Abstract:

PBL+ (Problem Based Learning +) is a teaching methodology designed for graduate and master degrees in Engineering, which was developed by the teaching innovation group INGENIAQ at the University of Leon (Teaching Innovation Group in Agro-Environmental and Chemical Engineering) (https://ingeniaq.unileon.es/). PBL+ consists of a combination of teaching-learning innovations developed to provide engineering students with the competencies related to the practical activities included in the teaching guide of the corresponding subjects. In PBL+, the students face a real problem that is experienced by a real engineering company and having a close relationship with the subject being coursed. The teaching-learning methodologies gathered by PBL+ are the following: Problem Based Learning as the basic methodology, with the particularity that students must get in direct contact with a representative from the company whenever possible. The rest of the methodologies include flipped classroom, rubrics-based evaluation of the activity, and in some cases, service-learning. This methodology has proved very adequate for master’s studies, in which the students’ background and their academic maturity are adequate for implementing a flipped classroom where the problem to be solved is the starting line of the teaching-learning process. However, PBL+ has also been successfully used at the graduate level. For evaluating the activity, an adequate rubric has proved to be essential for students' correct understanding of what is expected from them. Due to the pandemic suffered by humankind during 2020 and 2021 by COVID-19, the teaching-learning process has suffered an unprecedented transformation, forcing to replace face-to-face activities with online activities. Even after the sanitary emergency subsides, and face-to-face classes return, the University will inevitably attend to an increase of what is called b-learning (blended learning), which is a mix of face-to-face and online classes. The objective of the present work was to analyse the effect produced by strict lockdown measurements during the first semester of 2020 in the application of PBL+. For such purpose, we analysed the emergency solutions adopted by teachers during the academic course 2019-2020, and changes in the teaching guide initially planned for the unforeseeable scenario for the course 2020-2021. Three scenarios with an unknown probability were considered as possible: face-to-face, online classes, and b-learning. As a consequence of the analysis carried out, we have established recommendations to adapt the PBL+ to online and b-learning. The adaptation encompasses changes in the relationship model with the company, changes in the group tutorship and the interaction between students, and changes in the evaluation rubric. Even if the PBL+ methodology can be adapted to online teaching, it fails on one of its main added values: direct contact between the company and the future professional. For b-learning, the PBL+ activity should, at least partially, be implemented in face-to-face classes.

Keywords:

PBL+, problem based learning, blended learning, flipped classroom, online teaching.