The document discusses the necessity of scenario-based learning (SBL) to better equip students with essential 21st-century skills like teamwork, communication, and problem-solving. It outlines how SBL engages students through real-world challenges, provides a context for their education, and promotes active participation over traditional lectures. The document also addresses challenges of implementing SBL and highlights positive feedback from both instructors and students on its effectiveness in enhancing learning outcomes.

1. Introducing Scenario-Based Jane Ostrander, PI
Learning Project Director
December 1, 2010
1

2. Why change
the way we
teach &
learn?
2

3. Employers need
employees with 21st
Century skills who
excel at:
Teamwork
Communication
Problem-Solving
Creativity
3

4. Ways of communicating,
collaborating on, and
applying content skills &
21st C skills involve learning: knowledge in the real
world. 4

5. 5

6. Why use scenario-based
tasks?
6

7. Scenario-Based learning moves students from
“checked out” to engaged
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8. Scenario-Based tasks
engage students in
Critical thinking
Leadership
Communication
Project Management
Professional challenges
Teamwork
Interaction with industry
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9. SBL prepares students for success in the workplace
by providing authentic experiences in the classroom
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10. “Students or interns
will see their part of
the larger project—
that it is not just as an
exercise, but a real
Industry Comment life application,
on Innovo
different than the
Engineering
Scenario and
normal theoretical
Tasks class materials.”
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11. Innovo Engineering Scenario 11

12. Innovo Engineering Team with Their Robots 12

13. What are
scenario-based
tasks?
13

14. Scenario-Based tasks include
Unstructured challenges issued in emails from the
supervisor (the instructor) to the employee (the students)
within an intranet site for an imagined company.
Vocabulary, deliverables, and setting of authentic business
situations
Links to resources
Debriefing questions for reflecting on the experience & the
learning
An orientation to teamwork and tasks
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15. With scenario-based tasks
Instructors play role of “managers” and students are
“employees.”
Instructors lecture less and students work on teams more.
Instructors engage in less formal and more informal
assessment tied to academic and professional standards.
Instructors facilitate and guide, asking questions to guide
student reflection and discovery of the knowledge needed
to produce deliverables.
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16. A Scenario with Four Tasks
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17. What obstacles have
we encountered?
Curriculum issues
Students pushback
Faculty pushback
Assessment challenges
Administration pushback
17

18. Remedies to the obstacles include:
Tasks incorporated into part of a term rather than the
entire course
Planned, reflective formative and summative assessments
Team management training and orientation for students
and instructors
Industry participation in design of the tasks and
assessments and providing feedback to student
Extended Care professional development model providing
ongoing support to faculty implementing SBL
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19. Visiting client reviewing intern’s work in Linux scenario 19

20. Building a
Web-based
community of faculty
practitioners
http://www.learnpbl.com
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21. Assessing
scenario-based
learning
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22. Assessment Issues
Traditional tests often do not capture complex knowledge
and skills learned.
How do you know students are learning?
How do you provide the clear feedback about performance,
both technical and non-technical that students want?
How do you grade all the “soft” skills?
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23. 23

24. Solution: Evidence Centered Assessment Reflection
(EC-AR) process to help instructors:
• Define the core knowledge in a target domain
• Identify the conceptual knowledge and skills they want
to measure
• Define the types of behaviors and products that provide
evidence of student knowledge and skills
• Clarify components of a competent performance
• Produce blueprints for construction of assessment items
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25. 25

26. Assessment Item in
EC-AR framework
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27. What have our
evaluators said?
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28. ...the curriculum model proved to have a notable
capacity for leveraging students’ relevant prior
knowledge and focusing that knowledge in a
sustained and enriched way on classroom learning
activities--both hallmarks of a high-quality reform
curriculum.
...percentage learning gains ranging from 9
percentage points to 83 percentage points per items
from precourse test to postcourse test.
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29. What have our
Instructors said?
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30. All Respondents To Our Evaluator’s Survey Of
Faculty Involved In SBL Training In 2009-2010:
Plan to implement a SBL component as a result of
taking the training.
Agreed or strongly agreed that the SBL workshop
had suggested new ways for them to teach
Reported they would advocate for increased use of
SBL in their institutions.
Reported they would recommend the ELC training
to a colleague.
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31. Faculty Implementing
SBL Agreed That
Tasks are appropriately
challenging for
community college
technician education
students.
Student engagement
increased
Some women students
became more committed
to ICT as a career
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32. Q: SBL tasks provide learning opportunities on/for:
Programming Faculty (Composite Survey)
50
strongly agree agree not sure disagree
38
25
13
0
comprehension all learners mirror workplace employability skills
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33. What have our
students said?
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34. Students post-surveyed in 25 sections,
2007-2009 reported that:
87.5% would choose an SBL class over one taught with
traditional lecture.
77% believe SBL provided a more engaging learning
environment.
90% believe they were better prepared to advance in
their current job or obtain employment as a result of taking the
SBL class.
Saflund, 2010
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35. Q: SBL activities provided me the opportunity to practice and develop the
indicated skills. strongly agree agree not sure disagree
Programming Students (Composite of Surveys over 12 Terms)
40
30
20
10
0
workplace skills leadership problem solving communicating ideas
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36. I had never really
been confronted with
the kind of problems
we encountered in
this course. Now that
I know I can solve
them, it makes future
tasks much less
intimidating.
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37. For additional
information:
http://learnpbl.com
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38. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or The National Science
recommendations expressed in this material are those Foundation
of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of DUE 0903276, 0603297,
the National Science Foundation. & 0302894 38