flex-e-bility

Foundations of problem-based learning (Savin-Baden and Howell Major (2004) provides a very useful overview of the principles and practices of problem-based learning.

In acknowledging the long use of problem solving as a learning strategy, they attribute the contemporary use of problem based learning in formalised education to use in a medical faculty in the 1980s.

Modes of problem-based learning are identified as lecture-based, case-based, case-methods, modified case-based, problem-based and closed –loop problem-based. They also compare problem-based learning with project-based, problem-solving and action learning.

Savin-Baden, M and Howell Major, C (2004). Foundations of problem-based learning. Maidenhead, Open University press

Athabasca University (Canada) has a long history in distance education. Their publication Theory and practice of online learning (2004) provides a comprehensive overview of Athabasca's experiences and links to contemporary literature.

This four part publication covers the following:

1. Role and function of theory in online education development and delivery
2. Infrastructure and support for content development
3. Design and development of online courses
4. Delivery, quality control, and student support of online courses.

Epistemological beliefs and their impact on work, subjectivity and learning (Harteis, Gruber and Lehner, 2007) argues that epistemological beliefs (read as fundamental assumptions, values and beliefs held by individuals) are significant in shaping how teacher's teach, how learners learn , and how work problems are conceptualised. They 'influence the process used during the generation of a solution ... [and] help-seeking during the process of identifying the solution to the problem' (p.126).

In noting that the importance of 'teachers' beliefs is perhaps most apparent when teachers are confronted by and engaged with changes to their practice' (p.127) authors report on a project that investigates the impact of university teacher's fundamental beliefs about teaching in an environment characterised by the introduction of e-learning. Using semi-structured telephone interviews with 'twenty participants from several German universities' (p.129). They asked:

1. How do the subjects (teachers) understand their role as teachers?
2. What beliefs about the nature of knowledge do the subjects report?
3. How do epistemological beliefs impact the perception and interpretation of constraints in working life regarding e-learning? (p.129)

The authors conclude that 'the participants reported differentiated beliefs and interpretations of the fields of knowledge, learning, and e-teaching, each of them in an individual way. However, even among twenty individual reports, much commonality could be observed between the participants' (pp.137-138).

They observe that 'a certain pattern of epistemological belief seems to impact the interpretation of the opportunities for e-teaching [but that] the differences in epistemological beliefs ... do not account for all of the differences in teaching behaviour' (p.138).

Harteis, C., Gruber, H., & Lehner, F. (2007). Epistemological beliefs and their impact on work, subjectivity and learning. In S. Billett, T. Fenwick & M. Somerville (Eds.), Work, subjectivity and learning. Understanding learning through working life (Vol. 6, pp. 123-140): Springer.