Romeo V. Turcan, Professor, Aalborg University€¦ · Problem Based Learning as a Mitigating...

www.pblmd.aau.dk

AAU PBL Workshop

Romeo V. Turcan, Professor, Aalborg University

March 13, 2019

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This

communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be

held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

www.pblmd.aau.dk

Welcome

Introducing the book

The premise

Future graduate’s profile

Innovating AAU PBL model

How to …

2

Outline

www.pblmd.aau.dk

Introducing each other

Agenda

Administration

Logistics

3

Welcome

www.pblmd.aau.dk

TOC and contributors The material in this presentation will appear in

Turcan, R. V. (2019). Re-Connecting Academia to Society: The Role of PBL. In R. V.

Turcan, & J. E. Reilly (red.), Populism in Higher Education Curriculum Development -

Problem Based Learning as a Mitigating Response. Palgrave Macmillan.

Please do not cite without the permission of the author

4

Introducing the book

www.pblmd.aau.dk

5

The premise

What is going on?

www.pblmd.aau.dk

6

What is going on?

The premise (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

7

What is going on?

The premise (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

8

“What is the great peril represented by the present situation?

Ignorance.

Ignorance even more than poverty…

It is in such a situation, faced by such a danger, that we think of attacking,

mutilating, and stripping all [educational] institutions, whose precise purpose

is to pursue, combat, and destroy ignorance!”

Victor Hugo, 1848

What is going on?

The premise (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

9

Ignorance consists of the absence or distortion of true knowledge and that is socially constructed and negotiated (Moore & Tumin, 1949; Smithson, 1985)

Two types of ignorance could be singled out (Smithson, 1985): meta-ignorance, that is, “ignorance of one’s own ignorance”

conscious ignorance which is the “necessary (although not

sufficient) prerequisite for positive learning or discovery”

What is going on?

The premise (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

10

Individual choices, institutions, routines, fears, power, politics, collective action, long-term thinking, free will, conformity, legitimation – to name a few are in liquid, fluid state

Conformity to rules is no longer the virtue said to serve the individual's interests

But flexibility is: a readiness to change tactics and style at short notice, to abandon commitments and loyalties without regret and to pursue opportunities according to their current availability, rather than following one’s own established preferences

(Bauman, 2007)

What is going on?

The premise (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

11

Are our graduates ready to deal and cope with all these?

The premise (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

Problem Based Learning is one of the answers to rising populism

12

Problem Analysis

Problem Solving

Project Report

Literature Lectures Group Studies

Field Work

Experiments Tutorials

The premise (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

13

What future holds??? By 2025, we’ll lose over five million jobs to automation.

Future jobs will involve knowledge creation and innovation.

Have to be able to to explore, experiment and find interesting

solutions to complex problems.

Future Graduate’s profile

www.pblmd.aau.dk

14

2015 2020 2030

Complex problem solving

Coordinating with others

People management

Critical thinking

Negotiation

Quality control

Service orientation

Judgement & decision making

Active listening

Creativity

Future Graduate’s profile (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

15

2015 2020 2030

Complex problem solving Complex problem solving

Coordinating with others Critical thinking

People management Creativity

Critical thinking People management

Negotiation Coordinating with others

Quality control Emotional intelligence

Service orientation Judgement & decision making

Judgement & decision making Service orientation

Active listening Negotiation

Creativity Cognitive ability

Future Graduate’s profile (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

16

2015 2020 2030

Complex problem solving Complex problem solving Mental elasticity & Complex problem solving

Coordinating with others Critical thinking Critical thinking

People management Creativity Creativity

Critical thinking People management People skills

Negotiation Coordinating with others STEM skills

Quality control Emotional intelligence SMAC skills

Service orientation Judgement & decision making Interdisciplinary knowledge

Judgement & decision making Service orientation

Active listening Negotiation

Creativity Cognitive ability

Future Graduate’s profile (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

17

I would like you to solve a puzzle; 2 minutes These nine dots are to be connected by four straight lines

without lifting the pencil from the paper.

Future Graduate’s profile (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

18

A solution to the puzzle demands from us to: stop studying the dots

stop wearing ‘used’ theoretical lenses

stop employing ‘familiar’ methods

Future Graduate’s profile (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

19

Mental elasticity:

start examining and questioning the assumptions about the dots or empirical reality by

becoming context-free

thinking outside the box and seeing the big picture

putting on new theoretical lenses

employing untried methods and methodologies

rearranging things to find a solution or create new knowledge

Future Graduate’s profile (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

20

Mental elasticity

Future Graduate’s profile (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

21

“Quality of mind that will help [the students] to use information and to

develop reason in order to achieve lucid summations of what is going

on in the world and of what may be happening within [themselves]”

C. Wright Mills, 1967

Future Graduate’s profile (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

22

PBL pillars Self-directed learning

Types of project work

Thinking to learn

Methodology

Innovating AAU PBL model

www.pblmd.aau.dk

23

Self-directed learning From an asymmetric to a more symmetric power relation

Students take the lead and responsibility for their own learning

Innovating AAU PBL model (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

24

Types of project work Assignment project: considerable planning and control by the

teachers/supervisors

Subject project: subjects are chosen beforehand

Problem project: based on problems as the starting point

(Annete Kolmos, 1986)

Innovating AAU PBL model (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

25

Thinking to learn

Remembering

Understanding

Applying

Analyzing

Evaluating

Creating

(Pohl, 2000)

Innovating AAU PBL model (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

26

PROBL FORM – RESEARCH DESIGN – LITREV – FINDINGS – DISC-INTERPR – IMPLIC

New knowledge

Methodology always has to do with the activity of acquiring knowledge. Philosophical study of plurality of methods applied in various scientific disciplines, contexts.

Innovating AAU PBL model (Cont’d)

Methodology

www.pblmd.aau.dk

27

Problem Analysis

Problem Solving

Project Report

Literature Lectures Group Studies

Field Work Experiments Tutorials

Innovating AAU PBL model (Cont’d)

AAU PBL model

www.pblmd.aau.dk

28

Innovating AAU PBL model (Cont’d)

Research-Based Teaching

Literature Lectures Group Studies

Field Work Experiments Tutorials

Problem

Discovering

Formulating

Problem

Applying

Analyzing

Problem

Addressing

Creating knowledge

Evaluating

www.pblmd.aau.dk

29

Problem

Discovering

Formulating

Problem

Applying

Analyzing

Problem

Addressing

Creating knowledge

Evaluating

Innovating AAU PBL model (Cont’d)

Research-Based Teaching

The aim is to bring to teaching and learning the sate-of the art of the field of we are researching in: Expose the students to own academic, business and policy

publications, reports, white papers; findings; results, incl., negative ones; theories; datasets, experiments, methodologies, methods

www.pblmd.aau.dk

30

Problem

Discovering

Formulating

Problem

Applying

Analyzing

Problem

Addressing

Creating knowledge

Evaluating

Innovating AAU PBL model (Cont’d)

Research-Based Teaching

Teaching-Based Research

www.pblmd.aau.dk

31

Teaching-Based Research

The aim is to push and challenge the boundaries of the state-of-the-art: Engage the students in own research, knowledge

dissemination, joint publication, project application

Scientific, enquiry, analytical, investigative minds

Innovating AAU PBL model (Cont’d)

Problem

Discovering

Formulating

Problem

Applying

Analyzing

Problem

Addressing

Creating knowledge

Evaluating

www.pblmd.aau.dk

32

University Autonomy/University Internationalization phenomena

Valeria Gulieva, Turcan, RV (2015, 2016) Impact of Advanced Internationalization of University on University Autonomy

Late Globalization phenomenon

Behnam Boujarzadeh, Turcan, RV & Dholakia, N (2016, 2017, 2019) Evolution of Textile and Fashion Industry in Denmark, 1945-2015

The Diffusion of Fintech Innovations and Impacts on the Modern Banking

Ecosystem

Bernadett Deak, Garand, D (Laval University), Turcan, RV (2018, 2019)

Innovating AAU PBL model (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

33

Teaching-Based Research

(AIM: Push State-of-the-Art Boundaries)

Joint research

Joint publication

Spin-offs Joint

Project Application

Licensing

Research-Based Teaching

(AIM: Expose to State-of-the-Art)

Literature Lectures Group Studies

Field Work Experiments Tutorials

Teaching Case

Development

Innovating AAU PBL model (Cont’d)

Problem

Discovering

Formulating

Problem

Applying

Analyzing

Problem

Addressing

Creating knowledge

Evaluating

www.pblmd.aau.dk

34

From subject based to cross-disciplinary phenomenon based education and learning

Innovating AAU PBL model (Cont’d)

Problem

Discovering

Formulating

Problem

Applying

Analyzing

Problem

Addressing

Creating knowledge

Evaluating

www.pblmd.aau.dk

35

Selection Criteria for selection of Instructors to teach PBL

Do you have staff willing to instruct in PBL?

Criteria for the selection of the Units to be taught using a PBL approach

Is there a political will to implement PBL methodology and methods?

PBL Best Practice in the classroom

How much of self-directed learning takes place in classroom?

Assessments of PBL assignments/work

Is there an internal PBL research and training center?

How to…

www.pblmd.aau.dk

36

Sem 6 Conceptual and empirical thesis writing, incl., research design (plus Sem 1,

2, 3, 4, 5)

Sem 5 Semester project writing, incl., literature review and research design (plus

Sem1, 2, 3, 4)

Sem 4 Qualitative research design, data collection and analysis, discussion and

interpretation (plus Sem1 and Sem2)

Sem 3 Quantitative research design, data collection and analysis, discussion and

interpretation (plus Sem1 and Sem2)

Sem 2 Theory of science and literature review, synthesis, and conceptualization

(plus Sem1)

Sem 1 Problem identification and formulation

How to… (Cont’d)

www.pblmd.aau.dk

37

Q&A

Employer Perspective on Problem Based Learning

By Olav Jull Sørensen*

*Professor of International Business, International Business Centre; Department of Management and Business, Aalborg University

Presentation at: AAU Problem Based Learning Workshop

Aalborg University, March 13-15, 2019

Aim

* To view the PBL model in perspective of employers: *To answer the question: Does the PBL model deliver what is needed for employers and/or busines development in general *The case of Mekoprint A/S

Focus is on private companies as employers although the skills that business students acquire through their bachelor and master education in business can be used in many other organisations

Agenda

• University in Society • Combining Theoretical and Experiential Knowledge – different perspectives • Why Firms Want to Collaborate with Universities – different perspectives on collaboration, including the boundary for collaboration * The Case of Mekoprint A/S

PBL-development: A Continuous Process

Started developing PBL in 1972

I still run PBL-experiments every year

Developed a PBL-based graduate program in Innovation Management in Beijing in 2012

I will be happy to share the excitement and my experiences

Developed an PBL MBA-Program in Lithuania, 1992-1995

Take part in developing five PBL based Bachelor Programs in Moldova, 2006-2020

PBL and Social Framing of the University

What is PBL?

* Student Centered Learning where the point of departure is actual ´social problems

Yes, but this is only a half PBL

* Student centered learning guided by insightful academic staff

*Teachers in new roles: Organizers of learning space; monitoring of the learning process; supervisors; examiners – and we are also still lecturing.

Pedagogical Philosophy at Aalborg University – in a Nutshell

PBL

Students are

pro-active

Lectures:project

work: 50:50

Problem

orientation:

Relevance

Groups: Co-operation

Diversity, High

learning level

Theory-practice

integration & orientation;

Using two modes of Learning

Project

orientation:

In-depth

Guidance by super-

visors

Exams to test reflection

capabilities, communication (not facts)

Lectures underpin project work

Three Generations of PBL

1st Generation: Practical problem as point of departure to enhance motivation, relevance of studies and improve reflections.

2nd Generation: More outward oriented – solve practical real life problems in cooperation with environmental actors,

3rd Generation: Theory and practice more integrated in an iterativ process and under conditions of complexity/uncertainty. This includes own real life constructions, a general way of thinking and simoultaneously generation of new knowledge and practice.

Next Generation: We run experiments continuously which will lead to..

Students stay at the university

Students Working with Practice (visits)

Students working in practice

Increasing integration Between larning and practice

The Socially Engaged University

Education

Research Social Reality

Research Based Education

Knowledge generation and knowledge based decisions

Theory-practice integration

Theoretical and Experiential Knowledge - the foundation for PBL

PBL and New Learning Theory

The PBL-model builds on newer insights into learning:

1. Knowledge from research (analytical knowledge) 2. Experienced based knowledge (practice based knowledge) - PBL is based on the synergy between the two

3. Creativity : Can be learned

4. Capacity to learn increases with level of knowledge (absorptive capacity theory)

”The only source of knowledge is experience” Albert Einstein.

Configuration of Knowledge at Company Level

Research Based Knowledge

Experience Based Knowledge

Yes

Yes No

No R&D unit in a company

Best Practices at company level

No research and sharing of experiences (routines)

Integration of theoretical reflection with company experiences

Combining Theoretical and Experiential Knowledge

Theoretically Derived Knowledge

Practice Derived Knowledge

Yes

Yes

No

No

Anecdotes Common Sense/ Stomach Feeling

Logically Derived Knowledge Based on assumptions

New Theory and New Practice Generation

The Relations between Research Based and Experience Based Knowledge

Action Based Learning (experience)

Research Based Learning (science)

No

No

Yes

Yes

ReflectionKnowledge (Cognitive Process)

DecisionAction Experience (Action Process)

Experience Action Reflection Knowledge

No Learning; Routines

Perspectives on Research-Practice Collaboration

Knowledge from Research

Exists

Need to be Gained

Experience from Practice

Need to be Generated

Exists

No Collaboration is Needed

Collaboration is Needed to Collect, Reflect, and Disseminate Experiences

Collaboration is Needed to support the Dissemination of Existing Knowledge through Extension/Training Services, etc.

Collaboration is Needed to Generate new Knowledge and Disseminate new Practices

Learning Space Tool Box: From Packages of Reality to Engaging with Reality

Student Role/ Participation

Teacher Role

Lecture

Lecture + Tutorials

Lecture + cases

Text + Cases

Problem Oriented Case projects

Low

Leading the Learning

High

Organizing the Learning Space + Guidance

Inter-Active Case

Enhancing Theoretical Learning

Action Learning

Enhancing Socially Engaged Learning

Open Cases

Internship

Cases are packages of reality

Intensity of Research-Stakeholder Collaboration Stakeholder

Engagement

Research

Engagement

Lab/

Experiment

Surveys

Problem

Oriented

Projects

Low

Leading/Dominant

High

Organizing the

Knowledge/Learning

Space

Inter-Active

Case Dissemination as

A Separate Sctivty

Action

Research

Dissemination Integrated into

the Research Process

Open

Cases

Cases are packages

of reality

Statistics Based Research

Areas and Degree of Employer Involvement in University Affairs

1. Governance of Universities: *Board Member *Employer Panel *Alumnies

2 Student Related Actvities

3 Research Related Actvities

4. Sponsorships

Collaboration modes related to teaching

* Illustrative example

* Guest from business/visit to company

* Case to illustrate theory

* Case to solve problem

*Inter-active case

* Group Project

* Internship

Case in many Versions

Example to pinpoint a situation/theory

Short case description (one page) to illustrate a point/discuss a point

Live cases or fictitious cases

Case description to illustrate a theory

Reinforce the Learning of Theories

Reinforce the Learning of how to Solve Problems from Reality

Problem Oriented Project

Internships

Inter-Active Case

Defining the Inter-active Case

The inter-active case is a case where a company is directly and deeply involved in the learning process

In contrast to normal cases, where teachers collect the data from the company, formulate the case and interact with students during the case solution/discussions:

The Interactive-case is especially useful in shorter teaching modules (e.g. one month)

Why Companies Want to Collaborate with Students

* Problem but no time to solve it

* Qualified (and free) man-power for some months

* Newest research findings and theories

* Potential employees

* Want to support the education of good managers

I am often asked..

Research Related Involvement by Employers

From Dissemination to Outreach to the business community:

1. Participative Planning of Research (what, why, how and who)

2. Participative Conducting of Research

3. Action Oriented Dissemination

Collaborative Sponsorships

1. Sponsors of positions: Professors, etc 2. Sponsors of buildings, labs and halls 3. Stipends for students 4. Collaboration on organisations/institutions, e.g. a Science Parck

Boundary of collaboration

1. General – specific: Can PBL serve both very specific needs and come up with general tendencies/patterns? 2. Critical – Conforming: Can PBL be both critical and constructive? (white washing of money?) 3. Short-long-term: Can PBL combine the often short-term needs of firms, especially within SMEs, and the long-terms tendencies 4. Knowledge of own needs: Often companies cannot expres their needs – especially not on a long term basis: Can PBL help businesses to think long-term and more holistically? 5. Reflections – solutions: Can PBL come up with very concrete solutions while at the same time work in the abstract.

Profile of Mekoprint

1. Governance: Not a member of University Board or any Employer Panel

2. Students: Work primarily with students on projects, cases, visits and interns as well as hire students

3. Research: Involve researcher at workshops, but no larger research projects in the near pasts. Have been thinking of using the industrial PhD-program

4. Mekorpint has an old factory (5.000 m2), which they are interetsed in turning into a Mekoprint Science Park – working presently on a concept note how to define, organise, and finance the project so that the Mekorpint Science Park becomes a dynamic center related to digitalisation/automatisation and sustainability of firm activities

PBL Assumtions: Students, Teachers, and Firms

Human Assumptions

Any educational system has some assumptions on students and learning; how to teach, and how the business reality works and should work

Profile of students

From a study of entrepreneurship: *

• Wish to create something

• Influence

• Personal challenges

• Stage one-self

• Flexibility in work (and leisure)

• Team but benefit for me

• Risk averter??

• In search of an identity

* Sørensen, O. J. & R. Ivang (2003): Towards an Innovation and Entrepreneurship Culture at AAU. I wish…Dare I? Dept. for Business Studies. Aalborg University.

• Eager to learn • Curious • Eager to create • Able to integrate • Able to work hard

PBL-Assumptions:

PBL-assumptions about Teachers

• Knowledge of and engaged in developing their field (Law; Medicine; Business; ICT;) • Knowledge of and engaged in the context in which their field is at work; • Interested in developing young people intellectually -to become experts and managers • Ready to admit that I do not know and face that on project students may know more

MathematicsAlgorithmsSoftware APPsMobile Phones Getting around

PBL-Assumptions of Firms

1. Open Minded 2. Development Oriented 3. See the virtues of integrating theory (abstract reflections) with practice (concrete experiences) I.e., the firm needs some absorptive capcity to work with students and researchers

End Thanks you for your attention

S t a k e h o l d e r P o l i t i c s a n d P B L C u r r i c u l u m : A M a n a g e m e n t

P e r s p e c t i ve

A A U P B L W o r k s h o p 1 3 . 0 3 . 2 0 1 9

B i r g i t t e G r e g e r s e n D e p a r t m e n t o f B u s i n e s s a n d M a n a g e m e n t

A a l b o r g U n i v e r s i t y b g @ b u s i n e s s . a a u . d k

Agenda

1. PBL as a learning approach and the role of management

2. PBL as Engaged Scholarship and the role of management

3. ?? & discussion

Tell me and I will forget

Show me and I will remember

Involve me and I will understand

Step back and I will act

(Chinese proverb, Confucius)

1. PBL as a learning approach

Providing students with an active role in the acquisition and creation of knowledge (student driven more than teacher driven)

Redefinition of the role of the teacher in the learning process

Can management do something about this?

Management at different levels? Contemporary context for most universities (NPM, lack of funding, cuts, rankings,…….)

Inst i tut ional support for PBL as a learning approach (1)

Allocation of resources and facilities Allocation of resources for experiments with new ideas and different approaches Physical facilities and IT-infrastructure (group rooms, meeting places, IT) Dedicated administrative support for external collaboration (student projects with companies)

Inst i tut ional support for PBL as a learning approach (2)

PBL qualifications for all teaching staff Commitment from research and teaching groups to apply PBL in teaching and supervision PBL as an explicit requirement in staff recruitment Introduction to PBL for new staff Part of pedagogical training for assistant professors Peer training Life-long learning in PBL approaches for teaching staff

Inst i tut ional support for PBL as a learning approach (3)

Collaboration, recognition and support from external partners and employers

2. PBL as a resource

Knowing and learning is about constructing useful understandings of the world. It is not about repeating explicit knowledge Learning and knowledge construction is facilitated by collaboration (dialogue, critical reviews, mutual support) Learning is about producing new relevant understandings, solutions, knowledge and methods.

PBL as a ressource

• Puzzle solving for the supervisor? • Creating new knowledge /distinct contribution? • Part of something bigger (E.g. Grand challenges)?

Taking part in something bigger than ourselves

Can management do something about this?

Management at different levels? Contemporary context for most universities (NPM, lack of funding, cuts, rankings,…….)

Engaged Scholarship

“Engaged Scholarship is defined as a participative form of research for obtaining the different perspectives of key stakeholders (researchers, users, clients, sponsors, and practitioners) in studying complex problems. By involving others and leveraging their different kinds of knowledge, engaged scholarship can produce knowledge that is more penetrating and insightful than when scholars or practitioners work on the problems alone.” (p. 9)

The relationship between theory and practice, research and action

Engaged scholarship diamond model (Van de Ven)

Main institutional barriers

Insular behaviour of academic departments and disciplines

Promotion and tenure bounded by disciplines and traditional methods

Scholars’ narrow focus on relationships within own scientific community

However, to transform into an engaged scholarship approach

”We only think when we are confronted with a problem” (John Dewey)

Thank you for your attention

Time for questions &

discussion

PBL as Inst i tut ional Strategy

M a l e n e G r a m

A s s o c i a t e d e a n

T h e F a c u l t y o f S o c i a l S c i e n c e s

A a l b o r g U n i v e r s i t y

Aalborg Universitet i København ????????

ONE UNIVERSITY THREE CAMPUSSES

E S B J E R G 5 0 0 S T U D E N T S

A A L B O R G 1 7 . 0 0 0 S T U D E N T S

C O P E N H AG E N 3 . 1 0 0 S T U D E N T S

STUDENTS • 23.000 students (full-time and part-time) • 3.400 international students • 60 % of AAU´s graduates get jobs in the private sector

(52 % on average for Danish universities in generel)

RESOURCES • 2,300 researchers/teaching staff • 550 international researchers

RESEARCH & TEACHING • Social Sciences • Humanities • Engineering • Natural Sciences • Health Sciences

FACTS & F IGURES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=96&v=WTV8hNokhAk

OUR CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES ARE OUR STRENGTH Problem orientation

AAU’s problem based approach to research and education is strong and well founded. Our researchers, students and graduates are well trained in analytical, holistic and problem and solution oriented methods.

Collaboration

AAU conducts research in close collaboration between staff, students and partners in the business world and in public institutions. Working with authentic issues implies that the University maintains close contact with external partners.

Commitment

AAU reflects the vigour and zeal of its staff and students. AAU is a university for committed staff and students who assume responsibility and make things happen within the University and in its surrounding society.

Change

AAU creates knowledge that changes the world. Our problem oriented approach to research, education, knowledge dissemination and collaboration makes a difference and creates change.

The problem is the starting point directing the student’s learning process.

Project organization creates the framework of PBL.

Courses support the project work.

Cooperation is a driving force in PBL-project work.

The PBL-project work of the groups must be exemplary.

The students are responsible for their own learning achievements.

THE AALBORG PBL-MODEL

- 6 basic principles

T H E C O R E P R I N C I P L E S ( 1 / 2 )

Problem orientation

• A ‘problem’ relevant to the study program serve as the basis for the learning process.

• A problem can be more or less theoretical and practical orientated but it needs to be authentic. “Authentic” means that it offers an opportunity to put theoretical knowledge into a practice that is relevant to the specific discipline.

Project organization

• The project is a goal oriented process limited in time, usually a semester. • The project is where the students address the problem and where they achieve

the educational objectives.

Courses supporting the project

• Students are presented to a wide range of theories and methods that might be used in the projects,

• Students participate in mandatory and optional courses. The courses include a high level of student activity and are organised as a mix of lectures, workshops, laboratory work, seminars, and exercises.

T H E C O R E P R I N C I P L E S ( 2 / 2 )

Team-based approach

• A majority of students’ problem/project work is conducted in groups of three or more students.

• The students manages the project and they support each other in achieving the goals. The collaboration includes knowledge sharing, group decision making, subject based discussions, and feedback to each other.

Exemplarity

• Exemplarity means that the learning outcome is transferable to other situations which the students might meet in their professional life.

Responsibility for own learning

• Students have a high degree of freedom to choose the projects. The ability to assess the quality of own work and knowledge is a central theme for PBL. Each group gets assigned a supervisor who facilitates the groupwork. However, it is the group who has the sole responsibility for the collaboration, planning of the project, and it results, including their own learning. Also to contact the supervisor.

Problem Analysis

Problem Solving

Project Report

Literature Lectures Group Studies

Field Work

Experiments Tutorials

T H E P B L P R O C E S S

TYPICAL COMPONENTS IN PBL PROCESS

• Supervisors present the thematic framework of the semester • Students brainstorm on ideas for projects and form groups • Students produce an early problem formulation • The students will have to:

• Find a problem and case, identify methods on how to investigate the problem (purely theoretical, through interviews, video-observation and analysis, questionnaires, ethnographic observation etc.)

• Discuss their methods, and why they investigate their problem in a particular manner

• Identify theories or theoretical concepts that will help them understand their problem

• (Often) conduct empirical investigations, that are analysed

• All this is done in collaboration with the supervisor, who helps the students to identify relevant methods, theories etc.

• The project work is completed by an oral and joint examination which assesses students’ individual performances in the project work.

AAU is internationally recognised for our problem and project based learning and the documented results of this learning method.

All our students and staff act out our basic principles of Problem and Project Based Learning, which is a general feature in all programmes at the University.

We are better at explaining the progressive learning goals.

IT is an integral part of problem and project based learning.

This means that we must further develop our problem based learning model so as to ensure that the model will continue to accommodate the learning and competence-related needs of students and society.

OUR VISION FOR PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

A number of research and educational development projects has been launched.

The aim of these is to further explore and challenge our PBL practice and to create development of this practice. A set theme is the use of IT in PBL and the motivation and learning experience of students.

The departments develop their programmes on the basis of the AAU’s PBL principles.

The integration of PBL as an explicit learning objective in the curricula and regulations of all study programmes + explicit focus on progression in PBL learning.

Systematic introduction to PBL to students in all study programmes.

New staff will receive systematic introduction to PBL, and the heads of departments will prepare a plan for and ensure the on-going upgrading of the PBL and IT competences of teaching staff.

STRATEGIC PBL-ACTIONS

Stakeholder Politics and the Curriculum: The Learner Perspective

Bernadett Deák

14/03/2019

Profile

The beginning of my PBL journey

Orientation towards my personal field of interest

Acquiring knowledge & skills independently

Working analytically and according to interdisciplinary methods

Cooperating with the business community & external relations

Developing abilities within teamwork

Meeting the requirements of labour market

Propositions

Reflection & Final Thoughts

Agenda

Profile

26 years old Hungarian graduate from Aalborg University

2018 Strategic consultant at Nythia – Toronto ON Canada

2018 MSc in International Business Economics AAU DK

2017 Research Internship at Laval University QC Canada

2016 BSc in Economics and Business Administration AAU DK

2014 AP in Service, Hospitality and Tourism Management UCN DK

The beginning of my PBL journey

Transitioning from a traditional educationial environment towards PBL

Interactive classes

Flat hierarchy

Critical thinking

Orientation towards my personal field of interest

Technological innovations

BSc thesis - Case of Tesla Motors Inc.

MSc thesis - Diffusion of Fintech innovations and their impact on the modern financial ecosystem

Aalborg PBL Model

Nationally and internationally recognised as an advanced and efficient learning model.

Acquiring knowledge and skills independently

Working analytically and according to interdisciplinary methods

Cooperating with the business community

Developing abilities within teamwork

Becoming well-prepared for the labour market

Acquiring knowledge and skills independently

Increased level of freedom

+

Ability to invest time into personal field of interest

-

Struggles to manage freedom; lack of individual preparations can lead to lower engagement into course

participation

Working analytically and according to interdisciplinary methods

Increased level of business understanding

+

• Ability to spot, define & redefine problems

• Ability to have critical mindset

• Focus on details

• Coordination between different course materials

Cooperating with the business community & external relations

+

Experiencing firsthand the impact of our studies (case competitions,

company visits etc.)

-

Lack of coordination between partner institutions with same PBL

Model

Developing abilities within teamwork

+

• Coordination between group members

• Developed leadership skills

• Practice of task delegation

• Increased level of solution-oriented business mindset

• Enhanced vision on individual strengths and weaknesses

-

• Lack of experience in team work

• Overestimation of long time periods given for project work

• Unfair participation in projects; Appearance of ‚Freeriders’

• Hard to monitor for University

Requirements of the labour market

+

• Project management skills

• Time management skills

• Outstanding communication skills

• Ability to take initiatives

• Authentic knowledge of academic materials

• Ethical & socially responsible attitude towards work

• Ability to identify which tasks to prioritize

• Ability to work in team

-

• Advanced IT skills e.g. Excel, SPSS, SAP

Propositions

Based on my personal experience + Emergence of Millennials

Integration of technological tools e.g. writing blogs, online comments on a regular basis

Raised level of supervision

More dynamic and interactive classes

Reflection & Final thoughts

Need for critical mindset

Need for skilled labour force in DK, around the world

There is still room for improvements

„When educating the minds of our youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts.”

- Dalai Lama

Thank you for your attention!

Innovating AAU PBL Model

Workshop on Problem Based and Project Organized Learning

March 2017

Romeo V. Turcan AS S O C I AT E P R O F E S S O R

I N T E R N AT I O N AL E N T R E P R E N E U R S H I P & O R G AN I Z AT I O N S T U D I E S

Innovating AAU PBL Model

Romeo V. Turcan, Professor, Aalborg University

March 13, 2019

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This

communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be

held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

3

Semester project

25 ECTS

Identify and solve a business problem

Groups

Context

4

How usually this is done

Finding companies for BSc semester project

Traditional approach

5

Semester project

30 ECTS

Identify and solve a (business) problem

Groups

Partnership:

Supporting Entrepreneurship at Aalborg (SEA) –

companies

International Business Centre (IBC) - students

Innovating PBL process

6

Process: Identifying companies (SEA)

Forming the groups (IBC)

Conducting student-company fair (SEA+IBC)

Matching (SEA+IBC)

Supervision and first meeting (IBC)

Problem solving/project writing (students)

Project evaluation and examination

Semester project competition day

Innovating PBL process (cont’d)

7

Identifying companies (SEA) Sends us per company:

Short bio

Tentative problems, issues

Person attending the student-company fair

Contact person during the project

Sets expectations:

No non-disclosure agreements

Commitment

Access to company data depending on the problem

Learning vs. employing

Innovating PBL process (cont’d)

8

Forming the groups (IBC) Students form own groups based on the following criteria

5 in a group

Multi-nationality (all 5 shall be of different nationality)

Students post the groups via moodle

Training on pitching

Prepare their CVs

Innovating PBL process (cont’d)

9

Conducting student-company fair (SEA+IBC) Students and companies get together learn about each

other

Max 3 hours

Entrepreneurs present their companies and identify potential problems/issues (3-5 min/company)

Each team has 7 minutes to pitch their case to each

company

Teams and companies fill in scorecards

Matching (SEA+IBC) SEA and IBC independently match the scores

Innovating PBL process (cont’d)

10

Supervision and first meeting (IBC) Before meeting with the company:

Familiarize as much as possible about the company, its

products/services, its markets

Try to understand what the real issue is from the problem statement – through brain-storming and Q&A try to distil a number of specific, focused problems/issues

Meet with your supervisor and discuss your findings

Discuss with your supervisor how you would conduct the first meeting with the company (strategies and tactics)

Agree with supervisor on possible dates for a joint meeting (together with your supervisor) with the company

Contact the company and ask for a meeting

Innovating PBL process (cont’d)

11

Supervision and first meeting (IBC) At the meeting with the company:

Problem formulation:

At least 3 problems

Discuss and priorarize with the company the problems

Agree on one, clearly defined, narrow in scope

Access to company, data, decision-makers:

Problem-led access

Entrepreneur/CEO’s commitment

Students shall be mindful of entrepreneur/CEO’ time

Innovating PBL process (cont’d)

12

Problem solving/project writing (students) Project evaluation and examination

Business report

Students will submit business report to

entrepreneur/CEO for review and comments 2 weeks before semester project deadline

Entrepreneur/CEOs will receive evaluation form and

will submit their evaluations to the groups and supervisors

Examination report

Incorporate suggestions from entrepreneur/CEOs and

submit your examination report

Innovating PBL process (cont’d)

13

Semester project competition day (SEA + IBC + Study Board)

Held after students submit their semester projects

Students have the opportunity to Present their findings

Answer questions from the panel

Prepare for the exam

Interact with and learn from each other

Win a prize (SEA + Study Board+ Companies)

1st prize: paint ball 2nd prize: dinner in the city 3rd prize: cinema tickets

Innovating PBL process (cont’d)

14

Students speak:

Discussing with real world businessmen, and understanding actual real life problems companies have and we could solve

We had the chance to choose the most attractive company for our semester project

The fair made us more motivated to put more efforts into studying, as well as learn more about the entrepreneurs and companies can be creative

The thing that ‘we have to sell ourselves’ to the company was very attractive - it gave us experience which we will need when looking for a job in a future and going to work interviews

We should forget our personal fight during the meeting and talk as a group without problems; the company doesn’t have to feel that people in the group don’t like each other

Learning reflections

15

Students speak (cont’d):

I was surprised by willingness of the companies to collaborate with students and the fact that they value our opinions and ideas

Getting 10 interview experiences within less than two hours is a great opportunity

We’ve got an opportunity to try acting in a challenging and competitive working environment and realized that we have to stand out from the crowd

It is interesting to understand that every ‘field’ could become your business idea

Learning reflections

16

Companies speak:

What was most attractive at the fair was diverse nationalities within the groups, students were quite engaged, and well prepared; good group CVs

Very motivating students, with strong background in the field of business, and strong communications skills with clear focus on the semester project

We had a real good discussion with the groups about the project and our product, and during these discussions we have already learned something we can take from the fair, even without starting the project – this was great experience

Each team had a comprehensive introduction of the team, and each member individually; personally I found very hard to evaluate each team because I felt each team was able to provide, at least to our company, a lot of inputs

Learning reflections

17

Companies speak (cont’d):

It has been a pleasure. On the way to the fair I was thinking to have a nice, relaxing four hours before I go to work. But it did not happen. What happened? Well, I had to think a bit more than I expected. I actually had to come up with some fresh ideas

It is an experience we could get value from…new knowledge and exciting questions

Do it again next year, great event

The students were well prepared and knew a lot about our company… and had very creative introductions

In discussions, going through the history, idea and aspirations of our company generated new ideas, and new possibilities for development

Learning reflections

AAU Vice-Rector Inger Askehave (Feb 14, 2014).

“This event is truly breathing life into Aalborg problem based learning model… it is problem based learning in practice... It is one of the ways to innovate our problem based learning model”

18

Learning reflections

19

Effects from PBL innovation

Student level

Business environment level

University level

Department level

Staff level

20

Q&A

”…the life success of post-modern men and women depends on the speed with which they canmanage to get rid of old habits, rather than on the quick acquisition of new ones.”

(Bauman, 2001, p.125)

HOSTIS – HOSPIS ?

Dorina Gnaur, DK (born RO); journey.. (S) (DK) (I) (F) (Bt)

Professional experience, ass. prof. Aalborg University, DK Learning and change in organizations … with technology

University pedagogy: ‘Teaching smart people how to teach’

Aalborg University: Problem-Based Learning (PBL)

Student-centred approaches to learning

Research AAU ICT and Learning Design (ILD)

Processes and Learning in Organizations

Higher Education Research Center

Humanist and seeker Heart based meditation (Heartfulness)

Integral theory (Ken Wilber)

Re-[humanizing]-inventing organizations(Frederic Laloux)

.. A few minutes of meditation

Experience with PBL at AAU; especially ‘student development dialogues’ (recurring individual learning conversations with +50 students)

Problem Based Learning – Maggi Savin-Baden,

Transformative Learning theory (Mezirow, Illeris)

Mindful Learning – Ellen Langer

Contemplative mind… – Tobin Hart

Relational approach in teaching and learning – Carl Rogers

Spirituality and knowledge/ Love and knowledge/ Heart-based knowledge (Arthur Zajonc)

The Heart of Higher Education: A Call to Renewal - Palmer, Parker J.

… designing a building with more space on the inside than there was on the outside dimension

“… a key dimension of an education that is necessary for addressing the extraordinary peril and unprecedented possibilities of this age.”

“Interiority in education is about developing spaciousness within us in order that we may meet and take in the world that is before us. The greater the information, technology, and demands from the world around us, the more essential the interiority; that is, the inner capacities for discernment, imagination, virtue, reflection, balance, and presence.”

(Tobin Hart, Interiority and Education, 2008)

an epistemology of presence that moves past conditioned habits of mind to stay awake in the here and now.

a pedagogy of resonance that shapes our graciousness and spaciousness towardmeeting and receiving the world non-defensively.

a more intimate and integral empiricism that includes in the consideration of the question a reflection on ourselves and on the question itself.

(Tobin Hart, Interiority and Education, 2008)

“Spirituality is the eternal human yearning to be connected with something larger than one’s ego” (Palmer, P. J., The Heart of Higher Education: A Call to Renewal, p.48)

Rationality and empiricism, say the critics, should never cohabit with spirituality lest we lose the long-term historical gains of science over superstition, of objectivity over subjectivity. (p.39)

Socrates, famously… “The unexamined life is not worth living (..) Giving students knowledge as power over the world while failing to help them gain the kind of self-knowledge that gives them power over themselves is a recipe for danger (p. 49).

A diminished ontology is a powerful distorting lens that obscures the true multi-dimensional reality of our world, hiding the full scope of our humanity and the deeper complexity of our world. Genuine solutions, adequate to our problems—personal, societal, and environmental—will only arise from an expanded ontology that embraces the richness that is the universe. (A. Zajonc, Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education; see http://www.acmhe.org.

MINDLESS MINDFUL

“Mindfulness is a flexible state of mind in which we are actively engaged in the present, noticing new

things and sensitive to context.”

Need for personal meaning

- Usefullness of openmindedness and uncertainty in producing novel ideas

- Lateral learning as opposed to absolute learning

- Learners' ability to view information and experiences from multiple perspectives

(Langer, The power of mindful learning, 1997)

8

William James,1890: “The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will. “

E. Langer: the essence of Mindulfness is flexible thinking. ML has 3 characteristics:

the continuous creation of new categories,

openness to new information,

an implicit awareness of more than one perspective.

Dan Siegel, (The Mindful Brain 2007): the essential dimensions of ML is openness to novelty, alertness to distinction, context sensitivity, multiple perspectives, and present orientation.

Mary R. O’Reilly (Radical Presence: Teaching as a Contemplative Practice 1998), ML is characterized by: being awake, being there, being present, listening, creating a space for learning and for developing an inner life by your very attention to the moment.

Moniz, R., & Slutzky, H. (2016). The mindfulness movement in education.

10

7. Solve the problem,

situation under control

1. Disturbance, uncertainty. Usual ways

don’t seem to work

2. Thinkingprocesses and

problem identification

3. Explore the situation & formulate

hypothesis

4. Practicaconsideration

5. Hypothesisare tested in

action

6. New ideas, concepts and

solutions

Learning as inquiry‘Learning by doing’

‘disturbance’ / change = Opportunity for learning

John DEWEY, experientialpedagogic (1859-1952)

EngagementPedagogical support

Learning to Learn

Organizes one’s learning around: personal themes

relevant areas

specific issues

Feels meaningful to you as a learner ownership

keeps you engaged

We learn gradually, more and more towards the core of the matter

Liquid modernity (Bauman 2000) – great social and technological changes – ambivalence and uncertainty

PBL supports students manage liquid, contestable knowledge, i.e. as being changeable and uncertain, which makes them independent inquirers who can navigate in a shifting and uncertain world. (Savin-Baden, 2008)

What matters is shaping learning so that it enables students to engage in problem work along with a desire to mess around in order to understand and transform their learning lives in liquid ways, so that learning leaks across the various boundaries of their worlds. (Savin-Baden 2017)

The university is not just about passing on knowledge. It is about the exploration of wisdom and knowledge: SAPERE AUDE –‘dare to be wise’ or ‘dare to know’ (Horace/ Kant’s seminal essay, What is Enlightenment?)

How do you prepare a generation to dare to know, to think for themselves?

Disjunction: closely connected to learning, a threat to current systems of meaning (Jarvis 1987)

– ‘troublesome learning space’ when [PBL] makes students engage in procedural and conditional knowledge (Biggs 1997) or when encountering a threshold concept (Meyer and Land 2006)

Liminal spaces – when traversing from disjunction to integration identity transitions / transformation

a PBL concern: …offer students space for learning and for managing their grief in the transitional processes not without pain or loss, but .. Help[ing] students to legitimize their experiences (Savin-Baden 2000)

Savin-Baden, M. (2017) The fault in our stars: Constellations of Problem-based Learning: Living with the Liminal

Keynote presented at University of Aalborg, Denmark3-4thMay

The liminal tunnel (Land et al 2014) describes the process of moving into the tunnel via a ‘portal or gateway’ triggered by the threshold concept or disjunction, and moving through the tunnel -through the liminal- space and coming out of the tunnel with a shift in learner subjectivity, a discursive shift, or a shift of a conceptual, ontological or epistemological nature.

Disjunctions (Savin-Baden, 2008) are ‘spaces’or ‘positions’accomplished through the realization that knowledge is troublesome, for instance after encountering a threshold concept, moving the learner into a liminal space that can be transitional and transformational.

Learning in the liminal space often entails oscillation between different states and emotions. The liminal space is characterized by a stripping away of old identities, oscillation between states and personal transformation (Savin-Baden, 2008).

Savin-Baden, M. (2017) The fault in our stars: Constellations of Problem-based Learning: Living with the Liminal

Keynote presented at University of Aalborg, Denmark3-4thMay

Savin-Baden, 2017: movement into, through and out of the tunnel (adapted from Fredholm, 2017)

The intentional self-regulation of attention is mindfulness, which helps us to experience flow.

Mindfulness …“paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present and non-judgementally (Kabat-Zinn, 1994:4).

PBL problems provoke liminal spaces between 1) current levels of knowing and new levels of knowing, 2) habitual forms of professional action and forms of professional action new to the learner and 3) satisfaction with current identities and a desire to explore other possible identities (p.139)

Barrett, Terry (2017) A New Model of Problem-based learning: Inspiring Concepts, Practice Strategies and Case Studies from Higher Education,

§4. Strategies for encouraging flow, creativity and mindfulness.

1. Design problems with a high level of challenge

2. Design problems about flow and creativity

3. Turn the curriculum upside down and use the PBL process in tutorials rather than lectures as the centre of gravity for the module/unit

4. Work in different media to encourage creativity

5. Understand the edge of chaos as a site for flow and creativity

6. Be fully present and mindful and facilitate mindful learning

7. Encourage students to engage in divergent thinking first and then convergent thinking

8. Use ground rules and the PBL process guide as scaffolds not straightjackets

9. Embed creative thinking tools into the PBL process

10. Embed high-level information literacy development into the PBL process

11. Adapt the PBL process guide to the nature of the discipline or profession (p.168)

Barrett, Terry (2017) A New Model of Problem-based learning: Inspiring Concepts, Practice Strategies and Case Studies from Higher Education,

§4. Strategies for encouraging flow, creativity and mindfulness.

The Edge of Chaos as the Site of

Learning in the Problem-based

learning process (adapted from

O'Connor (1999: 201, 203)

18

SDD have a dual aim:

develop the reflexive capacity in relation to ‘Learning’, as a discipline

support the student develop a personal, academic and professional identity

PBL identity transformation process (disjunction and stuckness)

PBL a threshold philosophy: problems are connected with learning, life and the development of future (professional) identities

SDD a space to manage transitions and identify significant learning

The Dialogical Reflexive Model (DRM) = a tool prompt critical reflection and self-reflexivity

(Gnaur, D. 2018 The use of a dialogic reflexive model to foster transformative learning as identity construction)

1.st order reflection:

within the professional

domain (habitual)

Praxis 1:

practical knowledge,

experiential

Praxis 2:

theoretically informed

Praxis 3: ‘personal call’

ethical and personal values

Identity and identification

(self-coherence: who I am & what I do)

‘Reflection-in-action’

(‘Knowledge-in-action’)

‘Reflection-over-action’

Meta-reflection

2.nd order reflection:

external to the profession

(critical reflection)

3.rd order reflection

(self-/ critical-/ reflexivity)

‘Me-in-the-world’

D. Gnaur, Dialogic reflexive model (2018)

Transformative learning ~ personal transformation as ‘‘becoming’’, a deeply personal reinvention of self

Learning in a PBL environment intensifies transitional processes

Students need a space to manage their grief and identify significant learning need for a dialogic reflexive tool to promote self-reflexivity

Iterative reflexive processes support the subjectification function of education (beyond qualification and socialization)

personal coherence/ self-sameness through social change & changing roles

hedonic, immediate

pleasure. Perform

Passion, engagement, flow,

forget the time..

eudaimonic, altruistic pleasure

enth[e]ousiasm, being part of

smth. greater than yourself

“Even though you try to put people under control, it is impossible. You cannot do it.

The best way to control people is to encourage them to be mischievous. Then they will be

in control in a wider sense. To give your sheep or cow a large spacious meadow is the way

to control him. So it is with people: first let them do what they want, and watch them.

This is the best policy.

To ignore them is not good. That is the worst policy. The second worst is trying to control

them.

The best one is to watch them, just to watch them, without trying to control them.”

(Shunryu Suzuki)

PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING AND

SUSTAINABILITY

KENNETH MØLBJERG JØRGENSEN KMJ@BUSINESS.AAU.DK

Problem that I want to address

How can we integrate sustainability into the curriculum and develop a problem-based learning model for that. • Interdisciplinarity • Problem-orientation • Students should become

prepared to be ethical and political actors when they leave the university: “A citizen warrior”

Problem-based learning as methodology of education

Definition of problem-based learning

• Problem-based learning (PBL) denotes a range of different educational strategies characterized by more holistic, and more recently, also multimodal approaches to learning.

• Learning as identity transformation that encompasses knowing, being, doing, and relating.

• The focus is on practice understood as a social phenomenon that involves both individual and social dimensions that exist in mutual constitutive relationships

Some further characteristics

• Shared concern in what teaching should accomplish, namely transforming the whole person as well as transforming societal

and organizational situations. • They organize learning and education around practical matters in

order to change the world and the people within it. • PBL’s goal is not merely instrumental in producing more effective

learning. It is also focused on securing that learning produces desirable effects on organizational and social problems.

• In this way, micro-practices of teaching and learning are linked to broader societal issues of democracy and personal development as well as the specific needs of production and societies.

John Dewey Paolo Freire Karen Barad

Democracy and education Democracy is primarily ”a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. Widening the area of shared concerns. Breaking down barriers of class, race and national territory.

Problem-posing education Authentic liberation Praxis characterized as the action and reflection of men and women in order to transform the world. Apprehension of the problem as interrelated to other phenomena Results are less alienation, real challenges, involvement, critical inquiry and transformation

Problems are grounded in material-discursive practices Material-discursive practices have their own life rhythm Students have to be put in the midst of the world and their multiple intra-active forces that have their own dynamics Learning is a result of embodied engagement with the world, not just a process of the mind

Translation of theory to practice – theory application

Theoretical and conceptual development

Theoretical and conceptual development as well as action

Top-down approach Bottom-up anthropocentric approach

Bottom-up eco-centric approach

What makes us uniquely human?

Thinking (meditation) Action -

transformation

Judgement (moral

action)

Thinking - being a unique and free agent Thinking in solitude: Inner dialogue: a two-in-one conversation with oneself or a friend

Thinking is concerned with universals, while action and judgment are done in interaction with other people and circumstances

Appearance before others in particular circumstances Space of appearance:

the space where I appear to others appear to me with own intentions, interests and voices Uniqueness and creativity It takes courage.

The true arbiter between right and wrong, beautiful and ugly, true and untrue. Common sense: the sense that fits into a community with others. It emerges from engagement, interaction and dialogue Imagination: Common sense can have present in itself all those who actually are absent. Contain within the agent the voices of others in her judgment.

What is theoretical knowledge?

Knowledge is not superior to thinking, action and judgment. What makes people unique is their ability to think, act and judge. Universal rational models, theories and concepts are tools and methods — somethings that we need to have ready-at-hand when we need them. Theories and concepts are not something that should be exercised or applied blindly. They need to be translated and modified to the situation at hand. Very often we need to engage in theoretical and conceptual development in order to understand and work with problems.

First exercise:

First exercise (together with the person next to you)

• Make a prioritized list of 10 most serious problems concerning what will eventually destroy all life on earth (together with another person). Look at the 17 goals for sustainable development as a source of inspiration • Symptoms • Underlying causes

• What needs to be done in order to save the word. • Narrow it down to 4 or 5 proposals. Presentation

Second exercise

Second exercise in groups of four

What should the role of business and business managers be in saving

the world?

How do we create a master program in sustainable business • The content of the curriculum: what kind of subjects do we need to have in

the program • The pedagogical process • The collaboration with business and society • The assessment of knowledge, skills and competences

Presentation

Birth and death presuppose a world which is not in constant movement, but whose durability and relative permanence makes appearance and disappearance possible, which existed before any one individual appeared into it and will survive his eventual departure. Without a world into which men are born and from which they die, there would be nothing but changeless eternal recurrence, the deathless everlastingness of the human as of all other animal species. A philosophy of life that does not arrive, as did Nietzsche, at the affirmation of "eternal recurrence" (ewige Wiederkehr) as the highest principle of all being, simply does not know what it is talking about (Arendt, 1998, p. 97).

The new materialism

• Karen Barad: Nature kicks back. Intra-activity: nature has its own rhythm, its own processes. We are very much part of these processes.

• Bruno Latour: the “terrestrial” becomes the decisive political actor

Work

Action: immortality

Labor

Sustainable living

NATALITY

The principle New beginnings

PLURALITY the condition, we were born into in terms of plurality of people, species, eco- systems, plants, Animals.

The dimension of time: Earth needs time to re-generate the resources that we exploit

Circular economy

- Recycling and improving the possibilities for recycling products or elements from production. Focus on the whole value chain/business model

- Procurement - Production - Sales - Consumption - Waste management

- Circular economy risks becoming a treatment of symptoms rather than a solution to a problem

• Production and consumption culture

Resource economy focuses on the reduction of resources in relation to the productions of products and services. Two ways: 1) More effective and resource saving production. - Sustainable energy - More effective use of materials - Reduction of waste 2). Extension of products life cycles

- Products that last - Design, service, repair and

maintenance - Make products that can easily be

recycled

Revolutionary model

• Community-based perspective on economic relations.

• This post-growth or de-growth model is based on ideas, which currently does not have any standing in debates concerning economic models, because implies rejecting or at least limiting private property and the rights associated with private property in favor of a common or community-based view on property and a common worldly horizon.

• This models implies redistributing wealth, collective and shared arrangements and perhaps reduced work-loads.

Ressourceøkonomi ------------------------ Circular økonomi

Management models and philosophies Strategy models and philosophies Control models and philosophies Finance models and philosophies Business models and philosophies

Entrepreneurship models and philosophies Accounting models and philosophies

“I don’t know what the reader expects. I think that Barbara Cartland writes what the readers expect,” he said at a Guardian Live event in London, hosted by UCL head of English John Mullan.

“I think an author should write what the reader does not expect. The problem is not to ask what they need, but to change them … to produce the kind of reader you want for each story.”

Department ETI – Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

www.tvd-edu.com dreher.tvd@uni-siegen.de

Aalborg University (AAU)

AAU – PBL-Workshop Chi Aalborg, 15th March 2019

Ralph Dreher

PBL, the Digital World and AI

Department ETI – Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

www.tvd-edu.com dreher.tvd@uni-siegen.de

What means IoT ?

automatically recognizing of material

Machine- Learning-Interface

instead of User-

Interface

steering of bending beam by Expert - System

Net-connected Expert-System

Principle „Squeeze out like a lemon“:

Best-case work-process-knowledge becomes an algorithm

- workers with their work-process-knowledge will be

always less needed….

Department ETI – Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

www.tvd-edu.com dreher.tvd@uni-siegen.de

What means IoT ?

• IoT is a process based on digitalization.

• Digitalization means: Transforming (work-process-) knowledge in data-bases and algorithms.

• The main aim of this transforming process: Automatization of decision-making by disclosing and using „tacit-knowledge“ (Polanyi)

• Consequences for education: - The learning of rules and procedures are not any longer the main content - to develop the competence for optimization and algorithmization of these rules and procedures are the new content of labour-work.

Department ETI – Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

www.tvd-edu.com dreher.tvd@uni-siegen.de

Future aims of academic teaching • It is not the question about “What“ and rule-based „How“ that

determines the academic education („Declarative“ knowledge only on preliminary stage)

• Didactic for "Higher Education" initiates self steering learning-processes to the „Why (NOT) “ following by rule-finding „How better“.

• Consequently students have the permanent possibility to ask: • what is "why" standard/ why should "what" become standard, • how can it be optimized and • what kind of algorithm is necessary to realize the „better way“.

That means for academic teaching: students must get the chance,

to understand, to solve and

to reflect their solutions of realistic problems.

Department ETI – Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

www.tvd-edu.com dreher.tvd@uni-siegen.de

The new role of PBL

PBL

HE Digitalization

Reflexion to shape

future

Independently Acting

Responsibility citizen

Main impact Re-impact

Department ETI – Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

www.tvd-edu.com dreher.tvd@uni-siegen.de

Conclusion: BL is not „nice to make“ – it is necessary !

Holistic Action

That means for academic teaching: students must get the chance,

to understand, to solve and

to reflect their solutions of

realistic problems.

Department ETI – Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

www.tvd-edu.com dreher.tvd@uni-siegen.de

Thesis:

1. A lot of academic lecturers know this general aim (developing competence).

2. And they also know, that PBL is a very fruitful concept to promote.

BUT: If not standard knowledge (asking about „HOW?) is the topic of grading

Rather

an individual solution and their development

grading will become in meaning of lecturers more complicate and less reliable.

But: Grading as hurdle

Department ETI – Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

www.tvd-edu.com dreher.tvd@uni-siegen.de

But: How can lecturer realize a fair grading?

Following possibilities are used actually:

Concept „result-orientation“: • The functionality of the solution is the main criteria. • often with the criteria of sustainability (triangle of ecologically, social and

economic). Concept „step grading“: • Providing transparent (!) criteria to every step of the holistic action. • Example:

• Informing: Knowing the declarative knowledge, • Planning: Formulating real alternatives, • Deciding: Using the triangle of sustainability, • Doing: Able to realize the plan, • Controlling: Solution will work (see concept „result-orientation“), • Reflecting: Finding potentials in work-process for the next task.

Department ETI – Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

www.tvd-edu.com dreher.tvd@uni-siegen.de

But: How can lecturer realize a fair grading?

Following possibilities are used actually:

Concept „The journey is the reward“: • The result is subordinated. • Important is the style of working (cooperative), the efficiency of work

(example: good information, detailed alternative planning, self-steering changes between informing and planning, common decision, reflection) with high self-questioning and special agreements for the next task.

Concept „Combining concepts“: • Using a combination of above concepts: „result orientation“ AND „The

journey is the reward“ with fixed, but transparent weighting. • Working with a system where persons act as rater by using a combining

concept – COMET (Rauner since 2011).

Department ETI – Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

www.tvd-edu.com dreher.tvd@uni-siegen.de

The general idea of COMET (Rauner since 2011)

Task: Problem-oriented tasks derived from the practice of the discipline Criteria: „Multiple-Possible“-Solution (design-oriented) Result: Paper-Pencil-Solution as sketch Grading: By special educated rating-persons, correlation over .93

Source: Rauner 2011, p.221 Source: Rauner 2013, p.54

Department ETI – Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

www.tvd-edu.com dreher.tvd@uni-siegen.de

Conclusion

Digitalization will be able to replace all kinds of rule-based skills in every discipline.

„New“ education must encourage the „rule-finding“ as competence of developing and designing.

Looking to this, the learning of knowledge (WHAT? HOW?) is not longer the core of education, but the personal ability for reflexive problem-solving (WHY (NOT)? HOW BETTER?).

PBL as concept will fulfill this postulation – and must become a standard method of academic teaching.

“Grading“ as problem of PBL is absolutely understandable – but not purposeful.

Our task as academic teachers, lecturers and designers of the academic life must be: to understand this as our PBL-Case and to develop solutions near the known methods.

Study board perspective on PBL

Frederik Hertel Henrik Fladkjær

appropriation (learning)

collaborative process

sociality

Content

Progression in PBL should ensure a combination of learning focus, Which means the content (professional) with a focus on the social and personal competences, which are also developed through the PBL, but are difficult to support and thus evaluate.

Vehicle (Psychodynamic)

6 Dimensions in PBL progression Objective: To develop a business economic “bildung” ideal Average: 6 dimensions in PBL progression at BA and master level.

Dimensions: Professionalism Digitisation Sustainability Ethics ------------------- Meta cognition Social/Personal

Progression in PBL should be included from 1. to 10 semester, But variation in form and content

Taxonomier

Dreyfus

Blooms taxonomy

Progression – Bachelor

• Professional Progression – 1st semester: Basic functions and processes in companies

and organizations – including the teaching of PBL, scientific method, business economics, innovation, microeconomics, managerial economics and business project.

– 2nd semester: Social development - external environments of companies and organizations seen in business economics and international contexts.

– 3rd semester: Internal processes in companies and organizations – including management accounting and organization.

Progression – Bachelor

• Professional Progression continued

– 4th semester: The operations of companies and organizations in external environments – including marketing and strategy. 5th semester: The company and the organization seen as a whole – including project collaboration with companies. 6th semester: Business economics specialization – including philosophy of science, methodology, analysis and preparation of a bachelor thesis.

Programme objectives

”…The BSc in Economics and Business Administration, EBA, is a broad, interdisciplinary and problem-based program. It aims to qualify the student to identify and articulate complex issues within economics and business administration and to develop solutions to such issues which may support the development and management of activities in private and public organizations in relation to their external environments. ”.

Master structure – option #1

Bachelor

Master

3 year

2 year

The profiled structure

Master structure – option #2

Bachelor

Master

The Cross-disciplinary structure

Bachelor

Master

Bachelor

Master

Master structure – option #3

The optional structure

Bachelor

Master

3 year

2 year

Meta cognition

• Exemplary learning • Introduction: Describe learning aims for the

project. Arguments for the connection between the individual/group's Learning & goals

• Methodology: how you meet the learning aims • Discussion: Evaluate your ability meet learning

aims (or argue for new – and more interesting learning aims)

Social/Personal Competencies

• Connection to ”bildung” • Extra curriculum activities

– Support activities V/ESA & Djøf – Development Interviews (older students)

• Digital logbog/portfolio (Mahara etc.)

A professional ethical compass

• Dealing with ethical "competencies" • Empathy: In relation to "the other“ (M. Bubber: I-You) • Ability to understand difference and conflicts between

actors’ interests and needs • Share ethical/moral code of conduct (prof community) • Moral behavior: Ability to analyze ethical & moral

dilemmas • Ability to act on the basis of the Community's

ethical/moral code of Conduct

Sustainable progression

• Global Perspective • A driver for product development • A driver for marketing • A driver for cost awareness

Digital progression

• Digital progression may include: – Establishment of appropriate basic data

• Internal systems • External systems • Platforms

– Project management – Digital Management

Digital progression Bachelor and Master

• Bachelor/Master – General Digital Tools

• Programming, spreadsheets, statistics packages

– Business Economics Tools • External focus

– #SoMe – Marketing Tools

• Internal focus – ERP systems – Business Analytics

How do we develop our 6 dimensions further?