1. Building Stronger Universities Platform for Stability, Democracy & Rights STABILITY – DEMOCRACY – RIGHTS PLATFORM FOR Problem Based Learning (PBL) Definition and conceptual boundaries from a Northern perspective BSU Networking & Planning Workshop Hotel Comwell Roskilde 27-29 August 2012 STABILITY – DEMOCRACY – RIGHTS PLATFORM FOR

2. Building Stronger Universities Platform for Stability, Democracy & Rights What is PBL? ”PBL reflects the way people learn in real life; they simply get on with solving the problems life puts before them with whatever resources are to hand.” (Biggs 2003, p. 232) (Dahms and Stentoft (2008): Does Africa need problem-based learning?) What is a problem? A perceived gap between an existing and a desired state of affairs.

3. Building Stronger Universities Platform for Stability, Democracy & Rights Towards a definition of PBL PBL is Student-Centred Learning where motivating and activating students is the prime concern. The point of departure for the learning process is an ill-structured real life problem (Dahms and Stentoft, 2008) Problem orientation Participant control Student-centred Collaborative learning Interdisciplinarity Action-oriented problem-solving in local contexts

4. Building Stronger Universities Platform for Stability, Democracy & Rights Why introduce PBL in universities in the Southern hemisphere? PBL addresses some of the main challenges to universities in Africa: Post-colonial irrelevant curricula Traditional approaches to teaching and learning Brain-drain from southern to northern universities Mass education and inequities in access Poor entry qualifications Lack of sufficient funds

5. Building Stronger Universities Platform for Stability, Democracy & Rights Advantages of introducing PBL: Relevance to students and staff PBL emphasises the use of local, e.g. African or Asian, formal and informal knowledge, combined with Western knowledge, in analysing and solving local, e.g. African or Asian real-life problems creation of knowledge for problem solving peer teaching and –learning reduces staff work load on lecturing and marking individual exam papers

6. Building Stronger Universities Platform for Stability, Democracy & Rights Advantages of introducing PBL: Relevance to students and staff PBL may provide an intellectually challenging learning and research environment enhance the students’ sense of ‘ownership’ of their education and their society utilise the skills and knowledge of Africans or Asians abroad as supervisors and sources of information

7. Building Stronger Universities Platform for Stability, Democracy & Rights Advantages of introducing PBL: Relevance to society at large PBL may address gender inequities in education because men and women work together in innovative ways to address real life problems PBL may be a competitive parameter in educational settings governed by the market.

8. Building Stronger Universities Platform for Stability, Democracy & Rights Concluding remarks PBL can be implemented in many different ways PBL is not one specific and prescribed teaching and learning method There is no ‘right’ or ‘best’ PBL approach – each university has to develop its own PBL model