This research looks at student experiences of learning in a clinical teaching situation. At the end of a course, students took part in a class that was led by a user of the health system, rather than their usual lecturer. We chose to study this class because we knew that it provided a very different learning experience for the students and…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is apprenticeship for real-life problem solving, helping students acquire the knowledge and skills required in the workplace. Although the acquisition of knowledge and skills makes it possible for performance to occur, without self-efficacy the performance may not even be attempted. I examined how student…

Students are most motivated and learn best when they are immersed in an environment that causes them to realize why they should learn. Perhaps nowhere is this truer than when teaching the biological sciences to engineers. Transitioning from a traditionally mathematics-based to a traditionally knowledge-based pedagogical style can challenge student…

Problem solving and teamwork abilities are important skills for graduates entering the environment profession. Through a problem based learning approach small groups of students from the environmental courses at RMIT University have been gaining these professional skills by undertaking projects in Vietnam. With three years experience in running…

This paper discusses an exploratory study to investigate the existence, and nature, of student problem formulation and resolution processes in an undergraduate online Problem-Based Learning (PBL) course in Agricultural Sciences. We report on the use of a content analysis instrument developed to measure problem formulation and resolution (PFR)…

This paper presents the application of the problem-based learning (PBL) method as an innovative approach to teaching engineering. This paper supports the idea that the PBL method is aptly suited to teaching the engineering disciplines, as its methodology nurtures critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which are central to a graduate's…

This paper presents the student evaluation of a problem-based learning (PBL) implementation in the postgraduate engineering curriculum of a public university in Brazil. This investigation adopts a qualitative and collaborative design, as suggested when the research objective is to study phenomena in their natural settings in terms of the meanings…

The Children Designing & Engineering (CD&E) Project at the College of New Jersey is a collaborative effort of the College's Center for Design and Technology and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce. The Project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), has been charged to develop instructional materials for grades K-5. The twelve…

This article focuses on an extended, interactive, collaborative project in a junior/senior-level business communication class. The main goal of the project is to address a difficult task central to many college-level writing courses: teaching students to consider and to write for specific audiences other than the teacher. A second goal is to focus…

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of traditionally spoken linguistic analysis approaches for understanding the nature and outcomes of online interaction. The study took place with twenty-eight elementary school teachers in ten suburban Chicago schools involved in a technology-supported, problem-based learning curriculum…

In this study, the effects of several educational and non-educational indicators of competence on short-term labour market outcomes for university graduates are estimated. The research question is: to what extent do indications of specific and generic competence during the educational program predict labour market outcomes? Labour market outcomes…

In responding to The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA [now the Disability and Discrimination Act, Part 4]), UK universities have made significant efforts to address issues of access and inclusivity via structural changes to campus environments and developments in student support. However, little attention has been given to…

The Department of Environmental Science at the University of Southern Maine implemented a problem-based, cohort-learning curriculum for undergraduate environmental science majors. The curriculum was based on a five-course sequence patterned after the outline of a scientific paper. Under faculty guidance, students select local environmental…

For the thirty-sixth year, the Research and Theory Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Anaheim, California. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two…

Problem Based Learning (PBL) has been used with increased frequency in Higher Education settings since first introduced by Barrows and Tamblyn during the 1980's. Since this time PBL has been used in medical, engineering and education faculties to support pre-service students in the acquisition of skills and content knowledge relevant to their…