Kolmos, Anette

During the last ten years, Engineering Education has undergone tremendous changes. A lot of these changes were caused by external and internal factors. The external factors such as government policy concerning resources, and educational and quality assurance policies are rather simple to describe. However, the internal factors at the institutional level may be unknown. Institutions have developed many different pedagogical models, using very different strategies for development. Nearly all Danish engineering institutions have implemented elements of Problem Based and Project Based Learning (PBL). Particularly five Engineering University Colleges have undergone changes towards PBL. The Pedagogical Network for Danish Engineering Education (IPN) has been one of the central agents in the change processes for engineering education in Denmark. IPN has been responsible for staff and faculty development at the engineering university colleges and has been running the co-ordination of the exchange of experiences among all Danish engineering institutions.However, it is not the same PBL-model that has been developed at the five different institutions - in fact, very different PBL-models have been developed on the basis of very different development processes.In this article, I will shortly present the results from two case studies. The results underpin the hypothesis that only top-down decisions at institutional level together with a pool of motivated staff will cause changes at a system level. A bottom-up approach with decentralized development at departments leads to a variation within the institution, but it might be difficult to develop curriculum models at system level.</p

Transformation to problem and project based learning

    Aalborg UniversitetTransformation to problem and project based learningKolmos, AnettePublished in:Connecting learning to the real worldPublication date:2006Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recordLink to publication from Aalborg UniversityCitation for published version (APA):Kolmos, A. (2006). Transformation to problem and project based learning. In Connecting learning to the realworld: International Conference PBL 2006 ABP Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.            ? Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.            ? You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain            ? You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ?Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at vbn@aub.aau.dk providing details, and we will remove access tothe work immediately and investigate your claim.Downloaded from vbn.aau.dk on: April 29, 2017Transformation to Problem and Project Based Learning    Anette Kolmos, Aalborg University, Denmark Professor in Engineering Education and PBL Vice Director, UCPBL Fibigerstræde 13 DK-9220 Aalborg Ø Denmark   email: ak@plan.aau.dk UCPBL: http://www.ucpbl.org MPBL: http://www.mpbl.aau.dk SLP: http://slp.plan.aau.dk homepage: http://www.plan.aau.dk/~ak   During the last ten years, Engineering Education has undergone tremendous changes. A lot of these changes are caused by external and internal factors. The external factors as government policy concerning resources, educational and quality assurance policies are rather simple to describe. However, the internal factors at the institutional level may be unknown. Institutions have developed many different pedagogical models, using very different strategies for development.    Nearly all Danish Engineering institutions have implemented elements of Problem Based and Project Based Learning (PBL). Particularly 5 Engineering University Colleges have undergone changes towards PBL. The Pedagogical Network for Danish Engineering Education (IPN) has been one of the central agents in the change processes for engineering education in Denmark. IPN has been responsible for staff and faculty development at the engineering university colleges and has been running the co-ordination for exchange of experiences among all Danish engineering institutions.  However, it is not the same PBL-model which has been developed at the 5 different institutions – it is very different PBL-models, developed on the basis of very different development processes.  In this presentation, there will a focus on:  1. The work with development of a model for transformation at the institutional level combining organisational learning theories and educational management theories.    2. Results concerning the transformation processes at 2 different institutions. The empirical data are based on interviews with rectors, central change agents and staff developers at the institutions. Three very different models have been developed:  - A holistic model: System change for the whole institution with the formulation of a common pedagogical model. The system change concerns all elements in the curriculum from formulation of goals, choice of methods, selection of content, space, organisation and assessment.  - System change at department level with development of different pedagogical models at different departments. This change does not concern all elements in the curriculum, typical there is no change of assessment methods. - Sporadic changes in specific courses, but without influencing the system.   The result is clearly underpinning the hypotheses, that only top-down decisions at institutional level together with a pool of motivated staff will cause changes at a system level. A bottom-up approach with decentralised development at departments leads to a variation within the institution, but it might be difficult to develop curriculum models at system level.   

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Transformation to problem and project based learning

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