1

Project Organized Learning - POL

What is a problem based project?

• Project Organization• Problem-oriented – what is that?• A four phase model of a Project• Analysing: why, what and how?• Exercise, start analysing your project• Learning theory• Espoused theory/theory in use – be aware of the

difference• Reflection for action

2

3

Project Organization

• You (the group) have to choose a task or problem and set up their own objectives for the project

• Every project is a unique and complex task• You have to be active in the seeking and learning

processes, which might lead to a deeper understanding

• Teamwork

4

Aalborg model

• A project each semester (1. year)• Each group has a group room• Group size of 6-8 students first year, 2-3 students the

last year• Each group has at least one supervisor• Self selected group and projects within themes and

disciplines• Group assessment

5

Problem-oriented – what is that?

• Wondering• Asking questions• Draw up contrasts

Learning is about posting questions

6

Problem-based awareness

Problem-based:

• Methodical objectives• Based on experience• The student is in control• Interdisciplinary

Discipline-based:

• Technical objectives• Based on subjects• Teacher is in control• One discipline at a time

7

A four phase model of a Project

Analyse

Design

Implementation

Test

Industriel Project

StudentProjecttoo broad

Student Projecttoo narrow

The idealStudent Project

P0

P1

8

Why is analysing important?

LP Wife

Water

What shall I do to get to my wife?

9

What is analyse?

• Asking Questions• Draw up contrasts• Estimate• Measure• Compare• Evaluate• See Perspectives

10

How to start analysing – presentation of two tools

• The six W- model

• Post It Brain storm1. Everybody write notes on post it laps for 5 min

2. All laps is placed on the blackboard

3. You read up all the laps

4. All go to the blackboard and together you structure the brain storm

ProblemWhom?

Why? What?

Where?

When?How?

11

Exercise:

• Use the 6 W- model to start analysing your project. This way you “walk” around the problem and can be fairly sure to discover most of the aspects of the project.

• Afterwards you can use the post it brain storm to find out both what it would be appropriate to analyse and to structure the analyse.

12

Problem-based learningand/or Project Work

Why use these new pedagogical ideas?

To emphasize learning instead of teaching:• Learning is not like pouring water into a glass• Learning is an active process of investigation

and creation based on the learners interest, curiosity and experience and should result in expanded insights, knowledge and skills

13

Reflection – a learning theory

Test

Generalise

Reflect

Experience

The Kolb cycle with words paraphrased by John Cowan (Cowan 1998).

14

Reflection in a learning process- a useful model

The Cowan diagram

15

Espoused theory/theory in use – be aware of the difference - 1

Chris Argyris (from ”On Organizational Learning”):

• Ask people in an interview or questionnaire to articulate the rules they use to govern their actions, and they will give you what I call their ”espoused” theory of their action. But observe the same people’s behaviour, and you will quickly see that this espoused theory has very little to do with how they actually behave.

• When you observe people’s behaviour and try to come up with rules that would make sense of it, you discover a very different theory of action – what I call the individual’s ”theory-in-use.” Put simply, people consistently act inconsistently, unaware of the contradiction between their espoused theory and their theory-in-use, between the way they think they are acting and the way they really act.

16

Espoused theory/theory in use – be aware of the difference - 2

What’s more, most theories-in-use rest on the same set of governing values. There seems to be a universal human tendency to redesign one’s actions consistently according to four basic values:

1. To remain in unilateral control2. To maximize ”winning” and minimize ”losing”3. To suppress negative feelings4. To be as ”rational” as possible – by which people mean

defining clear objectives and evaluating their behaviour in terms of whether or not they have achieved them

The purpose of all these values is to avoid embarrassment or threat, feeling vulnerable or incompetent. In this respect peoples actions is profoundly defensive.

17

Espoused theory/theory in use – how to change from defensive to

productive reasoning

Defensive:• Soft data

• Tacit, private inferences

• Conclusions not publicly testable

• Tacit theory of dealing with treat

• Set of tacitly interrelated concepts

• Set of tacit rules for using concepts to reach private conclusions, and private criteria to judge the validity of the test

Productive:• Hard data• Explicit inferences• Premises explicit, conclusion

publicly testable• Explicit theory of strategy

formulation• Set of directly interrelated

concepts• Set of rules for using

concepts to reach testable conclusions, and criteria to judge the validity of the test

18

Semester ThemeProblem-based project-organised learning in

Electrical Engineering and Information Technology.

Purpose:• To give the students a comprehension and

understanding of the problem-based learning method, which is being used at AAU.

• To give the students experience with project work in connection with problems within the areas: Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, together with the corresponding documentation (report writing).

• To give the students knowledge in specific areas related to their choice of specialisation.

19

Contents:

P0: (1 period, 5 weeks)

• Preparation of problem formulation, project delimitation and time schedule for the P1-work.

• The supervisor will give a short description of the initiating problem.

• The students will carry out analysis, identification of central knowledge areas, knowledge seeking, and planning of the P1-project period.

• P0 is ended with a common evaluation seminar, where the students present their work and receive criticism from supervisors and fellow students.

20

Reflection for action

• Based on the purpose of the semester and the specific content of the P0 period, discus your expectations to the P0 period and to this course.

• Write the expectations on a slide as key words and present it for the other groups.