Problem Based Learning goes global

Peruvian educators (from left) Cecilia Gaita, Carlos Pizarro, Patricia Morales, Jorge Quiroz, and (far right) Emilio Gonzaga first visited UD in 2002 to learn PBL techniques with help from Deborah Allen (standing far right), associate professor of biological sciences, and George Watson (seated, second from right), senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Science. Since then the Peruvian educators have helped their colleagues incorporate PBL into their curricula.

3:23 p.m., Sept. 16, 2005--Thanks, in part, to the dedication and leadership of a group of UD faculty, Problem Based Learning (PBL), which encourages students to work in groups to carry out research and think independently to solve real-world problems, is growing into an international educational movement.

Two pioneers in PBL, George Watson, senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Deborah Allen, associate professor of biology, have traveled to schools in the United States and to foreign countries, helping faculty understand PBL concepts and how to use PBL in teaching.

“The University of Delaware is the acknowledged leader in PBL,” Watson said, “and we have far more requests for visits than we can accommodate.”

In August, they returned from their fifth trip to Peru, funded by the ALO (Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development)/USAID (Agency for International Development).

Although the faculty of Peruvian public universities were on strike, the PBL workshop went forward. “We were pleased there were about 70 faculty who gave up their weekends to attend in spite of the strike,” Watson said.

Watson and Allen were there in an advisory capacity. “The PBL workshops encourage using teaching methods other than just lecturing,” Allen said. “The participants learn by doing. In this case, they worked on a poster project, using PBL methods, and then were critiqued by their peers.”

Language was not a problem. “We are fortunate that our PBL literature and materials have already been translated into Spanish so we could distribute them. Although we are learning Spanish, those attending the conference were eager to try their English,” Allen said.

This trip was a departure from others to Peru as they visited the more remote area of Arequipa and plan to visit Chiclayo, in addition to Lima.

Peru is scheduled to hold the International Conference PBL 2006 at Pontifica Universidad Catolica del Peru in Lima. Other conferences have been held in Mexico, and UD hosted the Baltimore conference in 2002.

A PBL Panamerican Network recently was formed at UD’s urging, and other PBL networks exist in the Asia/Pacific region and in northern Europe, including Scandinavia and Great Britain.

Watson and Allen worked with universities in other countries as well, spreading the word about PBL. Allen has gone to Iceland, and Watson has visited Ecuador, Bolivia, the American University of Beirut in Lebanon and the International Islamic University in Malaysia.

UD’s Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education (ITUE) is an outgrowth of PBL. Founding leaders, in addition to Watson and Allen, were Barbara Duch, who has retired from the School of Education; Susan Groh, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry; Harry Shipman, Annie Jump Cannon Professor of Astronomy; and Harold White, professor of chemistry and biochemistry.

There have been a series of ITUE conferences on campus the past few years, which attract UD faculty and faculty from other colleges and universities both in the United States and abroad. In 1999, ITUE received the prestigious Theodore M. Hesburg Award from TIAA-CREF as an outstanding faculty development program that has shown “great success” in enhancing undergraduate teaching.

“Those of us interested in PBL have a shared vision of active learning strategies, including utilizing the opportunities offered by modern technology,” Watson said. “PBL will play an important role in UD’s focus on service learning, and, through ITUE, we plan to offer Friday workshops on using PBL in the classroom in the spring of 2006.”

Article by Sue Moncure

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