PBL Season One – What they said…..

This is a 3 to 4 minute read.

Our first Project Based Learning cycle is now complete, fourteen weeks of PBL integrated into our upper level syllabus (my last post here was when we had just begun). There’s obviously a lot to say about the project but for a starter here are some comments from those involved in the PBL experience – the learners, the PBL teachers and other teachers in the School of Languages (SL).

PBL Learners

So let’s start with the most important people, the learners who participated in the PBL project. Here are some of their comments:

“PBL is like a train because it is visiting everywhere its location. It is stopping every place and taking passenger to bring them right place. PBL were taken us where we were and it carried us somewhere that we can realise ourselves.”

“I think this project was a good practice for a lot of things we will face as a student and in the professional career: team work, responsibility, constructive ideas and opinions.”

“I read so much articles and we practice the presentation with my team mates so we speak English a lot so I think it’s improved.”

“It’s percentage should have been more because it includes every type of skill that we need.”

“I loved the presentation day! It was the best memory I got from PBL.”

“I feel good about the presentation because J (a teacher) asked deep questions and we can respond and this gives us confidence. I am proud in doing something practical”

“I wouldn’t change my teammates – because of them I learned so many things.”

“When I saw my poster on the wall [of the SL building] I was very happy”.

“Overall, PBL is a preparation for Proj 102 which is a lesson that we have to pass in next semester (hopefully). I find PBL is very useful. Of course we had face some problems as a group. For example we couldn’t communicate sometimes or we couldn’t reach one person and than we had to postpone our responsibilities. Because of that I felt nervous sometimes, I felt like our task wasn’t going to done until deadline. But we had to find ways to fix these problems and we did it actually. Overall we worked well as a group.I really enjoy the part that we create the poster, finding visuals and putting ideas together was a enjoyable task to do. Also this lesson teached us to how should we find sources or how should we put ideas together. To sum up PBL is a very useful lesson to prepare us to faculty, also now I can use computer more efficiency and I improved my social skills too.”

“Today, we did last lesson of PBL which during the about 10 week. I am happy as well as sad. Firstly, I am happy because PBL finished so, ı feel comfortable. Secondly, ı am sad because every thursday our group work together and we enjoyed it. Sometimes we discuss each other, sometimes we discuss with C*******. I am relaxed by PBL among a lot of stress, exams, PBL gained to me a lot of experiences. I think it is more important than most of lesson.”

SL Teachers

Some of the learners’ comments refer to the conference. This was the culmination and public presentation of the project. It took place in a public location next to the canteen, at lunchtime, so that all members of the university could visit. During the conference the teams presented their research in the form of poster presentations. Here are some comments from teachers (both PBL teachers and non-PBL teachers) on their experience of the conference:

“The PBL Conference was like a beehive, with student bees working and buzzing together. It was great to see students so happy and excited. It was also great to see how they ‘owned’ their work and felt a sense of collective pride.”

“The PBL presentations were like a miracle because students were motivated to talk in English and the affective filter was very low, which hardly happens in traditional language learning.

“The PBL presentations were like a dream come true: just yesterday someone complained to me about the speaking skills of our students and I was able to say please go and see what they can do at the PBL presentations. And the students lived up to my expectations: they were articulate and enthusiastic. Well done to both instructors and students.”

“The PBL conference was like a festival in the east; full of aromatic scents and interesting ambiance.” “The PBL presentations were very inspiring because it was quite surprising to see how controversial ideas could be convincing when successfully presented visually and explained in a logical way. Well done to all.”

“I had some good authentic discussions. With a bit of encouragement, students were able to evaluate their research results in order to draw conclusions applicable to their own lives.”

“It was refreshing to talk to students about their projects and see how they take pride in their work.”

“I was surprised that almost all groups were very keen to talk and seemed very motivated. Only one or two students seemed to have memorised a sales-patter and only one group did not give the impression that they had gelled as a team. Oh the whole they seemed very proud of their work and Most were able to talk about what they had done and answer questions. When asked they all claimed to have learned a lot from the experience and though it was positive (only in one case did I feel I was being told what he thought I wanted to hear!) Even students I remember from last semester who were never very participative or hardworking seemed very animated and to enjoying showing off their work. I even left feeling quite positively affected by their energy and enthusiasm.. it was a pleasant change to be accosted by students wanting them to look at their work. :)”

“I loved how genuinely the students owned the posters and were able to answer all my questions, and encouraged me to ask more 🙂 Good job guys”

PBL Teachers

Finally here are some comments from the teachers who delivered PBL. Interestingly, and pleasingly, there is some nice reflection on the Professional Teacher Development opportunities the course presented:

“PBL has been a wonderful strand to have in our curriculum, giving us and the students a highly useful and desirable process-based learning opportunity. It has promoted both learner and teacher autonomy and fostered creativity, critical thinking and reflection within a relatively flexible framework. It has contributed to personal development and team skills in addition to learners’ academic development and knowledge. I loved it! And I know my students did too. I very much hope it will continue to be a key strand in our curriculum.”

“I liked the energy within our PBL team – it was great to meet and share PBL thoughts and experiences in the break with colleagues in rooms close by”

‘’We really didn’t know how the course was going to unfold and exactly how we were going to present it to the students and manage them.  It necessitated a strong reliance on each other as a team and became a real source of motivation.’’

“As the PBL course progressed, the activities showed me just how much students did or didn’t know, and thus how much they needed the opportunity to gain & practice such knowledge. The poster design & presentations were really enjoyed by students, there was a great energy in these activities. This contrasted with the preparation & reflection activities, which often tested students’ organisation, motivation and teamwork to the max. The aim of the course was to promote soft skill development to support students in their lives beyond FDY, and student comments in their feedback reflected this aim. Personally I went on a massive learning curve, and am really happy I got an opportunity to experience this type of learning as it makes total sense to me”

“What was immediately obvious was the paradigm shift in the way we saw our role as teachers. After the first lesson teaching PBL, we met excitedly in the corridor, each discussing what had happened in our classes; this isn’t something that happens when you teach from a coursebook. Not only had it energized us, it had also had an immediate effect on our learners. Much of our talk about that first lesson focused on how the learners were reacting to this ‘new’ way of doing things, how motivated they were and how this would influence the way we would approach these classes.”

Related Posts

Season One – PBL in the School of Languages Context