PBL and Networked LearningAddressing central challenges and issues in engineering education

Thomas Ryberg (ryberg@hum.aau.dk)

@tryberg (twitter)

Professor

E-Learning Lab – center for user driven innovation, learning and design (www.ell.aau.dk)

Aalborg University

In collaboration with Aalborg Centre for PBL in Engineering, Science and Sustainability

http://www.ucpbl.net/

Further:• Co-chair of the Networked Learning Conference• Editor of the Journal of Problem Based Learning

in Higher Education

A new kind of University?

Bøgelund. P. (2015). How supervisors perceive PhD supervision – And how they practice it. InternationalJournal of Doctoral Studies, 10, 39-55. Retrieved from http://ijds.org/Volume10/IJDSv10p039-055Bogelund0714.pdf

Mode 1Academia and the disciplines

Mode 2Market-driven

Orientation to community

Orientation toacademia andtheory

Orientation toCompanies and instrumental practice

Mode 3 Community driven - An

Integrative Approach

ICT Explicit PBL skills

Leadership Cultural diversity and

integration International research

and theoryExternal stakeholders

Kolmos, 2015

The Aalborg PBL model

• Problem Based Learning– Based on real-life problems

• Project Organised Education- Project work supported by lectures and courses

• Group Work - groups of four to six students- supervised by lecturers/professors

• Interdisciplinary Studies

- Integration of theory and practice - Focus on Learning to Learn and methodological skills

• University Wide Model - Used in all faculties (with variations)

Problem Analysis

Problem Solving

Project Report

Literature Lectures Group Studies

Tutorials Field work Experiments

Problem Based Learning – the Process – 3-4 months

Project work : a major assignment within a given subject-related framework determined for each semester (thematic framework). (15 ECTS)Course work – 3 x 5 ECTS modules with an exam50 %

50 %

Students’ use of time - lectures, courses and project work

NETWORKED LEARNING – FROM BROADCAST TO COLLABORATION

TH

IS!

Com

plex

maa

sive

soc

ial a

nd

pers

onal

net

wor

ks

Changes in the educational technological landscape

• From hierarchical structures based on courses and topics towards more student centred networks

• From distribution to more horizontal patterns of exchange – peer-learning

• From Learning Management Systems (LMS) Personal Learning Environments (PLEs)

Personal Learning Networks (PLNs)

Ego-centric networks formed through e.g. social network sites (facebook, twitter, pinterest)

Traversing and harvesting the ego-centric network for information, ideas, and resources (and contributing)

The individual person’s ability to form and sustain a personal learning network

Many strengths and potentials – but heavily individualised notions of learning underpinning the ideas of PLNs

Mass collaboration

Diffuse, uncoordinated mass of people contribute to sustained or more ephemeral constructs

Sustained: Wikipedia, Open Source. #nlc2016, Some MOOCs

Ephemeral: wild-fire or flash activites – #jegharoplevet – eruptions and burst of hectic activies – short-lived activation of massive networks

Many strengths and potentials – but what is the quality of the contributions, how to get an overview, diffuse and chaotic, no joint goal – requires knowledge and literacy to draw from and make sense of (information overload)

Too much online/distance learning is:

• We have new spaces for networking and collaboration and co-construction of knowledge – however much online learning is:– Replicating traditional courses– Talking heads (video lectures) + quizzes– Largely teacher-centred– Disciplinary and not practice oriented e.g. active

learning and problem solving• We need to move from pedagogies of broadcasting

to pedagogies of collaboration and production

New formats – just one idea

• How about rethinking courses - moving from online courses to Cooperative Open Online Projects– Solve real-world large-scale problems together– Collaborations (e.g. 12 weeks) between researchers, students

and industry to work on particular ”grand challenges” – access to water, climate change, waste management

– Cross-cultural and trans-disciplinary teams from e.g. Europe, South America, Africa

– Combinations of theory, inquiry, problem solving – theory and methods emerge from the challenges

– Online collaborations and remote access to field site via video, case presentations by local students