Enhancing Learners’ Lifelong Learning Through Implementing Problem-Based

Learning

Presenter: Dr Danh Duc

Nguyen

Department of Psychology and Education,

Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy, Vietnam nguyenducdanh@hcmup.edu.vn

AGENDA

• Rationale of the research• Research objectives• Literature review• Methodology• Findings• Conclusions

RATIONALE OF THE RESEARCH

In the age of great scientific and technological changes, tertiary students need to be more adequately prepared to effectively integrate into the competitive working environments. Institutions not only teach students “what to learn” but they also facilitate students “how to learn” to effectively educate them to become lifelong learners who can effectively use a range of skills such as self-directed learning and critical thinking to successfully solve the problems in their daily lives.

RATIONALE OF THE RESEARCH

-More important, students should be educated to be successful at solving problems at the workplace: problem solvers; lifelong learners.

-Students taught through traditional approaches (lecturing) may not be educated to become effective problem solvers, lifelong learners

RATIONALE OF THE RESEARCH

- Current teaching and learning approaches used in Vietnam: traditional, teacher-centred

- Vietnamese government: encouraging teachers to find innovative teaching and learning approaches to improve the education quality

- My research of implementing a problem-based approach (PBL) aimed at enhancing learners’ lifelong learning skills

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES -Exploring the experience of university

teachers who implemented a PBL approach in a range of courses in two universities in the South of Vietnam

-Understanding the benefits and challenges of implementing a PBL approach in Vietnam from perceptions of the university teachers

-Discovering the effects of the implementation of PBL in supporting the learning of university students in Vietnam from perceptions of the students

LITERATURE REVIEW Aims of PBL:-Apply problem solving in new and future situations,-Think creatively and critically,-Adopt holistic approach to problems and situations,-Appreciate diverse viewpoints, and successful team collaboration-Identify learning weaknesses and strengths,-Promote self-directed learning and communication skills-Increase knowledge base, and leadership skills,-Use relevant and varied resources. (Barrows and Tamblyn (1980)

LITERATURE REVIEW

-PBL is characterized by a learner-centred approach, teachers: “facilitators rather than disseminators” of knowledge; Learning problem (ill-structured problem): “ the initial stimulus and framework for learning” (Wilkerson & Gijselaers, 1996).

-Teacher/facilitator is the “guide on the side,” (not “sage on the stage”) who models different ways of problem-solving (Brown, Collins & Newman, 1989).

LITERATURE REVIEW

Students: take responsibility for their own learning; being encouraged to recognize their learning needs and determine the resources they will need to use to achieve their learning.

Students learn to give and accept constructive criticism; find ways to reach an agreement on difficult situations; learn to honestly evaluate their own contributions, that of other group members and the whole group

METHODOLOGY

-The study used a purposive sample of 11 university teachers as cases, 5 from Ho Chi Minh City University of Pedagogy and 6 from Can Tho University.

-They are teaching undergraduate students a range of disciplines such as English, Business, Vietnamese Literature, Psychology, and Introductory Education.

-All 186 students undertaking 11 classes where a PBL approach was implemented by the teachers were invited to participate in the study.

METHODOLOGY

The design of study comprised six phases:

Phase 1: Conducting PBL workshops with university lecturers (+ providing PBL materials)Phase 2: The process of the implementation of a PBL approach by the lecturers in their university classes.Phase 3: Teacher questionnairesPhase 4: Student questionnairesPhase 5: Follow-up teacher interviewsPhase 6: Follow-up student interviews

FINDINGS• All 11 teachers and 182 students

participated: -A strong commitment on teacher part in trying

new teaching and learning approaches to enhance their students’ learning.

Teachers voluntarily implemented the PBL approach in their university classes and participated in the process of data collection to share their perceptions of the PBL implementation.

TEACHERS’ IN-CLASS FACILITATION

DURING THE PBL IMPLEMENTATION

Teacher responses Responses

Introducing learning problems to groups and encouraging groups to assign work to individual group members as well as schedule group meetings.

11

Providing additional resources for student learning 11

Allocating necessary time for every learning problem which was expected to be finished.

09

Walking around student groups, observing while they were working, and providing help if needed, no direct involvement in student learning.

11

Advising students to use power-point presentations to present their final group work.

10

Providing students with the assessment forms such as group assessment, self-assessment.

09

TEACHERS’ OUT-OF-CLASS FACILITATION (VIA EMAILS, TELEPHONE, IN PERSON)

Teacher responses Responses

Helping students clarify some learning difficulties arisen during the process of the group work.

11

Providing consultations for students about their presentations before they were presented to the class.

11

Helping students solve the conflicts between group members during the learning process.

02

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ON THE TEACHER FACILITATION

IN THE PBL CLASS Student responses Responses

The teacher observed while the groups were working in class. The teacher also listened to group members when they were presenting their finding to the group.

182

The teacher only provided help when needed and this help aimed at encouraging students to have further discussions, not the answers of the problem.

159

The teacher sought and provided students with many learning resources as possible.

157

The teacher gave feedback in time to encourage students 57

The teacher helped to assess students’ learning performance equally 42

STUDENTS’ LEARNING EXPERIENCE OF PBL AFTER THE IMPLEMENTATION

Student responses Responses

Feeling more confident in communication, especially in presenting personal ideas to the public.

176

Learning new ways of collaboration and organisation in the group work

162

Improving personal skills in solving problem, team-working and critical thinking

157

Learning new things from other group members such as learning approaches, ways of analysing and synthesising a problem.

97

STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ON THE ACQUISITION OF SKILLS IN LEARNING THROUGH PBL THAT WILL

HELP THEM IN THEIR FUTURE CAREER

Student responses Responses

-Being confident in analysing a problem and gathering resources to solve it-Feeling confident when in presenting personal ideas in the public.-Collaborating with others effectively-Organising personal learning effectively-Thinking and finding tentative solutions for a problem faster and more effectively-Learning how to build and develop good relationship with team members

173 (95%)

STUDENT INTERVIEW EXTRACT

“In the process of solving the problem, the learners’ independent learning is highly promoted whereas the tutor’s guidance or help is only provided when requested. I think, some innovative methods used in my seminars in learning the subjects like political economics and methods of Education teaching are seen as problem-based learning”.

ANOTHER STUDENT INTERVIEW EXTRACT

“Through PBL, I had opportunities to develop skills in critical thinking and team- working, especially know how to work with other group members effectively. I have learnt how to express ideas during the group work, have appropriate and effective responses to other groups in class presentations and learn from their ways of learning and thinking. Particularly, I feel more confident in communication and have had opportunities to learn from other subject-related areas while searching for resources to solve the problem”.

CONCLUSIONS

• Vietnamese teachers and students effectively adopted the PBL approach as it could be seen to be more challenging for them

• More than half of student participants had no experience of PBL prior to the study, they effectively learned through a so-called “demanding approach” like PBL: different to usual approaches from traditional classes

CONCLUSIONS

Students gained a range of skills connected to the learning process such as team-working, critical thinking, problem-solving, self-directed learning etc.. These skills will be useful for the learners’ future professions as well as effectively supporting for their life-long study.

Using PBL encouraged students’ self-directed and independent learning skills through collaboration. Students actively engaged in group discussions, finding additional resources, working on their assigned learning issue, or attending class meetings and presentations which have better prepared students to become life-long learners.

Thank you very much for your attentive listening!

Q & A ?