VARIATION in PROBLEMS AND PROJECTS

Anette Kolmos, ProfessorUNESCO PBL Centre Aalborg Univers i ty

New innovationsProgressing leadership, organisational and complex problem solvingcompetences – PBL competences

New types of projects – from discipline to interdisciplinarymega-projectsDigitalisation of lectures and more emphasize on facilitation and supervisiowith more emphasise on projectsSustainable Development Goals

Metacognitive competences, e.g.:• Personal competence profile

• Professional understanding• Collaboration• Project competences• Career and learning goals

• Individual and collective learning goal and strategies

• Use of digital learning- and collaboration in learning strategies

• Optimising individual learning• Motivation for learning• Strategies for change • Anticipation for the future

Problem oriented competences, e.g.:

• Problem identification• Problem types• Methods for problem

analysis• Social and technical

complexity• Creativity• User involvement• Actor analysis• Understanding

cultural contexts• Sustainability• UN global goals - SDG• Ethics• Problem formulation• Criteria for problem

solving

Interpersonal competences, e.g.:

• Teambuilding• Team culture• Team roles• Digital collaboration• Communication-

strategies• Managing diversity• Conflict prevention and

management• Creating a constructive

dialogue• Decision making

processes• Collaboration in and

between groups• Collaboration with

supervisors and external partners

Leadership and organisational competences, e.g.:

• Project management• Delegation of work and

team roles• Setting objectives• Defining and

structuring activities• Time- and activity

management• Agile management

systems• Digital project

management tools• Managing different

types of meetings• Scientific

communication• Management of

external collaborations

PBL competences at Aalborg University

Holgaard and Kolmos, 2019

4

Methods and Findings: Implementation of PBL in EE

Curriculum level (N=23)

Cross-course Level (N= 6)

Course Level (N=73)

Projectlevel (N=6)

Review on PBL – Keywords – Chen et al. 2020

Variation is a condition in evolution

Variation: Ladybugs

https://www.pinterest.dk/pin/134826582567083870/

Variation: wind turbines

Variation – or creativity?

Variation in learning – sameness and difference

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2013/rp/c2rp20145c#!divAbstract

Phenomenography, Marton, Booth, Swedish tradition

Variation in individuals’ perspectives collaboration

Variation in the progression of learning experiences the individual and collaborative learning

Sameness in order to transfer (Marton, 2006)Difference in order to learn

Variation in problem/projects

8

NarrowProblems

Or well structured

Teacher driven

Student driven

Open Problems

OrIll structured

Problem projectInnovation project

Unsolved situationsWishes

Discipline project

Course

Holgaard and Kolmos, 2019

The Cynefin framework

Snowden & Boone, 2007

Teams in network

Less More

Less

Mor

e Inte

rdis

cipl

inar

ityDiscipline

project

Interdisciplinary project

Multiproject

Narrow and broad

interdisciplinaryMega- project

Kolmos et al, 2020

Variation in projects

Discipline project – e.g Anti Sway System for a Ship to Shore Crane

Teams in network

Less More

Less

Mor

e

Inte

rdis

cipl

inar

ity

Discipline project

Interdisciplinary project

Multiproject

Narrow and broad

interdisciplinaryMega- project

Teams in network

Less More

Less

Mor

e

Inte

rdis

cipl

inar

ity

Discipline project

Interdisciplinary project

Multiproject

Narrow and broad

interdisciplinaryMega- project

Multi-project https://twitter.com/GirafAutismApp; https://giraf.cs.aau.dk/http://people.cs.aau.dk/~ulrik/Giraf/Projects2012/Oasis_sw604f12.pdf

Interdisciplinary project

Media Technology: A sustainable city game designed as a medium and catalyzer for learning activities

Teams in network

Less More

Less

Mor

e

Inte

rdis

cipl

inar

ity

Discipline project

Interdisciplinary project

Multiproject

Narrow and broad

interdisciplinaryMega- project

Teams in network

Less More

Less

Mor

e Inte

rdis

cipl

inar

ityDiscipline

project

Interdisciplinary project

Multiproject

Narrow and broad

interdisciplinaryMega- project

Kolmos et al, 2020

Megaprojects

Less

Mor

e

Inte

rdis

cipl

inar

yco

llabo

ratio

n Disciplinary and Multi

project

Variations in interdisplinary collaboration in mega-projects

Narrow interdisciplinary

project

Broad interdisciplinary

project

Involvement of many different disciplines and the presence of different paradigms, methods and knowledge cultures

Involvement of disciplines with more or less similar paradigms, methods and sharing knowledge cultures

Complex communication and collaboration

Complicated communication and collaboration

Involvement of one or parallel subgroups with collaboration among teams within disciplines

Simple communication and collaboration

Klein 2010

Hierarchical project management with stable teams and structures

Reflective network communication and managementWith both stable and ad hoc teams with flexible organisation

Narrow interdisciplinary megaprojecthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMnpVCDeQIEhttp://www.space.aau.dk/

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Teams in networkLess More

Less

Mor

e Inte

rdis

cipl

inar

ity

Discipline project

Interdisciplinary project

Multiproject

Narrow and broad

interdisciplinaryMega- project

Kolmos et al, 2020

Industry 4.0 smart lab – working

Management

Computer Science

RoboticsAutomation

Electronics

• Ambitious projects addressing significant societal challenges with sustainable relevance

• Addresses the UN SDGs

• Consists of semester projects that all contribute to the solution for the megaproject’s challenges

• Characterised by being interdisciplinary and extending over several years

• Involves student interaction and knowledge sharing among the participating groups

• Open for collaboration with external partners, including public and private organisations, and other universities

Broad interdiscipl inary Mega-projectsh t t p s : / / w w w . m e g a p r o j e c t s . a a u . d k /

MEGAPROJECTS OF SPRING 2020

The Circular RegionSimplifying Sustainable Living

SIMPLIFYING SUSTAINABLE LIVING

Simplifying Sustainable Living

Waste Green consumption

Transport & mobility

Waste handling at AAU

Waste handling in private

households

Eat sustainably

Charging stations for e-

buses

Sustainable urban mobility

planning

Focus

Clusterswith Groups fromdisciplines

Challenges

G1:Architecture & Design

6thsemes

ter

G3:Sustaina

ble Design

8thsemester

G4:Psychology

4thsemes

ter

G2:Biotechnology2ndsemester

G2:Medialogy4th

semester

G3:Mathem

atics6th

semester

G1:Public governance10thsemester

THE CIRCULAR REGION

The Circular Region

Systemic Change

Co-design and co-production of knowledge

Circular economy in practice

Circular public procurement

The governance of

circularity

Governance of the bio-

economy

Second-life batteries

Food-water-energy nexus

From demolition waste to circular

construction

Focus

Challenges

Clusterswith Groups fromdisciplines G3:

Physics4th

semester

G1:Robotics6thsemester

G2:Sociolog

y4th

semesterCluster 1

G4:Geography

4th semester

WORKING ON A MEGAPROJECTFocus 1

Challenge

G1:Architecture

& Design6th semester

G3:Sustainable

Design8th semester

G4:Psychology4th semester

G2:Biotechnology2nd semester

G2:Medialogy

4th semester

G3:Mathematics6th semester

G1:Public governance10th semester

G3:Physics

4th semester

G1:Robotics6th semester

G2:Sociology

4th semester

Cluster 1

Cluster 2Cluster 3

Disciplinary approach Narrow interdisciplinarity Broad interdisciplinarity

Project types Discipline and multi-projects Interdisciplinary projectsNarrow mega-projects

Broad interdisciplinary mega-projects

Problem analysisUnderstanding the problems in the discipline domain and how the discipline relates to

other disciplines

Understanding problems related to parts of a system or parts of a process by combining a few core

disciplines

Understanding problems in a comprehensive system perspective by making a synthesis of different

discipline approaches

Project management

From stable teams and structures agile systems/flexible structure with ad hoc groups

Collaboration From simple within same knowledge paradigm difficult with different knowledge

Kolmos et al, 2020

Prog

ram

Prog

ram

Prog

ram

Prog

ram

Prog

ram

Prog

ram

Humanities Social Science Health Engineering Science

12

34

5Ye

ar

x = x discipline and multi project

= interdisci-plinary project

= broad interdisci-plinary mega-projekt

xxxx xx

= narrow interdisci-plinary mega-project

• Aalborg University. (2020). Megaprojects. Retrieved from https://www.megaprojects.aau.dk/

• AAU Racing. (2020). AAU Racing. Retrieved from https://aauracing.dk/

• Chen, J., A. Kolmos and X. Du (2020). "Forms of implementation and challenges of PBL in engineering education: a review of literature." European Journal of Engineering

• Holgaard, J. E., A. Guerra, A. Kolmos and L. S. Petersen (2017). "Getting a hold on the problem in a problem-based learning environment." International Journal of Engineering Education 33(3): 1070-1085.

• Holgaard, J. E. and A. Kolmos (2019). Progression in PBL competences. SEFI annual conference 2019, SEFI: European Association for Engineering Education.

• Klein, J. T. (2010). "A taxonomy of interdisciplinarity." The Oxford handbook of interdisciplinarity 15: 15-30.

• Kolmos, A., Bertel, L. B., Holgaard, J. E. and Routhe, H. W. (2020). “Project Types and Complex Problem-Solving Competencies: Towards a Conceptual Framework, International Research Symposium on PBL, Aalborg Universitetsforlag. In press.

• Marton, F. (2006). "Sameness and difference in transfer." The journal of the learning sciences 15(4): 499-535.

• Snowden, D. J. and M. E. Boone (2007). "A leader's framework for decision making." Harvard business review85(11): 68.

References