A warm welcome To the PBL academy opening day

Program  Welcome and opening speech – by Rector Finn Kjærsdam  Introduction to the PBL Academy – by Thomas Ryberg  Aalborg University and the Aalborg PBL Model – Challenges and Potentials – by Stig Løkke Pedersen – Professional Board Member and Investor An inspirational talk as background to discussing PBL principles  Reception and open discussion – time for questions

Introduction to the PBL academy

Background to establishing the academy  Emerging in-between management and an employee driven initiatives to strengthen PBL research and practice at AAU  Application made by representatives from three PBL research environments UNESCO Chair of PBL Department of Learning and Philosophy E-Learning Lab – Center for user driven innovation, learning and design  Management’s ongoing initiative to strengthen awareness of AAU as PBL university (internal/external) Developing common principles for the Aalborg PBL model AAU-PBL ‘reality check’ – how is PBL implemented in Schools Need for continued PBL introduction and training for staff (new as ‘old’) and increasing students’ awareness of PBL

The PBL-academy  Application for funding of PBL-academy got accepted – big thanks!  A cross-faculty management board appointed Thomas Ryberg (Humanities) - current head of the board Diana Stentoft (Medicine) Lars Bo Henriksen (Engineering and Science) Erik Laursen (Social Sciences ) Administrative support: Morten Mathiasen Andersen In the process of identifying local campus representatives (Cph, Esb, Sbi) – Cph – Rolf Nordahl Jensen

Vision and aims  Vision: ensure AAU remains a leading international player in continuous development and research on PBL in all subject fields ensure a vibrant internal development and discussion of the Aalborg PBL model and principles  Aims: Create a strong PBL profile in all AAU subject areas To render the Aalborg PBL model globally visible Means:  Organising internal and external PBL related activities in a collaboration between and across campuses, faculties, and departments.

The PBL academy – A network hub  Not management and control of activities, projects, teaching or research related to PBL  PBL academy a network or hub to strengthen coordination and collaboration across AAU Increasing internal and external visibility and awareness of PBL research, resource-persons, teaching and dissemination activities Draw on existing resource-persons, materials, and activities  But equally organising, coordinating and/or supporting: Research Activities PBL Teaching Activities Dissemination Activities  We welcome participation and inputs – will return to that!

Research Activities  Research: Organising internal research seminars on PBL Continued development of the AAU PBL principles grounded in research and experiments Establishing research networks on PBL - connecting people across AAU Create and maintain an internationally recognised (open access) web based journal on PBL Developing joint guest PhD programmes Establish research projects to support the development of the AAU PBL model and general PBL-practice and theory  Providing more weight behind a research application  Developing research projects in the research networks

Teaching Activities  Global activities Develop joint visitor programmes in collaboration with AAU PBL environments  Research seminars and introduction to AAU-PBL model for visitors Initiating joint PhD courses and running a PhD Summer school on various aspects of PBL and the AAU PBL model in collaboration with AAU PBL environments  Cross-campus activities Introductory courses for new staff and students (national and international) – in a collaboration with AAU PBL environments Development of online resources and introductions to the AAU PBL model for new staff and students in a collaboration with AAU PBL environments  Not replacing or displacing existing offers – widening participation and drawing on greater diversity of resources and persons

Two recent examples  PBL academy hosted a visit from Siam University (Thailand) In collaboration with PBL environments across departments and faculties Presenters from UNESCO-chair, Learning Lab, Department of Learning and Philosopy, e-Learning Lab, Dept. Of Communication Drawing on Thai PhD students from various departments to act as facilitators and discussants (translating experiences)  Joint course on PBL for new staff in collaboration with Learning Lab and UNESCO Chair Presenters from UNESCO-chair, Learning Lab, e-Learning Lab Further developing the course to be run twice a year Widening participation and engagement across environments – we know there are great resources in various departments – but need better overview

Dissemination Activities  Dynamic web-site ( to aggregate and present the variety of research projects, publications, activities and resources from the different AAU PBL environmentswww.pbl.aau.dk  Presence on VBN to collect and represent AAU PBL research – anyone can link themselves, PBL publications, activities or events with the PBL academy Gaining overview across campuses, faculties and departments  Collaborating with communication staff on presentation materials to new students about PBL - by developing or drawing together existing resources  Developing open presentational material available for all employees to use in relation to presenting PBL  To help locate relevant people for presentations and activities

We welcome participation and engagement  We will organise open research networks on various topics regarding PBL  We welcome people who are interested in sharing experiences with international visitors within their subject areas  We are happy to provide inputs to and support any ongoing activities  We will happily publicise on our webpage: Activities related to PBL Publications related to PBL Resources related to PBL Research projects related to PBL  Create profiles/link to people who work with PBL as to provide an overview of PBL-resource persons at AAU  We welcome any thoughts, feedback, suggestions which can help develop our common interest in PBL

So don’t hesitate to contact us  We are here to connect, facilitate, initiate or support activities and ensure the widest possible platform for a common and broad engagement in the continued development of PBL across AAU  We cannot do it alone and we therefore we heartily welcome participation and engagement from all across AAU  Write to any of us – share your thoughts, comments or suggestions  To  Link yourself or publications to PBL academy on VBN  Visit the web page for more informationwww.pbl.aau.dk