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I have been reading the Dolmans et al. (2005) article and seent he lecture and some of the main points are: the key learning principles of PBL are: learning should be constructive, self-directed, collaborative and contextual.

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Laila.  Based on the article "Problem-based learning: future challenges foreducational practice and Research" I found that PBL is a pedagogic way of thinking. The purpose is to get learning activities among the  studens. The students works in small groups. It is contextualy way to learn their proffesion.     The students work with cases that`s almost like ordinary worklife.                                 To be able to solve the cases, the students have to identify what`s necessary to read and learn, to be able to solve the problems they have identyfied in the case. It`s a selfdirected process.                               The tutors give the students small lectures that helps them solving the problem.

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Laila.  Based on the article "Problem-based learning: future challenges foreducational practice and Research" I found that PBL is a pedagogic way of thinking. The purpose is to get learning activities among the  studens. The students works in small groups. It is contextualy way to learn their proffesion.     The students work with cases that`s almost like ordinary worklife.                                 To be able to solve the cases, the students have to identify what`s necessary to read and learn, to be able to solve the problems they have identyfied in the case. It`s a selfdirected process.                               The tutors give the students small lectures that helps them solving the problem.

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The working methode get the student come together and cooporate. The student-groups have  their own tutor.

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(Kjersti) For each course you have a set of problems with increasing level of difficulty. The problem can be a
- story/text assignment
- picture/illustration/video
- (simulation) patient in the room
Teachers have decided on learning goals. For clinical subjects it is important to balance depth of basic science and clinical relevance.

Problems should
- connect theory and practice, draw from practice, especially in master levels.
- use recent events if possible
- be real life, something students can relate to
- ideally is formulated as something of a puzzle
-provide enough information, but not too much!

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(Jens)  Regarding question 3 (role of the tutor), I find the lecture on this site "being an effective tutor" very helpful. Several metaphores are presented in this video, but being interested in fotball, I find the metaphor the tutor as a sports coach instructive. It means to observe the team and give feedback to the individual player and the team.

(Jens) Thinking of the group as a team makes sense to me. Further, the video discusses situations that can be challenging for the tutor, e.g. students not responding to questions or students who are very silent. In this case, it's important to find out the reasons for the problem and to intervene accordingly.

(Kjersti) Nice metaphor, Jens :) The tutor (or sports couch) also provides the group with timely information during their problem solving. The video "four components of PBL" was very useful, and described the procedural information provided by tutors as one of four components of PBL. So in addition to observe the team and provide them with feedback individually and in common, the tutor also has a role in giving information. Still, I'm not sure what kind of information that would be, but I guess it would be about the problem? Anyone?

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Is it and if it is, how is the PBL's working steps, and do the students need to follow the steps? How do I learn students to solve the cases? What do students know befor solving a PBL case?

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In PBL students work with autentic cases. They works in small groups, together and also alone.

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- How do you assess student learning, preferable within a constructive alignment framework?
- How do you deal with students that are not prepared or not willing to participate?
- What is the overall effect of PBL on learning compared to other teaching methods? (not necessarily traditional)
- What is the difference between PBL, case-based learning, team-based learning and other similar methods?

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- Group work, but also (a lot of) individual work in between group sessions.
- Promotes discussion, active learning, critical thinking
- Problems/texts/tasks are central, but how do you design good problems that will correspond well to the desired learning outcomes?
- More similar to practice and work life experiences than for instance traditional lecture

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Team activities: Brainstorming

1. Discuss the problem description presented above in your team. Brainstorm about what you already know and what you do not yet understand about Problem-Based Learning.

2. Formulate questions that need further study.

3. When you have finished, ask one team member to submit a document listing your team's study questions using the 'Start a submission' button below.

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Individual activities (may continue into the next week):

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Individual activities (may continue into the next week):

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4. Study the materials individually. Watch the web lecture and other videos. Consult the resources below. There is a longer list of open and licensed resources in the bibliography.

5. Look for other relevant materials in your own collection or on the Internet, e.g. by entering the search query 'Problem-Based Learning open resources for teachers'. Try to find resources about PBL that fit your disciplinary background.

6. Share your resources and experiences with your team (in the team space) and with all other participants (in the Discussions)

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In PBL, students work in small groups (ideally 6-8 students)
- starting point for the group work is a short text that aims at evoking the students' curiosity and motivation to learn about a topic
- the group develops problem formulations and try to find the answers to these questions by literature searches
- in the group discussions, there are some predefined roles

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What is the exact role of the tutor? What characterizes the tutors contributions to the group work?
What are the steps when developing a problem?
How are lectures and the PBL-work connected?

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"I travelled to Maastricht, the Netherlands, to see whether their "Problem-Based Learning (PBL)" approach in education would be suitable for our educational programme. I stayed at Maastricht University for a week (...).

I learnt that students work in small groups guided by a staff member, called tutor. They discuss peculiar texts, which they call "problems". Students are required to discuss these problems in small groups. Subsequently, they spend considerable time in the library or at home, searching for and studying appropriate learning resources. Thereafter, they meet again as a group and discuss the problem. Students have to do a lot on their own and they need to interact with each other a lot.

In short, PBL offers a very different learning environment with different building blocks: small groups, problems and tutors. This approach is used in this university across a variety of disciplines, including medicine, the health sciences, psychology, business and science, with commonalities but also differences. They claim that it prepares students well for the demands of our current society.

I do not know, however, whether this approach is suitable for our own educational programme. And I wonder how it works and why. I need to know more…"

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What is a suitable level/difficulty in a problem description?
Will it cover what the teachers think students should learn?

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-students work in groups, guided by a tutor with knowledge of the topic of interest
-the starting point is the problem, the students join in predicussion of the problem and form learning goals
-they search for relevant information and share with the group.
-one week seems a bit short to gain insight into a problem area, but I assume it is dependent on the problem description.

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Learning questions

1) What is PBL?

What is the difference, if there is, between PBL and other similar methods, like case-based learning and team-based learning

how does PBL work in different fields

what is the effect on learning?

How do you assess students'  learning outcome (exams)?

How to create a good balance between group sessions and lectures?

2) How to create good problems?

how do you write good descriptions?

how do you secure the right difficulty level and make it fit with the learning outcomes

3) What is the excact role of the tutor?

What characterise the tutors contribution to the group?

What to do if you don't have tutors?

How do tutors deal with students that are not prepared or who do not want to participate?

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What is PBL and how does it work?

How does it fit in in different topics/study fields?

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- groups consist of a tutor, a group of students (10-15) which has a discussion leader and a secretary. the tutor is responsible for keeping the students on track but the group is mostly self-driven.
- PBL can be used in many different professions/studies
- pre-/postdiscussion

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"How to create a good problem description?"

How to create a good balance between what students are going to do in their groups and what is covered in lectures.

What to do if you don't have tutors?

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I know about the group process, and the strenght of working like this, but don't know much yet about creating a problem description.
The group may consist of people up to 10-12, they are self directed and select one discussion leader and one summarize person. Its important that each do their part of studying between meetings in order to participate well in the discussions.
In the start one might feel shy to share their ideas, and some like to think things through before sharing. Its important that one respect each students style and arrange the way of working
to acommodate to the different thinking/reasoning styles.