introducing pbl in malaysia khariyah mohd yusof, director centre

Centre of Engineering Education http://tree.utm.my

Introducing PBL in Malaysia

Khairiyah Mohd Yusof, PhD ([email protected])

Centre for Engineering Education Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

www.utm.my 2


UTM Campuses

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UTM Johor Bahru

•  50 minutes from Singapore airport/NUS/NTU

• 1 - 2 hrs to main destinations in South East Asia

UTM Kuala Lumpur

Centre of Engineering Education http://tree.utm.my UTM Campuses

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UTM Johor Bahru Campus (1200 Hectares) -‐ main

UTM Kuala Lumpur Campus -‐ branch


Outline •  Overview of PBL in Malaysia •  Introducing PBL to Malaysian students

•  Introducing PBL to Malaysian Academics

•  Closing remarks


Overview

•  PBL prac?ced in many different programs, at many different levels

•  Most predominant: – Medical Schools – Engineering

•  Research and publica?on for scholarly and evidence based approach


Mega level

Macro level

Micro level

PBL in the Curriculum

Major revamp of course curricula. Need commitment at all levels.

Eg: applied to entire third year of a certain programme

Eg: applied to two subjects in the second year of a programme

Eg: applied to specific topics in a subject

Need department approval, and commitment by lecturers teaching the subject

Recommended for new starters. Can be unnerving for isolated implementation among multi-sections


PBL in Medical Schools

•  Started in Universi? Sains Malaysia (USM) in 1979 •  Currently prac?ced by all medical schools in Malaysia because PBL is one of requirement for accredita?on by the Malaysian Medical Associa?on

•  Mostly hybrid PBL model


PBL in Engineering •  Medical school and project based models •  Small groups in a medium to large class model •  Started in UTM in 2003 •  Spans several universi?es, various implementa?on models

•  Currently, several ins?tu?ons aim for mega level implementa?on – GMI, MARA Technical Skills Colleges, etc.


Realistic Problem

Lecturer as Designer & Coach / Facilitator

Student as Problem Solver

Problem-Based Learning Approach

Do not readily have the skills for PBL – must be prepared, supported and motivated by lecturers

Coping with change – need to explain and ra?onalize => MOTIVATE!!

Woods, 1994

Need to support students to overcome frustraJons


Need scaffolding to support student learning

Diff

icul

ty le

vel o

f st

uden

t per

form

ance

Zone of Proximal

Development (ZPD) Individual level

Assisted level

The PBL Process

www.utm.my

Meet the problem

Problem identification

& analysis

Peer teaching, synthesis & application

Presentation & reflection

Closure

Self-directed learning

Phas

e 1

Phas

e 2

Phas

e 3

Typical PBL Medical School Model


Pa_ern in Coopera?ve Learning Ac?vi?es

Individual construcJon

ConstrucJon and/or interacJon with neighbor/

team member

Overall class interacJon with instructor In

volv

es e

very

one

in th

e cl

ass!


CooperaJve Problem-‐based Learning (CPBL)

Self-directed learning

Phase 3

Individual notes, Peer teaching in team & overall class discussion

Team synthesis & application for solutions formulation

Team consensus on final solution generation

Presentation, reflection &

team feedback

Closure Phase 2

*

**

Cooperative Problem-Based Learning (CPBL) Model

* Insufficient understanding of learning issues to solve problem **Incomplete or misunderstanding of problem requirements ** Incomplete or misunderstanding of problem requirements

Individual meet the problem,

restatement & identification

Team discussion & consensus in

problem restatement & identification

Phase 1

Overall class problem

identification & analysis

Mohd-Yusof, et al 2011


INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS

Organization A series of problems for a PBL curriculum

1st Problems

2nd Problem

3rd Problem 4th Problem

STUDENTS as “Novice Problem

Solvers”

STUDENTS as “Expert Problem

Solvers”

Professional achievements

Demand at the workplace

PBL Problems

Expectation


Research

•  To iden?fy students’ percep?ons towards CPBL –  The students’ percep?ons and acceptance/rejec?on –  The benefits and improvements that students gained along the learning process

•  Phenomenological study – –  Phase 1: 2 researchers observed and interviewed students throughout the semester

–  Phase 2: end of semester interview of students with different percep?ons

•  Part of a larger research on training and suppor?ng academic staff in implemen?ng CPBL.


Students’ Responses in Mid Sem

Self-‐directed and group work engagement

Improvement of their reading and learning

skills

Op?mizing their efforts in learning

Offering be_er understanding of their

mistakes through open class discussions

Learning new approached in

problem solving for future career

Improvement of interpersonal skills and communica?on

among friends


Students’ Responses in Mid Sem

d. Be4er understanding of own mistakes Q6-‐A4.1. “It is truly different! If we have misconcep@ons, these concepts will be thoroughly discussed together again and again in the classroom. It differs from previous learning method, where it’s only on the paper, nobody care to ask and most students just pretend to understand…” e. Approach towards future industry problems and applica@ons Q6-‐A5.2. “Since study using CPBL approach, my understandings on specific problems are beQer. Compared to previous classes, students only describe the theore@cal situa@ons and concepts in industry. But, through CPBL the problems are more prac@cal, based on what may happen and how to solve the problems.” f. Improve self-‐interpersonal skills and interac@ons Q6-‐A6.1. “Before this, I am passive, shy to interact with friends and to come forward. But now, I feel relaxed, beQer communica@ons and close to my friends. Now I can even freely tell my jokes!”


Types of TransformaJon

PosiJve PosiJve Maintain

PosiJve NegaJve Change

NegaJve PosiJve Change

NegaJve NegaJve Maintain

Early Semester End of Semester


Phase 2: Factors of Changing/Maintaining

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Early percepJon

PercepJon Change / Maintain Develop to

POSITIVE percepJon Develop / Maintain NEGATIVE percepJon

POSITIVE

o  Improve ?me management o  Exposure for future applica?on and

problems o  Clear concept defini?on o  Increase sod-‐skills o  Deeper knowledge & informa?on

o  Demanding & was?ng

?me o  Difficult because tons

of work loads o  Very difficult to absorb o  Too fast learning cycle o  Feel of unfair to other

courses NEGATIVE

o  Increase learning skill in learning together

o  Forced to more read o  Clear concept defini?on o  Improve ?me management

Do not readily have the skills

Realistic Problem

Lecturer as Designer & Coach/ Facilitator

Student as Problem Solver


Gehng Started

¨ As a facilitator: ¨ Change role from a "sage on the stage" to a "guide on

the side“ ¨ Examine learning & teaching philosophy –

transmission or construc?on of knowledge? ¨ Face challenge of unknown problems

¨ Designer of learning environment ¨ Problems or tasks ¨ Type of model and scaffolding ¨ Alignment of TLA and AT to support desired outcomes


Gradual move towards PBL…

Macro PBL

Micro PBL

Formal CL

Informal CL

Challenge of PBL

Getting a taste

Team- working

AL warm-up

If unfamiliar with student-centered learning techniques, start gradually

Need to go for training & embrace lifelong learning!


Shid from Teacher Centered to Student Centered

Inten?on Ac?on Belief


Na?onal Level Efforts •  Seminars sponsored by the Ministry of Educa?on to introduce PBL throughout Malaysia in 2010/2011

•  Training of trainers program under the Higher Educa?on Leadership Academy – Training of poten?al champions – 3-‐level training modules

•  Encourage scholarly and research-‐based efforts


Closing remarks

A lot of interest in PBL at different levels – need to find model that works for respec?ve ins?tu?ons, understanding own iden?ty

Support needed – both for students and academic staff

Require proper management of change at ins?tu?onal level, requires bo_om up effort, with top-‐down support

introducing pbl in malaysia khariyah mohd yusof, director centre

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