Learning about Learning: A Focus on Problem-Based Learning in Distance Education - 2nd Cycle

This project will be an umbrella project representing the second cycle of the action research project 'Learning About Learning', the first cycle of which was funded by PACRD in 1998/99. Under the auspices of this project,  OUHK colleagues will conduct seven projects that will develop from research conducted in the first cycle. The two major aims of the project will be the same as for the first cycle., that is to contribute knowledge about problem-based learning (PBL) in distance education in Hong Kong and to create a forum in which academic staff members of the Open University conduct action research projects that are independent and related to their specific discipline areas but also connected to the general theme of PBL. However, the specific goal will now be to investigate the issues that have arisen from their own action research or that of their colleagues during the first cycle The project will be conducted at two levels.  At the first level, academic staff members will conduct their own action research projects.  At the second level, the Project Leader will monitor significant issues relating to the professional development of academic staff engaging in the project. These issues will include reflections on their feelings about PBL in general and in distance education in particular, critical incidents that influence their feelings, and pitfalls that are encountered and strategies used to overcome these. Because of the importance of collegial discussion during these projects, the monthly lunch-time meetings will continue, to enable colleagues to share their experiences and explore issues of common concern.

Project 1:  PBL by E-mail
Investigator:  Ms. Cecelia Tsui

One important area that needs to be investigated in distance education is how technology can best be utilised to create PBL environments for students working at a distance and not necessarily attending tutorials.  The management course CE160 is suitable for using e-mail for aspects of the delivery.  In this project, a series of four cases will be presented as a basis for TMAs.  Work on each of these cases will last for 2-3 weeks. Each of the four cases will be facilitated by a guest on-line facilitator who is acknowledged as an expert on that particular topic.  The course tutors' role will be to help the facilitators with the discussions.  An important variable to be considered in this will be the nature and role of  peer support and interaction (Visser, private correspondence, 1998).

Students will be divided into groups of 3-5 and they will decide how they will work together - whether in face-to-face meetings, electronically, or by telephone.  They will be given clear guidelines about the expectations and responsibilities of each group and the learning objectives that they will be addressing.  Each group will be responsible for posting progress reports on an electronic bulletin board at prescribed times, and it will be ensured that at least one member of each group has access to e-mail facilities so that this can be done.  The guest facilitator will respond to these progress reports and will also be available to respond to the students' questions or requests for assistance.  The way in which the facilitator will respond will depend on the nature of the students' postings and may include the delivery of an on-line lecture or advice about where the students can seek out further information for themselves. Students will submit their own individual TMAs, but a component of the assessment will be based on records of the group's contributions to the e-mail discussions.

The project will be evaluated from the points of view of the course-co-ordinator, the facilitators and the students.  Of particular concern will be the nature of the learning that occurs, the advantages and disadvantages of the on-line learning environment compared to more traditional tutorial environments, the quality and effectiveness of the peer support groups and the students' reflections on themselves as problem-solvers.

Project 2:  PBL On-line
Investigator:  Ms. Angela Leung

This project will focus on the course 53510 Gerontology and will follow a similar approach to that described above, with Ms. Leung taking the role of facilitator.
 

Project 3:  Restructuring the Tutorials to Create a PBL Environment
Investigator:  Ms. Mabel Lam

PBL is already used to a certain extent in the course B406 Auditing, in that the TMAs are already based on an audit case as well as featuring situation based questions. Currently, the role of the tutor in this process is to give assistance as and when the students require it.  In the first cycle, the students’ opinions about the use of case-based TMAs were sought and were mostly found to be favourable.

One of the questions that arose from the first cycle was whether tutorials can be used more effectively to enhance the quality of students' learning and particularly to help them to focus more effectively on identifying the knowledge they need to be able to address the issues brought up in the case.  For example, if the students are presented with the TMA question first, and have a purpose in mind as they work through the relevant course materials, will the learning be more effective, and how can the tutorials be capitalised on to help to enhance the effectiveness of learning?  These questions will be explored in the second cycle.  An extra tutorial will be included at the beginning of the presentation.  Rather than using the traditional 'question and answer' format, the tutors will set up the TMA case and have the students work in groups for an initial brainstorming about the information they will need to learn/find in order to be able to answer the question.  After the first TMA has been submitted, questionnaires and interviews will monitor the tutors' and students' perceptions of the effectiveness of learning that has occurred from this approach.  One question that will be of interest will be whether the students will use the groups established in the tutorials as a support structure as they continue to work on the problem, or whether they will prefer to work individually after the tutorial.  The outcomes of this initial monitoring will determine the nature of the subsequent tutorials.

In order to give tutors an appropriate foundation in the use of PBL, they were invited to participate in the tutor professional development session offered during March (see Project 4).

Project 4:  The Role of the Tutor in the PBL Environment
Investigators:  Ms. May Chan and Ms. Irene Siaw

In the first cycle of the project, the course-co-ordinators undertook the role of tutors themselves to enable them to control the PBL environment that they were creating.  However, this did not take into account the fact that in distance education it is the tutors who have the front-line contact with the students, and consequently their feelings and beliefs about PBL and their ability to implement in effectively are important considerations.  Having explored their initial concerns about the students' reactions to PBL, the investigators have identified the next important step as being the tutors and their roles.  The investigators, with the principal investigator, conducted a professional development workshop for the tutors of the course M246 - Elements of Statistics.  The tutors will then be asked to conduct 4 tutorials using PBL.  Throughout this process interview, observation and reflective journals will be used to monitor developments in the tutors' confidence and ability to use PBL, their feelings and beliefs about its effectiveness, and their perceptions of the students' learning that occurs.  Student questionnaires will also be used for triangulation of data.  It should be noted that the outcomes of this project will provide valuable data to inform future professional development programmes for OUHK tutors, in PBL but also in other areas of development.

Project 5: Students' Reflections About Themselves as Problem Solvers
Investigator:  Ms. Vanessa Mok

As the development of course materials for distance education is a long-term process involving several contributors, it was not possible during the first cycle of the project to explore embedding PBL into course materials.  Nevertheless, this is a critical component of distance education and an exploration of any teaching approach would be incomplete without considering it.  CE010 (English) and CE060C (Chinese) are the two Pre-foundation Study Skills courses offered at OUHK.  Although the course materials are not exactly the same, these two courses have the common aim of helping learners to acquire skills in problem solving that can be applied in their further studies.  In fact, some problem-based activities are already provided in the materials and some tutors use a PBL approach in their tutorials. The two courses can therefore be used as a basis for investigating ways in which students approach PBL activities embedded in course materials.  Of secondary interest, they can also be used to examine the effect of the language medium of instruction on the students' problem-solving processes.

As  part  of  the  course assessment, students will be asked to keep semi-structured journal reflections about their problem-solving experiences.  These journals will be submitted at regular intervals to ensure that entries are being made formatively.  In addition to the journals, a sample of 10 students (5 from each course) will be observed while they are working on at least two of the PBL activities and retrospective interviews will collect further data about their reflections on the process.
 

Project 6:  Analysis of Opportunities to use PBL in OUHK Course Materials
Investigator:  Ms. Annie Lee

Like Project 5, the focus of this project will also be the course materials.  The investigator will undertake an in-depth analysis of the materials of the courses for which the she is responsible.  The purpose of the analysis will be to identify the teaching approaches that are used and places where there are opportunities to introduce PBL approaches. 

Project 7:  Factors Affecting Distance Educators' Professional Growth
Investigators:  Dr. Margaret Taplin and Ms. Angela Leung

During the first cycle of the project, the investigators have conducted regular semi-structured interviews with project participants. They are asked to identify aspects of PBL that are unclear to them and to reflect on their feelings about PBL in general and its application to distance education in particular, any significant issues that had influenced their feelings, and the potential pitfalls that they anticipated in implementing PBL in their courses. One question that will be followed up is the belief that became evident in the first cycle that that problem-based learning can only be incorporated into the face-to-face environment of the tutorials. Another is concerned with what kind of professional development support is necessary to maintain participants' motivation to participate in a long-term project, and to overcome constraints and obstacles in order to implement changes in their practices.