Challenges of changing a PBL-related curriculum for 1st year students

This paper discusses a transition related to a reformed study plan in the specific case of the Aalborg University education of Medialogy; a Bachelor and Master program with an average of 80 students starting 1st semester. Among other things, the change meant a new structure for preparation, teaching and evaluation for the course: Cooperation, Learning and Project
Management (CLP). This paper will discuss the implications, based on the students’understanding of the subject matter, the degree of practical use of the course curriculum in their project work, and compare it to the former study plan. The method used is based on an analysis of the students’ Process Analyses, a learning portfolio, where a project group of up to 7 students analyse and reflect on the CLP-related process of realizing their semester project. The theoretical background of the comparative analysis is based on the coherence on cooperative learning, reflection and action science, which leads to a suggestive understanding of the overall impact of the study plan reform. The conclusions show that the reform suggests several improvements, but also that these take time to fully practically implement. The introduction of clear learning goals has shown to be constructive, especially if included more clearly as an explicit part of the lectures than it has been the case. It suggests to use them as a pedagogical method, leading to both subject matter overview and guidance towards the expected level of understanding. It is also clear that it is crucial to provide students concrete and practical experiences with fundamental PBL concepts, before they are capable of grasping and absorbing its more abstract depth. The teacher should therefore keep a content-related foresight and teaching approach, that contains both very concrete information, but without
loosing the deeper, abstract perspectives that comes from semi-structured dialogue.