How Problem-Based Learning Can Thrive in the Online Environment
By Nancy Corchado, PhD, Instructional Designer
New generations, technologies, and the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed us to rethink how Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is used and facilitated in the online environment.
PBL is an instructional approach that emphasizes collaborative and self-directed learning. Usually, students collaborate in teams to decide what information is needed to resolve a problem situation. Even though PBL has been around since the ’60s, online PBL is much more than a linear approach to problem solving. It focuses on a team-led discourse centered on building the team’s capabilities, knowledge, and understanding. To enable active learning in an online environment it is important to incorporate new tools for collaboration and interaction into the PBL session.
Ulisses F. Araújo, President of the PAN-PBL Association of Problem-Based Learning and Active Learning Methodologies, writes, “The use of digital tools and technologies that promote interaction and new forms of social relations in line with new knowledge production led to different forms of course organization where the roles of students and teachers change in the learning process.”[1]
According to Araújo, online PBL as well as other active learning methodologies are the core of an approach where the emphasis on teaching is replaced by an emphasis on learning—which places students at the center of the educational process. But changing only the form in which content is presented without considering the relations and the active roles of students in the creation of knowledge will not lead to real changes in learning. The thoughtful inclusion of technology tools for education will foster and enhance collaboration, cooperation, and peer-to-peer interaction. Free or low-cost platforms such as Zoom, WhatsApp, Google Drive, and Google Docs are examples of technologies that can be combined with PBL approaches to support collaborative work and individual and group learning processes.
In “Facilitating Adoption of Web Tools for Problem and Project Based Learning Activities,” Md. Saifuddin Khalid, Nikorn Rongbutsri, and Lillian Buus suggest appropriate technology tools for common activities students perform during each PBL work group phase[2]:
| PBL common activities mapped to technology tools | |
|---|---|
| Sharing | Dropbox, Zotero, Diigo, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Blogger, Digg, Box (formerly Box.net), SlideShare, LogMeIn, TeamViewer |
| Discussing | Facebook, LinkedIn, Zoom, Skype, MSN, Twitter, Blogger, Doodle, SignAppNow, Canvas, Adobe Connect, Microsoft OneNote, FirstClass |
| Reading | |
| Writing | Google Docs, Typewithme, MS Office with Dropbox |
| Communicating | Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Zoom, Skype, MSN, Slack, Twitter, Blogger, Doodle, SignAppNow, Adobe Connect, Lectio.dk, Microsoft OneNote, FirstClass |
| Reflecting | Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Zoom, Skype, MSN, Slack, Twitter, Blogger, FirstClass |
| Argumenting | Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Zoom, Skype, MSN, Slack, Twitter, Blogger, FirstClass, Email, Microsoft OneNote |
| Diagramming | Gliffy, Diagramly, Dabbleboard |
It is important to level up our teaching strategy for the new generations of learners. Next time you design an online course, think of how you can engage your audience’s learning with the use of technology for problem-based learning.
Want to learn more? Check out this great website dedicated to online PBL: www.pblworks.org/pbl-remote-learning.
[1] Araújo, U. F. “3D Immersive Platforms and Problem-Based Learning Projects: A Search for Quality in Education.” In The Wiley Handbook of Problem-Based Learning, edited by Moallem, M., Hung, W., and Dabbagh, N., 575-592. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2019.
[2] Khalid, M. S., Rongbutsri, N., and Buus, L. “Facilitating Adoption of Web Tools for Problem and Project Based Learning Activities.” In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Networked Learning 2012, edited by V. Hodgson, C. Jones, M. de Laat, D. McConnell, T. Ryberg, and P. Sloep, 559-566. Maastricht, Netherlands: Aalborg University, 2012. Retrieved from: https://www.academia.edu/17081262/Facilitating_Adoption_of_Web_Tools_for_Problem_and_Project_Based_Learning_Activities