Managing PBL difficulties in an industrial engineering and management program
Abstract: Project-Based
Learning (PBL) is considered to be an active learning methodology which can be
used to develop both technical and transversal competences in engineering
programs. This methodology demands a great deal of work effort from the
students and also from the teachers and it requires a meticulous plan and a
well-managed project as well. These activities go far beyond the normal
activities in traditional lectures, enabling to outpace the difficulties that
spur along the way that may be both complex and demotivating. This methodology
has been implemented in the Integrated Master Degree on Industrial Engineering
and Management (IEM), at one public university in Portugal, since the 2004/2005
academic year. The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss the main
difficulties of the implementation of PBL, mainly from the teachers’
perspectives. Additionally, some effective strategies will be recommended to
overcome such difficulties.
Design/methodology/approach: The perceptions of the teachers were
collected through a survey based on six main themes. The participants in the
study include eight teachers from the five courses of the first semester of the
first year of the IEM program involved in the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 editions.
Findings: Integration of courses in the project; student assessment;
growing number of students in each team and the need of physical spaces for
them; and compartmentalized knowledge has emerged as the main difficulties. To
overcome these difficulties some key strategies were recommended.
Originality/value: A new perspective based on course teachers' views and
experiences will deepen the understanding of the problems and provide inputs
for the development of strategies that may improve the effectiveness of PBL and
introduce changes for its successful implementation. These strategies are
intended to be transferable to other contexts, as most of the problems and
constraints are common to other active learning approaches.
Author: Anabela Alves, Rui
Sousa, Francisco Moreira, M. Alice Carvalho, Elisabete Cardoso, Pedro Pimenta,Teresa
Malheiro, Irene Brito, Sandra Fernandes, Diana Mesquita
Journal Code: jptindustrigg160029
