Problem-based learning (PBL) has been deployed as a student-centered instructional approach and curriculum design in a wide range of academic fields across the world. The majority of educational research to date has focused on knowledge-based outcomes addressing why PBL is useful. Researchers of PBL are developing a growing interest in qualitative research with a process-driven orientation to examining learning interactions. It is essential to broaden this research base so as to support PBL designs and approaches to leading students into higher-order thinking and a deeper approach to learning. Interactional Research Into Problem-Based Learning explores how students learn in an inquiry-led approach such as PBL. Included are studies that focus on learning in situ and go beyond measuring the outcomes of PBL. The goal is to further expand the PBL research base of qualitative investigations examining the social dimension and lived experience of teaching and learning within the PBL process. A second aim of this volume is to shed light on the methodological aspects of researching PBL, adding new perspectives to the current trends in qualitative studies on PBL. Chapters cover ethnographic approaches to video analysis, introspective protocols such as stimulated recall, and longitudinal qualitative studies using discourse-based analytic approaches. Specifically, this book will further contribute to the current educational research both theoretically and empirically in the following key areas: students’ learning processes in PBL over time and across contexts; the nature of quality interactions in PBL tutorials; the (inter)cultural aspects of learning in PBL; facilitation processes and group dynamics in synchronous and asynchronous face-to-face and blended PBL; and the developing nature of PBL learner identity.

This title outlines different approaches to problem-based learning, suggests reasons for its growth and details its use across all disciplines.

Like most good educational interventions, problem-based learning (PBL) did not grow out of theory, but out of a practical problem. Medical students were bored, dropping out, and unable to apply what they had learned in lectures to their practical experiences a couple of years later. Neurologist Howard S. Barrows reversed the sequence, presenting students with patient problems to solve in small groups and requiring them to seek relevant knowledge in an effort to solve those problems. Out of his work, PBL was born. The application of PBL approaches has now spread far beyond medical education. Today, PBL is used at levels from elementary school to adult education, in disciplines ranging across the humanities and sciences, and in both academic and corporate settings. This book aims to take stock of developments in the field and to bridge the gap between practice and the theoretical tradition, originated by Barrows, that underlies PBL techniques.

This book discloses ways in which learners and teachers manage complex and diverse learning in the context of their lives in a fragile and often incoherent world. It explores both the theory and the practice of problem-based learning and considers the implications of implementing problem-based learning organizationally.

Focusing specifically on Interactional Ethnography (IE) as a distinct, discourse-based form of ethnography, this book introduces readers to the logic and practice behind IE and exemplifies the logic of ethnographic inquiry through a range of example-based chapters. Edited by two of the foremost scholars in the field of IE, this book brings together a body of work that has until now been largely dispersed. Illustrating how IE intersects with ethnographic methods – including observation, interviews, and fieldwork – the book highlights considerations relating to data analysis, researcher positionality, and the ethics of engaging participants in research. Offering examples of IE in international contexts and across a range of social science and educational settings, the book provides foundational principles and key examples of IE to guide readers’ work. This book offers researchers, scholars, and teacher educators a definitive, novel contribution to current methodological literature on IE broadly, and will be of particular use to ethnographers starting out in their career. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the volume in illustrating the use of IE in a range of educational sub-disciplines, the book’s relevance extends to the fields of medical education, teacher education, arts and literacy research, as well as providing situated examples of IE in settings with relevance to the social sciences, anthropology, and cultural studies.

Rethinking Problem-based Learning for the Digital Age provides grounded, evidence-based strategies for teaching faculty, academic developers and educational technologists who are changing their problem-based learning (PBL) modules and programmes from face-to-face to online. Given today’s rapid advancements in learning and curriculum development specific to online and blended modes, there is considerable potential to introduce new forms of PBL in higher education. This book applies fundamental and cutting-edge research, including original scholarship by the authors, to innovative PBL practices and realistic tasks that can be brought to life through digital environments, teamwork and resources. Whether re-contextualizing PBL practices for newly online/blended instruction or seeking fresh PBL approaches for existing digital education environments across disciplines, readers will be guided to construct active, highly motivating, learner-centred experiences using simulations, games, virtual reality, multimedia and other complex innovations.

This book provides first-hand guidance for those involved in nurse education who are interested in the introduction of this exciting new strategy for teaching and learning. The suitability of problem-based learning (PBL) as a philosophy for nurse education in the new millennium is discussed through a series of reflective accounts by educationalists who have successfully implemented PBL. Topics covered include the nature of PBL, developing a problem-based curriculum, facilitor preparation, distance learning and assessment for PBL.

Developed in the context of health sciences education in the late 1960s, problem-based learning (PBL) is now widely deployed as an education methodology. Its problem-solving, collaborative, student-centred ethos is seen as a more appropriate system of pedagogy than earlier ‘chalk-and-talk’ modes. Focusing on its use in clinical education, this collection of recent scholarship on PBL examines the ways in which PBL is both conceived and implemented in clinical education. The work has a dual emphasis, research-driven on the one hand, while on the other assessing new methodologies to explore how problem-based curricula support the achievement of students’ learning outcomes in the context of clinical education. The chapters draw on studies that explore PBL both theoretically and empirically. The volume’s eclecticism capitalises on the growing body of empirical research into PBL evaluations. It balances this with studies analysing the relatively new area of discourse-based research on PBL-in-action, whose focus has been to interrogate the ‘how’ of student learning in curricula with PBL content.This publication will be of interest to clinical teachers, curriculum designers and those interested in innovations in the scholarship of teaching and learning in PBL curricula.

This open access handbook offers a one-stop-shop for both new and established researchers, educators, policy makers and administrators in the field of open, distance and digital education (ODDE) to gain a comprehensive overview of the history, theory and practice at all levels of ODDE, and at the same time stimulates in-depth discussions on various themes and issues of ODDE for today and future. Researchers, scholars and students in the field of ODDE can use this handbook as a major reference to conduct their own research and learning agendas. To cover the field comprehensively, the handbook is structured following the 3M framework developed by one of the chief editors Zawacki-Richter. The 3M framework categorizes the major research areas and issues in ODDE on three levels. Accordingly, the handbook is divided into six sections in total, two section at each of the three levels: 1) Macro Level – ODDE Systems and Theories, 2) Meso Level - Institutional Perspectives, Management and Organization, and 3) Micro Level – Learning and Teaching in ODDE. This is an open access book.

“This book closes a gap in the PBL literature. It is a thoroughly researched, well documented and engagingly written three part harmony addressing conceptual frames, recurring themes, and broadening horizons. An essential addition to your library.” Professor Karl A. Smith, University of Minnesota “…a comprehensive guide for those new to PBL, and suitable for those new to teaching or for the more experienced looking for a new challenge.” Dr Liz Beaty, Director (Learning and Teaching), HEFCE “This book vividly articulates the key ideas of PBL and provides new PBL practitioners with key guiding posts for its implementation. It is an excellent contribution to the art of using PBL.” Associate Professor Oon-Seng Tan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore ·What is problem-based learning? ·How can it be used in teaching? · How does problem-based learning affect staff and students? · How do we assess and evaluate it? Despite the growth in the use of problem-based learning since it was first popularised, there have been no resources to examine the foundations of the approach and offer straightforward guidance to those wishing to explore, understand, and implement it. This book describes the theoretical foundations of problem-based learning and is a practical source for staff wanting to implement it. The book is designed as a text that not only explores the foundations of problem-based learning but also answers many of the frequently-asked questions about its use. It has also been designed to develops the reader's understanding beyond implementation, including issues such as academic development, cultural, diversity, assessment, evaluation and curricular models of problem-based learning. Foundations of Problem-based Learning is a vital resource for lecturers in all disciplines who want to understand problem-based learning and implement it effectively in their teaching.