Project-based learning (PBL) challenges students to solve real-world problems and become self-directed learners through cooperative group work. It is based on constructivism and engages learners by having them select, plan, implement and evaluate purposeful activities. PBL recreates real-world complexity and promotes collaborative learning and skills like teamwork. It is well-suited for adult learners who bring experience and have competing interests, and supports self-directed, goal-oriented and relevant learning. However, students may lack experience with group work, inquiry skills, and receiving feedback, which teachers can help address.

1. What are the best uses
for project-based
learning in higher
education?
By:
Abby
Anna
Liz
Tanisha

2. Problem-Based Learning
O Problem-based learning (PBL) is an
educational approach that challenges
students to "learn to learn.”
O Students work cooperatively in groups to
seek solutions to real-world problems and
more importantly, to develop skills to
become self-directed learners.

3. Project-Based Learning
O Based on constructivist theory
O Purposing
O Planning
O Executing
O Judging
O MAIN GOAL: Engage your learners

4. Quote
O Kilpatrick stated, “engaging learners in
purposeful activities that they help to
select, plan, implement, and evaluate
facilitates learners’ learning and helps
them solve problems and acquire the
skills and judgment necessary to function
as adults in a democratic society”
(Foshay, 1999).

5. Project-Based Learning
O Has to be used to rebuild real-world
complexity
O Collaborative learning promotes the
exchange and reflection on different
views.
O Uses:
O Team work skills,
O alternative perspectives on a problem
O central skill for performing tasks

6. Adult Learners
O Adult education is defined as “participation
in systematic learning activities for the
purpose of acquiring new knowledge or
skills or changing attitudes or values, by
persons who have assumed adult social
roles” (Lyman, 1999, p. 102).

7. Common Characteristics
• They are in a continuing process of
growth, not at the start of a process.
• They bring with them a package of
experience and values.
• They come to education with intentions.
• They bring expectations about the learning
process.
• They have competing interests.
• They already have their own set of
patterns of learning (p. 24).

8. Self-Directed
O Student takes charge of own
learning, with minimal help from the
instructor.
O Using: Computer based learning.

9. Goal-Oriented
O Student come into the learning experience
knowing the goal they want to achieve.
O Teacher has set up class so students can
reach their goal.

10. Relevancy-Oriented
O Learning has to be applicable to the
student’s work or other responsibilities to
be of value to them.
O Instructor then identifies objectives for
adult participants before the course
begins.

11. Bloom's Taxonomy

12. Cont.
O “Benjamin Bloom created this taxonomy for
categorizing level of abstraction of questions
that commonly occur in educational settings.
The taxonomy provides a useful structure in
which to categorize test questions, since
professors will characteristically ask questions
within particular levels, and if you can
determine the levels of questions that will
appear on your exams, you will be able to
study using appropriate strategies.”

13. LEARNING TO LEARN
O COOPERATIVE LEARNING SKILLS
O INQUIRY SKILLS
O REFLECTION SKILLS
O ASSESSMENT
O CONCLUSION

14. Some challenges for PBL
classrooms
O Limited experience in group work
management
O Lack of familiarity with inquiry learning
O Inadequate feedback on learning and
assessment

15. Limited experience in group work
management
O Group work is integral to PBL and students
need to learn how to make optimal use of their
time and resources while working in groups.
Functioning effectively in groups involves
knowing how to organize the work, distribute
responsibility, break up complex tasks, and
provide useful feedback on work that is done.
Teachers can contribute by helping students
better understand the merits of group work.

16. Lack of familiarity with inquiry
learning
O When faced with problem tasks, students often find it
difficult to identify the critical issues and to generate
coherent research designs. They are often unclear
about how they can relate what they are currently
reading to what they already know. They are also
unfamiliar with different stages of the inquiry
process, such as generating hypotheses, providing
logical arguments, and transforming data into a
product. When students have an appropriate learning
context and the need to seek the necessary
information, they also see how things finally "come
together". This is an aspect of critical reading that
can be promoted within the framework of problem-
based learning.

17. Inadequate feedback on learning
and assessment
O Giving feedback to students is integral to
improving student learning. Barron et al.
(1998) suggest that teachers can better guide
and monitor projects by incorporating
formative self-reflections by students, by
creating a classroom culture that supports
frequent feedback and assessment, and by
finding ways for students to compare their
work with others. Teachers can make students
take their work seriously by incorporating
opportunities that involve external audiences
in assessing students' performance.