The Practice of Problem-Based Learning
A Guide to Implementing PBL in the College Classroom
JB - Anker
This book is a guide for the development and implementation of
problem-based learning (PBL) in college-level courses. It provides
practical advice from real professors, includes examples of PBL in
action through every stage from problem development to
implementation, and integrates cross-disciplinary experiences into
the practice of PBL in the college classroom.
Its nuts-and-bolts approach makes it valuable to faculty,
graduate teaching assistants, and faculty development professionals
interested in learning how to do PBL, as well as to those already
using PBL who would like to learn more about what other
practitioners do in their classrooms.
Readers will learn what really is and isn't PBL and why
some choose to use it, what is its effect on the learning
landscape, and how to overcome tricky issues such as class size,
student resistance, controlling classroom chaos, conservative
colleagues, assessment, and student evaluations. Extensive examples
and resources for further study are included, making it a concise,
yet comprehensive guide to launching a successful problem-based
learning course on your own.
Foreword.
Preface.
1 Why (We) Use PBL.
Why We Switched.
What Is PBL?
Issues.
2 Changing the Landscape.
Changing Ourselves.
Changing Our Courses.
Changing Our Students.
3 No Problems? No Problem.
The Basics.
Sources for Problems.
Designing a Successful Problem.
4 Controlling Chaos in PBL: The Messy Middle.
Conducting Class.
Our Role.
Student Contribution.
5 What Now? Evaluation, Revision, and Reflection.
The Students.
What Worked--and What Didn't.
The Sustainability of PBL.
Epilogue.
Bibliography.
Index.
Libby Miles is associate professor in the College Writing Program at the University of Rhode Island. She received her B.A. degree in theatre from Williams College (1986), and M.A. (1995) and Ph.D. (1999) degrees in rhetoric and composition from Purdue University. Libby has been at the University of Rhode Island since 1998, where she has taught in the college writing program, the English department's graduate program, and the honors program. She also directed the university's writing center. She has used problem-based learning in several of her writing classes, from Honors Writing for First-Year Students, to Business Communications to a graduate seminar in Rhetoric and Institutional Critique. Her current research interests are the economic and institutional conditions of writing and writing instruction, rhetoric as an agent of social change, and interdisciplinary writing.
C.B. Peter is professor of sociology at the University of Rhode Island. He received his B.A. degree (1971) from Westmont College, and M.A. (1973) and Ph.D. (1977) degrees from the University of Kentucky. His scholarly expertise is in cultural sociology and the sociology of knowledge. In addition to his sociological books and articles, C.B. has published papers and presented workshops and seminars on teaching and instructional design. He has used problem-based learning units with first-year students in large enrollment sections of introductory sociology.
