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Thriving in Academe
Best Practices
PBL at Maricopa College
 Maricopa
Community Colleges faculty members from a variety of disciplines have restructured
all or part of their courses into PBL with varying degrees of success. Implementing
PBL is not an easy task. But as Maricopa faculty member Dean Stover says,
"I'm convinced the future in education involves PBL. The real challenge
for educators is developing a PBL approach for all types of educational
degrees so that most students become self-directed learners who can solve
real-world problems." The possibilities are exciting, but can also be intimidating.
Regardless of discipline and background, there are some steps that must
be taken for successful implementation of PBL:
- Read existing literature. There
are print and Web resources that may help you to understand the advantages
and the challenges of implementing PBL in your specific learning discipline
and environment (see the References section of this article).
- Review PBL materials.
For example, the University of Delaware houses the PBL Electronic Clearinghouse,
a searchable database of problems, teaching material, and articles on
problem-based instruction: www.mis4.udel.edu/Pbl/.
- Talk to colleagues who are using or have used
PBL and, if possible, observe some classes. Join a discussion forum.
See a list of forums at http://cleo.eng.monash.edu.au/teaching/pbl-list.
- Seek faculty development opportunities. Faculty
members at Maricopa Community Colleges have participated in on-campus
workshops facilitated by nationally recognized PBL experts to great
advantage. There are a variety of PBL conferences and workshops as well.
Visit the Samford PBL Initiative website at www.Samford.edu/pbl/how6.html#Conferences/Workshops.
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