … the outcome is….
(Yam & Rossini, 2010)

6. How do we make it work?
Planning: 5 interdisciplinary projects – 1 year – 8 papers

7. What do the students think?

8. What was working well in 2012
• “being helpful & friendly it’s ideal”
• “having Friday off”
• “working in groups”
• “The feedback we get from our work is great and I can
learn a lot from it”
• “The course hours are good, it gives us time to work in
our groups out of class”
• “meeting with mentors is good”
• ”working with different businesses”

9. What were the issues in 2012
• “ …we feel we have been chucked in it”
• “Be more organised”
• “ …use Moodle as a medium…”
• “keeping groups the same”
• “The disorganisation and miss-communication between
management & lecturers”
• “we are getting a bit sick of one another”
• “understanding the questions”
• “stop treating us like guinea pigs”

10. Changes for 2013
• Better preparation
• Managing expectations
• Modelling effective team behaviours
TEAM LEARNING

11. Student perceptions 2013
the story so far….
• “Moodle”
• “Talk us through how to answer questions”
• “helpful teachers” and “extra care”
• “having a mentor”
• “use of activity where we apply what we are learning to
something”
• “less group work, more individual assignment”
• “couches, pizza”

12. What did we learn?
• Having a committed team
• Generosity of skills and contributions
• Making decisions by consensus
• ‘Interdisciplinary’ is not an easy option
• Even a self-managing team needs a coordinator
AND THE TEAM IS STILL LEARNING….

13. More work to do….
• Peer assessment?
• Improvement of skills?
• Completion and retention?
• Benefits worth the costs?

14. References
Biggs, J. (1999). What the student does: Teaching for enhanced learning. Higher Education Research &
Development, 18(1), 57-75.
Kolmos, A. (2010). Premises for changing to PBL. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning, 4(1), 1-7.
Michaelsen L.K., Knight A.B. & Fink L.D. (Eds). (2004). Team-based learning: A transformative use of
small groups in college teaching. Sterling, VA, USA: Stylus.
Smith Ducoffe, S.J., Tromley, C.L. & Tucker, M. (2006). Interdisciplinary, team-taught, undergraduate
business courses: The impact of integration. Journal of Management Education, 30(2), 276-294.
Thomas, J.W. (2000). A review of research on project-based learning. Retrieved from
http://www.bie.org/images/uploads/general/9d06758fd346969cb63653d00dca55c0.pdf
Yam, L.H.S. & Rossini, P. (2010). Implementing a project-based learning approach in an introductory
property course. 16th Pacific Rim Real Estate Society Conference, Wellington, New Zealand,
January 2010.