Individual activities as an integrated part of project work - an innovative approach to project oriented and problem-based learning POPBL

In this paper, the authors describe and, on the basis of a recently conducted survey, evaluate a way to increase student learning through the introduction of an individual project activity to the project oriented and problem-based and team-based project work - POPBL. This can be achieved not just by adding an individual activity outside or parallel to the project work, but by having the individual activity embedded as an integrated part of the overall team-based project work. In what the authors have deemed the extended project model, students work individually in the solution phase of the project in an individual activity to subsequently be separately assessed. The results of the individually oriented project work form the platform for final work with the project as a team. The students in each team are expected to evaluate the individual solutions and select the one solution to work on in the final phases of the team-based project work. The extended project model also helps train students’ abilities to make evaluations among various solutions of which one is their own, thereby learning how to evaluate their personal solutions against the solutions of their peers, and thus to use objective evaluations in order to identify the overall best solution, or else develop a completely new solution model based on their new experiences. Furthermore, by adding individual activities, the problem of free riders can be resolved, as each student must pass the individual part in order to qualify to participate in the examination of the complete project work.