Problem Based Learning

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Problem Based Learning
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Problem Based Learning

• PBL Problem Based Learning
• Problem based project work
• Managing your project
• Working in groups
• Agenda
• PBL (short)
• Structure of a problem based report
• Why do I (and others) think problem based work is
  a good idea?
• Problem based work/report vs. product based
  work/report

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Problem Based Learning

• Background

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PBL - background

• In a complex world,
• we need problem solvers

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(No Transcript)
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Why problem solvers?

• Problem solvers versus task solvers
• New knowledge required

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Structure of a problem based report
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Report structure

• (Tavle)
• What is an initiating problem?
• A short appetizer which sets the scene and
  provides a general focus
• Rather general
• Problem types
• A well-known problem in society
• Why? (I wonder why)
• How? (Improve something)
• Anomaly
• A contradiction between two facts
• A contradiction between the existing and want we
  want in the future
• Concrete init. problem
• Why so few females in technical educations and
• what can we do about it?

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Problem analysis

• Analysis means to take something apart
• Looking at the problem from different
• perspectives/angles
• Dividing into different aspects/elements
• Examining all the aspects/elements one by one
• The 6W model

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Problem analysis

• Why so few females in technical educations and
  what can we do about it?
• Context
• Is it really a problem? (stat. what say
  professionals)
• Education in general (history, now)
• Technical educations, Medialogy
• Society, traditions
• End users (how are they characterized)
• What is being done and how
• Different media (pros and cons in this context)

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Problem formulation

• Summary of analysis gt motivated problem
  formulation
• The actual problem should be
• Short and easy to find
• Formulated as a question
• Provide consensus for the direction of the
  project
• Correctly focused
• If too narrow gt trivial answer / obvious
  solution
• If too vague gt lack of focus
• You can never answer this question gt what will
  you test and conclude upon?
• 42!

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Problem formulation

• Why so few females in technical educations and
  what can we do about it?
• We have showed that this is a problem because xx.
  Furthermore current initiatives are not optimal
  due to xx. We therefore suggest to use xx
  technology due to xx which should work better for
  our end users due to xx. To focus our work we
  limit our self to only working with the technical
  education Medialogy since we have showed that
  due to xx this education is representative for
  other technical educations.
• The problem formulation of this project is
  therefore

How can a xx media be used to attract more
females to Medialogy?
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Delimitation

• All limitations should be gathered here as
  opposed to randomly throughout the report
• Focus the problem even more
• What will we do and what will we not do
• What are the success criteria of the project.
  Testable!!
• Females at MED
• Evaluation requires a large scale scenario. This
  is not realistically due to xx and instead we
  will evaluate our product on individuals from xx
• No financial aspects will be covered (due to
  study plan, limited time, choice of interest, )
• Success criteria end users like it better, we
  learn xx, ..

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Problem formulation / Delimitation

• Use the SMART rule
• Specific as concrete as possible
• Measurable find operational measure
  parameters
• Accepted consensus in the group
• Realistic doable within the given knowledge
  level of the semester
• Time doable within the given time frame

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Making the product

• In the end of the analysis chapter we present a
  readers guide
• Design
• Exactly the same as the previous chapter
  Analysis take it apart!
• Identify components
• Compare them in the current context
• Pros and cons
• MOTIVATED choice of solution
• Enough to implement. Send to India
• Implementation
• Details regarding implementation
• The same again!
• Possible solutions. Pros and cons. Motivated
  choice of method

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Females at MED

• Designing - How to design a poster
• Elements Text, images, font, color, style,
  pre-attention/attention, perception, cognition,
  etc.
• Different content ideas (output of brainstorm)
• Sometimes this is the first thing in a project
  work!
• Pros and cons. Motivated choice
• Implementation - How to make a poster
• Resolution (spatial, color), printers, paper, SW

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Evaluation / Discussion / Conclusion

• What to evaluate should be obvious from the
  problem formulation and delimitations!
• Discuss the results in the context of the problem
  formulation and delimitations
• Perspective what are the limitations and future
  perspectives of your solution (be frank)
• Generalize
• Open up and discuss the init. problem and
  limitations in the light of the solution
• Conclusion
• Summary of major findings
• No new results/discussions here!

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Evaluation / Discussion / Conclusion

• Females at MED
• How did the test group like the result
• Can we generalize based on this
• How about the financial aspect (talk to AAU)
• Combine with other medias
• Lessons learned

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Why do I (and others) think problem based work is
a good idea?
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Why problem based work?

• Pragmatic reasons
• It is the educational framework at AAU
• The same form all over AAU gt easier for others
  to read/comment/judge your work
• You will be judged based within this framework
• Learn to adopt to a certain structure
• ISO 9000, newspapers, web sites, etc.
• Q We want an out of the box presentation
• Do that within the structure. Youre doing
  scientific work gt requires structure
• A good scientific report is a matter of
  craftmanship within a given structure. Not about
  creativity!

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Why problem based work?

• Learning reasons
• A structure is necessary when attacking large
  projects AND when doing/planning your work
  (time,tasks)
• Facilitates asking questions. Questions and
  answers provide new insight
• You need to be problem solvers (not tasks
  solvers) gt
• Understand the customers requirements, the
  context and end users. Be able to talk with
  him/her. Formulate and challenge the
  problem/product!

End users
Purpose
Product
You
Output
Classical engineering
Product
Input
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Why problem based work?

• Formulating a concise problem can only be done if
  you have sufficient knowledge, focus, and
  consensus. And you need that!
• Facilitates learning
• PhD work
• 1) A topic/field is given gt define problem gt
  problem solver
• 2) A concrete problem is given gt task solver
• Harder!

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Why problem based work?

• Q But our project is based on an idea for a
  solution and not a problem
• Problem analysis
• What is the context of such a solution?
• For whom is the solution relevant?
• What is the gap (problem/need) the solution
  fills?
• Other types of solutions for this?
• Compare with original idea (gt new idea?)
• This should allow you to define a problem
  formulation
• Q Init. problem seems artificial
• Then call it initial idea/motivation! But keep
  the structure
• Same in engineering init. P. theme of semester
  or
• init. P. desired knowledge

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Why problem based work?

• Q how can we formulate a problem when we dont
  know the methods of the semester?
• You cant!
• Accept that init. problem and problem formulation
  might change due to new insight
• But you still need it for all of the above
  reasons!

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Problem based work/report vs. product based
work/report
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Problem vs Product

• You make a product but you do so in a problem
  based structure!
• Product based vs problem based
• No context/purpose lack of motivation of
  product
• Purpose implicit we have an idea for a new
  interface where xx will happen when you push a
  button
• Report will be like a user manual. What was done.
  Not why
• It is the results which are documented it
  should be the process
• A description of what is done to realize the idea
  - No analysis and no problems
• If you push the button XX will happen no
  motivation
• We did XX in order to make the button red no
  alternatives
• No end users and no context
• Bad evaluation no problem, context,
  limitations,end users to motivate tests
• Vague conclusions - --
• Boring to read - Post Mortem
• What did you actually learn?

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Project examples

• Problem based
• Why can a certain type of exercises be solved by
  this algorithm?
• What is desired by a toothpaste? How does it work
  and which composition yields the desired effect?
• Which possibilities and limitations are inherent
  in ecological buildings, e.g., recycled materials
  versus sustainability?

• NOT problem based
• Solving a math. exercise using a certain set of
  rules
• To make a new toothpaste by mixing known
  components in a new manner
• Build an ecological house using only recycled
  materials and focusing on energy consumption

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What to remember
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What to remember

• Problem solvers versus task solvers
• Report/work structure
• Init. problem Set the scene and general focus
• Problem analysis Analysis take something apart
  
• Problem formulation Concise, focus and consensus
• Delimitations Make the problem testable
• Design MOTIVATED choice of solution
• Implementation Details regarding implementation
• Evaluation Test against problem formulation
• Discussion Generalize (init. Prob. and
  limitations)
• Conclusion Lessons learned
• Use it! Makes life easier for everybody

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What to remember

• Why problem based work?
• It is the educational framework at AAU
• Structure for doing/planning your work
  (time,tasks)
• You need to be problem solvers (not tasks
  solvers)
• Facilitates learning
• Problem vs Product
• Report will be like a user manual
• Did you learn anything from product based work?

The end!