Regular Lectures
Although the Faculty of Business Administration adopts the active
learning philosophy that placed the student at the heart of the educational
process, regular mini-lectures are usually used to support the active
learning system such as Problem-based Learning, Team-based Learning,
and Case-based Learning etc.
The reasons for giving such lectures are to
clarify the unclear concepts and theories that might be discussed in the
PBL scenarios or in other modules. Generally, the material are accessible
in a Pdf, PPt, Word Document format and can be downloaded from the
Moodle.
Problem-Based Learning (PBL):
Problem Based Learning is a teaching and learning strategy which puts a problem first, and in which further learning is conducted in the context of the problem. This strategy is seen to be very useful for gaining the required knowledge and skills.
Problem Based Learning has many advantages for those who use this learning and teaching strategy. The key benefits can be summarized as follows:
- Promoting deeper rather than superficial learning.
- Improving retention and recall of information learned.
- Increasing motivation and enjoyment of learning by providing an active, stimulating and sociable learning environment.
- Fostering self-directed learning skills which are likely to lead to graduates becoming life-long learners.
- Helping students to develop interpersonal and team-work skills essential for work after graduation.
Problem-Based Learning Strategy consists of three key learning steps as explained below:
- Brainstorming Session:
During this session, the students will be distributed into a group of (12) students maximum in small rooms. They meet each other for the first time, and sit down in a rounded position under the supervision of their tutors to do the following tasks:
- Choose the leader and the scribe for this session.
- Meet the problem for the first time with no prior knowledge about it.
- Read silently the problem and then loudly.
- Clarify terms and concepts not readily comprehensible.
- Summarize and define the problem.
- Analyze the problem and identify the point of focus (main idea).
- Draw a systematic inventory of explanations inferred from the previous step.
- Formulate learning objectives.
- Evaluate the session, your performance in the session, your partners and the tutor as well using designated evaluation forms.
- All these tasks will be done parallel at the same time in all rooms.
- Seminar Session:
Ideally, this session should be conducted after one or two days of exposing the problem. Students need to conduct some research about the problem and gain some knowledge about it before attending the Seminar Session.
During this session, students will have the chance to meet their instructors as one large group collects all students who studied the day before in the small rooms. Tutors will not be attending this event as instructors and students only will be meeting each other to discuss the scenario further. The main purpose of this meeting is to ensure that students are on the right track and can successfully diagnose the problem and extract its objectives. The role of the instructor is just to guide the students and not to give a lecture. In some cases, he might give some questions to explain the scenario in an indirect way.
- Debriefing:
At Debriefing Session, students will work individually and collectively on their scenarios’ objectives. Students will be ready to present their research results about the intended learning objectives drawn from the scenario at this stage. They need to explain their objectives and contents in a well-organized presentation using PPT format.
The role of the tutor at this session is just to sit down and evaluate the extent to which the students managed to draw the right objectives as previously stated in the tutor guide. Immediate feedback should be given to each presenter in terms of the content and the quality of the presentation. Assessment forms should be used in the evaluation process as all attendees should assess each other according to the designed assessment forms adopted.
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