Scientists from UPWr, Aalborg, POWER on using PBL

• The University of Aalborg was supposed to help revitalize post-industrial areas – including educating staff that will solve local problems
• Today, the presence of AAU graduates on the Danish labor market is a measure of success of using the PBL method in education
• Scientists and educators from the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences can now use the database of problem tasks 

Prof. Szymon Szewrański, prof. Tomasz Malczyk, prof. Anna Żołnierczyk, Dr. Ewa Piotrowska and prof. Dorota Miśta participated in a course carried out as part of the POWER project at UPWr – a comprehensive university development program in Aalborg, at the AAU University, which was established in 1974 as the fifth university in Denmark. 

An answer to community problems 

– And at the same time in important circumstances, because in post-industrial, degraded areas, requiring revitalization. The university was to be a response to the needs of the inhabitants of Aalborg. One of these answers was the implementation of a method that was to educate the young generation on specific problems faced by the local community – says prof. Tomasz Malczyk, adding that the real problems of the city and its inhabitants were worked out at the newly established university, today one of the top European universities (in 1995 it merged with the Esbjerg University of Technology).

– And then specific solutions were implemented. And this is how it became permanent over the decades, it took root that today one of the criteria of the value of university education is the number of graduates that get a job in the profession – says prof. Malczyk, adding that this synergy has developed from a mentality and culture of a specific socio-economic environment, taking into account in particular the needs of this environment. – The trip to Aalborg not only gave us the opportunity to get to know the university, its structure and management system. First of all, it was important to talk to the academic staff and students, to see how they work using the PBL method. So now we can think about how we can use it – emphasizes the scientist and academic teacher from the Institute of Spatial Management, adding that it is not only about implementing the Danish method, but rather about using it to build our own model at the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences education system. 

How the Danes do it 

The Problem Based Learning method used at Aalborg University is made up of three layers. The first is the organization of the process, the second is related to the method itself and its implementation, and the third is related to the materials used. 

– The most powerful, at least from my point of view, is the organizational layer, because it is firmly rooted in system solutions based on the mentality of employees and students. What is also important here, is the great autonomy of individual university departments and units, regarding the interpenetration of research areas, teaching and academic staff in the entire process – says prof. Tomasz Malczyk, adding that we should not feel inferior compared to the Danes, because we are quite well prepared when it comes to the use of PBL. The method is successfully used in class, but knowledge should constantly be expanded and one should learn from the experience of others.

In the opinion of prof. Dorota Miśta from the Department of Biostructure and Animal Physiology the PBL method should be taught to not only academic teachers, but also students. At Aalborg University, the latter have special courses (from a few days to two weeks) where they learn about the practical aspects of PBL, as well as the benefits of teaching this method. At AAU, each compulsory course ends with a placement test, but the greatest emphasis is placed on the implementation of projects, each of which ends with an exam. 

This involves the presentation of the project by all team members who present subsequent issues related to it. In the committee, apart from the mentor, there is also an outside expert. This in turn shows that the implementation of PBL to the extent that the Danes use this method means, inter alia, a change in the grading system, but who knows if it is not more important to change the approach to didactics itself. 

There will be more courses

By the end of the 2021/2022 summer semester, a total of 86 teachers of the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences completed an intensive course on the Problem-Based Learning method. According to the project requirements, after completing this course, each participant is required to implement elements of the method in the course of their teaching. 26 people from the first edition of PBL training and several participants from the second edition carried out in the last semester made their post-training implementation – this means that each teacher prepares, among others, problem based tasks, which are available in the UPWr knowledge base.

– Currently, there is a really impressive library of problem based tasks/case studies that can inspire every UPWr teacher interested in implementing PBL into their teaching practice – emphasizes Urszula Siembieda from the Design Support Section of the Resource and Teaching Support Center.

During the 2022/2023 winter semester there will be another series of post-training implementations and a national study visit to deepen PBL competences – the plans include a visit to the Lodz University of Technology, which has experience and success in teaching with the problem-based method. The project is carried out as part of POWER at UPWr - a comprehensive university development program. Agreement no. POWR.03.05.00-00-Z082 / 17-00.