Discussion on methodology to go up and down learning stepladder properly: from a comparative study of supervision in PBL and relationship building in service learning

This article is a comparative study between a Japanese and a Danish higher
educational institution with respect to designing an active learning environment. This study focuses on the pedagogy and supervisor that support students to embody citizenship and/or embodying an academic habitus, in combination with specific course related competencies and learning goals. We found a fruitful inspiration in a comparison of learning activities and shared challenges across the two institutions. In this article we wish to focus on: A) how this
way of organizing learning is helpful in supporting the students' embodiment of a professional and independent habitus (psychology) or the embodiment of citizenship (service learning) as well as the specific learning goals of the course (communicate, organize the project, apply relevant theory and methods etc.), B) the supervisors’ role with regard to supervising these product of Interventions Oriented Projects (‘IOP’) in Problem Based Learning and the possibilities and challenges this raises; here apply the Step-Ladder model.