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Copyright © 2011 H. Willis Means, Ed.D. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, without the prior written permission of the author. This handbook is prepared for the exclusive use of students matriculating during the 2011 fall term in EESE 1010: Overview of Education I sections 001, 002, 003, 004, and 005. Any other use in another class or for another purpose without the prior written permission of the author is prohibited

CoLT Student Handbook page 1 of 44

Introduction to Problem-Based Learning (PBL)

“I dreamt of one day of founding a school in which young people

could learn without boredom, and would be stimulated to pose

problems and discuss them; a school in which no unwanted answers

to unasked questions would have to be listened to; and in which one

did not study for the sake of passing examinations”

Karl Popper, (1982, p. 40)

The purpose of this handbook is to acquaint you with the teaching method you will be using

in this class: Problem-Based Learning (PBL). PBL is based on the concept best expressed by

the Oscar Hammerstein, II, in the 1951 musical The King and I:

It's a very ancient saying,

But a true and honest thought,

That if you become a teacher,

By your pupils you'll be taught.

The instructional approach on which this course is based, collaborative learning, is one with

which you are very familiar. In fact, if you think about it, it is how you have learned everything.

When you were very young, let’s say six months old, sitting in your high chair you saw a

shiny object on the table, a spoon, you reached for it but it was just beyond your reach. You

try several times and each time you just can’t reach it. You make grabbing motions with your

hand but the spoon is just too far. According to the Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky

(1978), what you were trying to do is establish a relationship with the spoon. You want the

spoon to respond to your actions by moving closer, but it doesn’t—spoons never do. You

look around, the spoon doesn’t cooperate with you—it just lies there, but your mother

responds. She moves the spoon closer so you can reach it, touch it, and even put it in your

mouth (Bruffee, 1999). You just have learned the first lesson in collaborative learning: to

learn requires help from others.

Collaborative learning will be important to you as a pre-service teacher, and if you want

collaborative learning to be a successful learning tool three things are needed:

1. Intentional Design: I assume you have, at some time in your academic career, been told

to organize yourself into a group and work and you know what happens—not much.

Successful collaborative learning requires structure and for this class the structure

will be the problem-based learning cases that directly relate to the course’s learning

outcomes.

2. Co-Laboring: The members of your Collaborative Learning Team (CoLT) must work

together. The CoLT will not succeed if one member completes the PBL case while

the other members sit and watch. There will be times when all CoLT members work


together as a unit and then others when “members complete different tasks that

[when combined] compromise a single large project, all [CoLT members] must

contribute more or less equally” (Barkley, Cross, & Major, 2005, p. 4).

3. Meaningful Learning: When you collaboratively work on a PBL case you will “increase

[your] knowledge or deepen [your] understanding…” (Barkley, et al., 2005, p.4) of

the case’s learning objectives.

So what is PBL? Simply, it is groups of students working together in small groups (CoLTs)

on a problem directly related to the course’s learning outcomes. Tan (2003) put problem-

based learning within a larger context:

In PBL, learners are given the opportunity to find knowledge for

themselves and to deliberate with others. They then refine and

restructure their own knowledge in the light of prior and new

knowledge and experiences. Through self-directed learning, peer

learning, team-teaching, and presentation activities [their] cognitive

processes are thus enriched (p. 22).


Problem-Based Learning: A Different Way of Learning

The purpose of this section is to minimize “one [of the] major pedagogical problems

[arising] in classrooms where a professor’s teaching strategies conflict with the professorial

model (emphasis added)” (Cox, 2009, p. 90). Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a different way

of delivering instruction and it causes problems for all concerned—student and instructor.

Ramsden (1992) identified three instructional delivery approaches common in college and

universities:

Teaching as Telling or Transmission: In this approach the instructor professes or transmits

information to the student. The course content “must be instilled” (p. 111) into the

student usually in the form of a lecture.

Teaching as Organizing Student Activity: In this approach the instructor “may rely on

transmitting information, but ‘telling’ plays a subordinate role to supplying hands-on

activities in which the students participate”

Teaching as Making Learning Possible: In this approach the student is actively involved

with the subject matter, that is, the student constructs an understanding of the

problems as presented by the course’s learning outcomes by enabling the student to

apply and modify her/his ideas (pp. 113-115).

The instructional delivery approach most students associate with college and university

instruction is the first: Teaching as Telling, but the one to be used in this class is the last:

Teaching as Making Learning Possible.

When Expectations Don’t Correspond To Reality

Rebecca Cox (2009) in her book, The College Fear Factor: How Students and Professors

Misunderstand One Another, describes what most students expect from a college class:

“On arriving [college students] expect the traditional model of college instruction,

envisioned classrooms in which the professors dispensed their knowledge to students, largely

through lectures. Significantly, students' expectations were largely confirmed by the

organizational policies and structures of the college; and once inside particular classrooms,

students understood teachers' spoken explanations as the crucial component of instruction”

(p.96).

Traditional Model of College/University Instruction


She goes on to explain what happens when students’ expectations of how a college class

should be conducted do not match the instructional delivery approach used by a professor:

[S]tudents' narrowly defined conceptions of "college" instruction and

"useful" knowledge led them to understand the course content,

assessment objectives, and classroom environment in ways that

conflicted with instructors' goals. Many students, for instance, defined

instruction that was not delivered in the form of a lecture as no instruction

whatsoever (italics added). Students appreciated the professors' expert

knowledge and thought of the instructors' primary task as one of

explaining the information clearly. This meant that alternatives to the

lecture format tended to be viewed as diversions or a waste of class time.

(p. 160).

The instructor’s role in PBL changes from being central to the dispenser of knowledge with

the course to one of being one who guides learning or as someone has said the instructor

goes from being the sage on the stage to being the guide on the side. This change does cause problems

for some faculty (the sage on the stage), but a more problematic change may be the one

experienced by the student (see above). MacGregor (1990, p. 25) identifies seven major

changes a student has to make when transitioning from a traditional classroom to a

collaborative:

Comparing Student Roles in the Traditional Versus Collaborative Classroom

Traditional Classroom Students shift from…

Collaborative Classroom to…

Listener, observer, and note taker Active problem solver, contributor, and discussant

Low or moderate expectations of preparation High expectations of preparation for class

Private presence in the classroom Public presence with many risks

Attendance dictated by personal choice Attendance dictated by community expectations

Competition with peers Collaborative work with peers

Responsibilities and self-definition associated with learning independently

Responsibilities and self-definition associated with learning interdependently

Seeing teachers and texts as the sole sources of authority and knowledge

Seeing peers, self, and the community as additional and important sources of authority and knowledge

Source: MacGregor (1990, p. 25)

What I hope you noticed in the above chart is the presence of active words in the PBL

classroom like: contributor, discussant, public presence, collaborative, and learning

interdependently. The PBL classroom1 is a dynamic place and one that on the surface would

appear to be disorganized, but where, in reality one, “…where students and faculty work

1 From now on the terms “collaborative classroom,” “problem-based learning classroom,” and “PBL classroom” will be used interchangeably.


together to create knowledge…It is a pedagogy that has at its center the assumption that

people make meaning together and that the process enriches and enlarges them” (Matthews,

1996, p. 101).

The PBL classroom is one in which you will have multiple occasions to contribute to

creating meaning, enabling you to explore issues, and facilitating your participation in a series

of activities in “…which all individuals have an opportunity to contribute and to which all

feel a responsibility” (Dewey cited in Bruffee, 1993, p. 71).

PBL is a collaborative learning experience. It will actively involve you and it will prepare you

for a career by providing you opportunity “…to learn teamwork skills valued by employers.

It [will help you] appreciate multiple perspectives and develop skills to collaboratively

address the common problems facing a diverse society. And it engages all students by

valuing the perspective each student can contribute from his or her personal academic

experience” (Barkley, et al., 1999, p. 10).

PBL and collaborative learning may not be the way you expected instruction to be delivered

when you enrolled in this course. However, PBL and collaborative learning as an

instructional delivery system affords you the prospect of learning in a different way,

developing skills you will use even if you change majors, and a realization that “learning is

not an accumulation of information, but a transformation of the individual who is moving

toward full membership in the professional learning community” (Evensen & Hmelo, 2008,

p. 4).

Bruce Joyce, Marsha Weil, and Beverly Showers (1992) also identify seven other benefits of

participation in PBL learning experiences:

1. The synergy generated in cooperative settings generates more motivation

than do individualistic, competitive environments. Integrative social groups


are, in effect, more than the sum of their parts. The feelings of

connectedness produce positive energy.

2. The members of cooperative groups learn from one another. Each learner

has more helping hands than in a structure that generates isolation.

3. Interacting with one another produces cognitive as well as social complexity,

creating more intellectual activity that increases learning when contrasted

with solitary study.

4. Cooperation increases positive feelings toward one another, reducing

alienation and loneliness, building relationships, and providing affirmative

views of other people.

5. Cooperation increases self-esteem not only through increased learning but

through the feeling of being respected and cared for by the others in the

environment.

6. Students can respond to experience in tasks requiring cooperation by

increasing their capacity to work productively together. In other words, the

more children are given the opportunity to work together, the better they

get at it with benefit to their general social skills.

7. Students, including primary-school children, can learn from training to

increase their ability to work together (p. 31).


What Happens in a CoLT Meeting?

“There is no job in the world where your boss will lecture to you for

50 minutes as you frantically take notes to later give you a test in

which you regurgitate the information. Working in problem-based

teams is something you will have to do in the real world and you may

as well learn to do it now.”

Savin-Baden & Howell, 2004, p.76

Introduction

The purpose of your Collaborative Learning Team (CoLT) is to “address problems that

form the core of the PBL curriculum” (Kelson & Distlehorst, 2008, p. 168). However, to

assist you in addressing the issues contained in the problem it will be necessary for you and

the members of your CoLT to assume roles, agree to certain ground rules, and be aware of

the processes a group goes to reach a consensus solution.

CoLT Group Assignments2

When you receive a new problem it will be necessary to select three members of your CoLT

to serve3as the:

1. Facilitator, the team member who reads the problem at the first CoLT meeting,

ensures all members understand the content of the problem, moderates the

discussions, keeps the CoLT on track, makes sure each member contributes and has

the opportunity to participate and learn.

2. Scribe, the team member who takes notes of the team’s discussion, prepares a précis

(a short report on what happened during the meeting, provides a copy to each

member, and places one copy in the CoLT’s record box.

3. Cadger, the team member who picks up the CoLT record box, places the artifacts

from each meeting in the record box, makes sure materials needed for the meeting

are available, informs the instructor when certain supplies are in need of being

replaced, and returns the CoLT’s record box to the instructor at the end of the CoLT

meeting.

There are roles that all members of the team have to assume for the CoLT meeting to be

successful. They are the:

2 Adapted from Savin-Baden & Howell, 2004. 3 NOTE: A member may not serve twice in any team role until all members of the team have served in one of the three roles. However, for example, if a team member has served as scribe in the first problem they cannot serve as scribe a second time during the same term without permission from the instructor.


1. Encourager, one who reinforces the members’ contributions to the team’s discussion

either verbally or nonverbally, and moves the team along in a positive way so the task

is accomplished in the time available.

2. Checker, one who makes sure the members of the team understand the concepts of

the discussion and everyone concurs with the teams’ consensus conclusions.

How Learning Occurs in a CoLT Meeting

You probably have been a member of at least one team sometime in your academic career,

probably during middle or high school, and chances are it was a cooperative learning team. The

cooperative team, while it has the basic structure of a CoLT, differs in that it preserves

traditional lines of authority (e.g. instructor and textbook as primary sources of information).

The CoLT, in contrast, is based on social-constructivism—the idea that meaning is created

within and among members of the team as you explore the problem (Matthews, 1996). The

CoLT then is “…both an arena for personal needs (individuals with their anxieties, doubts,

and private desires), and also an instrument, for solving social problems” (Joyce, et al., 1992,

p. 46)

However, for you to be able to construct meaning from the dialog within your CoLT

meeting there are certain components that must be present for your CoLT to be successful.

They are:

Positive interdependence, meaning team members need each other to succeed. All

members of the team must be involved and committed to team success, although it

could be argued a larger team could still be successful even if there were a passenger

or two in the team4.

Promotive interactions, implying interaction between and among team members should

be designed to promote the members and the team. Team members help each other,

provide feedback for ongoing improvement, and encourage an atmosphere of

openness to diversity and new ideas.

Individual accountability, indicating even though functioning and normally being

assessed on team processing and performance, individual students must be held

accountable for their work and on their individual contributions to the team.

Teamwork and social skills, achieving team functioning as effectively as possible,

including decision-making, trust-building, communication, and conflict management.

Team processing, meaning undertaking reflection as a team at the conclusion of a

problem in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses and ensuring

improvement next time.

Savin-Baden & Howell, 2004, p. 77.

4 There is a larger section on positive interdependence in the collaboration section if you need further information on its importance in problem-based and collaborative learning.


Roles and Ground Rules

I suspect, if you have been involved in any group—a club, boy or girl scouts, or an athletic

team—you know how hard it is to get and keep all the members motivated and focused on

the task at hand. Your CoLT, to be successful needs to be “clear about [its] aims and goals”

(Savin-Baden & Howell, 2004, p. 78). So, what is your goal in this class? A simple answer is

easy: “To get a good grade!” But there is more to be gained in a PBL class than just getting a

good grade. You should realize by now that collaborative learning is the way knowledge is to

be constructed in this class. You and your CoLT members need to realize the importance of

collaboration, of working together toward a common goal.

“Achieving team motivation demands commitment…Additionally, in order

to ensure team commitment, students need to work together…to develop

ground rules to which they all feel able to be bound and committed. Such

ground rules can form the basis of a ‘contract’ between team members5

(Savin-Baden & Howell, 2004, pp. 78-79).

“In our view the skills of thinking and communicating with clarity, active listening,

giving peers feedback, and considering different perspectives are particularly

important for working in groups (italics in original).

(Frey, Fisher, & Everlove, 2009, p. 69).

A significant amount of learning occurring in colleges and universities focuses on outcomes

that are predictable. However learning in teams is complex and learning to deal with

complexity is a major concept in problem-based learning. Savin-Baden & Howell (2004)

described it this way:

Learning in teams can help students to see that learning and life take place

in contexts—contexts that affect the kinds of solutions that are available

and possible. Learning in teams is not about developing a particular tool kit

or strategies, from which it is possible to choose and then [select] the right

one at the right time. Instead it demands that we recognize that learning

occurs in a context, a time, and space, and that it is influenced by what the

individual brings to the learning situation…” (p. 80).

5 A sample set of ground rules may be found in Appendix A at the end of this manual


Learning, PBL and Your Collaborative Learning Team

(CoLT)

“You go out of a [CoLT] with your head buzzing, rather than feeling

you’ve just sat there. You can’t be passive [in a CoLT]; you have to

be active and committed to the course.”

Manchester University, England Student

(Kahn & O’Rourke, 2005, p. 5)

“Yes,” he said. “It’s a fallacy that professional schoolteachers are just

talkers. If they are interested in the job, as I am, they have to learn to

listen.”

(R.F. Delderfield, 1972, p. 321)

Earlier we mentioned the disconnect between what entering college students expect from

their classes6 and the instructional approach used in this class. In this section we will look at

one of the two distinguishing features of a PBL class: the Collaborative Learning Team

(CoLT).

Collaboration is at the center of this course and, as you may remember, collaboration7 is how

from almost the beginning you learned. The central feature of any CoLT is dialog. Dialog

comes from the ancient Greek where dia meant two or apart and logos a variety of meaning of which

argument, discourse, saying, and word are a few. Therefore, what we have is a compound

word “dialogos meaning a conversation between two people, associated with the pursuit of

knowledge... It also has a connotation of difference (dia as apart): two or more who partake

in dialogue are separate and distinct as individual beings, as speakers and as thinkers, but the

conversation (italics added) brings them together and fashions a unity of process through their

joint engagement. Dialogue is an unfolding process, a search or quest for knowledge and

understanding” (Rule, 2004, p. 320) between and amongst two or more people in a situation

like a CoLT.

The purpose of dialog within a CoLT is to “work through a problem and to proceed to a

conclusion by reason and argument” (Barrett & Moore, 2011, p. 117). Your CoLT meetings

will involve a lot of dialog and a lot of listening. Frey, et al. (2009) calls this “active

listening” in that it requires you to listen with understanding “ensuring [you] understand

what the speaker has said” (p. 74) and to assist you they have identified four different things

you need to know, why you need to know them, how you might know to go about using

active listening, and examples of what you might consider saying as you engage in active

listening during your CoLT meetings.

6 Reference the section Problem-Based Learning: A Different Way of Learning for details. 7 Reference the first page of the handbook.


Active Listening Techniques What to Do Why Do It How to Do It Examples of What to

Say

Encourage To convey interest in what the speaker is discussing.

To keep the person talking.

Nod, smile, and use other facial expressions.

Don’t agree or disagree.

Use noncommittal words with a positive tone of voice.

“I see…”

“Uh-huh…”

“OK…”

“Keep going…”

Restate or Clarify To show you are interested.

To check on your perception of the speaker’s message.

Restate the basic ideas emphasizing the facts.

Clarify points.

Don’t “fake listen”!

“If I understand you correctly, your idea is…”

“I see what you mean…”

“In other words, this is …”

“What did you mean when you said…”

Reflect or Paraphrase To show the speaker what he or she is saying is being heard.

To show you understand the speaker’s feelings.

Restate the other’s basic feelings.

Respond to the other’s main ideas.

“So you feel that…”

“You must feel angry that…”

“I think you are very happy that…”

Summarize To pull important ideas, facts, and so on together.

To establish a basis for further discussion.

To review progress.

Restate, reflect, and summarize major ideas and feelings.

“So would you say the key ideas are…”

“If I understand you, you are saying that…”

“Based on your presentation, would it be accurate to say that…” Frey, et al., 2009, p. 75

What Happens in a CoLT?

You will be given a PBL case that will serve as the focus of your CoLT meetings. You and

the members of your CoLT will work together to reach consensus on what you think, know,

and have learned about the issue(s) contained in the problem. One thing you will notice is

the problem does not have a clear cut right-or-wrong answer. This is intentional. The problem

is designed to draw you “into an untidy conversation” (Bruffee, 1993). What you will also

notice, and this may be disconcerting, is your instructor will “back off” and will not “sit in”

on your CoLT8 meetings, nor will she/he closely monitor what is happening in your CoLT.

You need to realize your instructor is not going to supply you with the right answer to the

8 However, the instructor will not abandon you to your own devices. She/He will be available to serve as a resource (“the guide on the side”).


problem9; in fact it is probably a safe assumption there probably is not a single right answer.

The task of your CoLT is to work together, draw upon your collective experiences, come up

with possible solutions, research them, accept or reject them as a team, and provide a viable,

logical, and defensible resolution to the problem in PBL case (Bruffee, 1993).

You will make use of and develop a variety of skills as you work through the problems

during your CoLT meetings. Most are skills with which you are familiar and well established

in American educational, political and social life. Tan (2003) has identified some of these

skills:

Higher order thinking skills,

Problem solving skills,

Interdisciplinary learning,

Independent learning,

Information mining skills,

Teamwork, and

Communication skills (p. 27).

It should be apparent by now you are not going to be able to sit passively in the back of the

room, take notes, read a textbook, and regurgitate information on a test, and pass a course

using PBL. You will need to do much more. For example, take a look at the cognitive skills

Tan(2003) has identified you will use in arriving at a consensus decision in your CoLT:

Configuring Relearning Rethinking Recognizing patterns Observing and Making Use of Observations Generating Fresh Arguments and Explanations Analogizing Connecting Ideas and Concepts Imaging Abstracting Empathizing Transforming Information Playing with Ideas (p. 23)

Hard Fun

Terry Barrett (2005B) uses the concept of “hard fun” to describe what you are going to

experience in your CoLT meetings when he wrote: “Learning as hard fun…is a concept that

encapsulate[s] the idea…that learning can be fun because it is hard, challenging and stretches

the participants. The fun in hard fun is a fun with enjoyment, laughter, freedom, creativity,

and energy…This is a fun that is not superficial and frivolous, rather a fun that is rigorous

and challenging.” (p. 162).

9 However, there is a single wrong answer—not doing anything!


Seymour Papert (1996), a noted computer scientist and professor at MIT, provided an apt

description of “hard fun” and although he is describing the experiences of a group of

kindergarteners I believe the description is relevant for you as you begin working in

problem-based learning:

One kindergarten section was waiting to take the place of another section

that had just had its first encounter with the computers. A student

recognized a friend coming out of the room and asked: "What was it

like?" The friend replied: "It was fun." Then paused and added: "It was

really hard."

The relation between "fun" and "hard" may need some interpretation.

Did this mean "it was fun in spite of being hard" or "it was fun because it

was hard"? The teacher who heard the tone of the conversation and

knew the children had no doubt. The child meant it was "fun" because it

was "hard." It was "hard" and this made it all the more "fun."

(p. 53).

Barrett (2005B) identifies PBL as a hard fun experience because of its multiple dimensions:

PBL is hard because you are engaged in working through and reaching a viable and

defensible solution to a problem that does not have an obvious solution. You will be

spending a significant amount of time with the members of your CoLT and

consequently become more comfortable with them.

PBL is fun because you are actually doing something that has some relevance to an

actual professional experience—collaborative learning. Fun is laughter and joking

with those you come to know. CoLT meetings can be tense, but if you take the time

to engage in good-natured fun more can be accomplished than not.

PBL is hard fun because you and your team will have the inward freedom in

organizing, hypothesizing, researching, and arriving at a consensus solution, but you

also have an outward freedom in how you choose between alternatives (Roger &

Freiberg, 1994 cited in Barrett, 2005A) and how you go about presenting your

findings.

Learning as hard fun also has an impact upon your development as a pre-service teacher

(Barrett, 2005A):

at the CoLT level, you will interact with and learn to work with your team members

to resolve a complex and ill-formed problem;

at the learning community level (e g. class), you have to learn to integrate what others

may have learned that may present a different way to see your possible problem

solution; and


at the personal level, you have to learn to organize and present your ideas, queries,

and viewpoint so others can benefit.

“Learning in PBL is about the fun of laughter, creativity, and playfulness

and the hardness of difficulties, demanding activity levels and

transformation. Fun without hardness is frivolity. Hardness without fun

is drudgery. Learning in PBL demands both the fun of playing with ideas

and the hardness of refining and reworking ideas. Both complimentary

parts are needed for learning”…PBL is “a portal opening up a previously

inaccessible way of thinking about something. It represents a

transformed way of understanding, or interpreting, or viewing…”

(Barrett, 2005A, p. 121-122)


DesignThinking

“Having a process that brings people together to create more and

better ideas has been very valuable for us.” Karen, Learning Specialist

IDEO, 2011, p. 2

“Design Thinking offers a way of problem solving that is more

integrative of different modes of thought. It validates some of the

things that teachers already do, but also gives the opportunity to

revisit one's practice.”

Dominic, Head of School

IDEO, 2011, p. 2.

Reaching a consensus decision, within the context of a PBL case, requires more than just

dialog within a team meeting. It requires a process—a “tool” that when utilized will assist

you in reaching a consensus decision. The “tool” you are going to use was developed by Tim

Brown and others at IDEO and at three schools. The tool DesignThinking for Educators

(IDEO, 2011), a set of processes or steps that if followed will result, most of the time, in a

consensus decision.

DesignThinking for Educators: An Overview

DesignThinking begins by talking about the assigned problem with the members of your

CoLT. Something occurs when you exchange ideas about the problem with your team

members—your individual problem solving abilities are bolstered. Working together,

members of your CoLT are able to bring multiple perspectives on a complex or not-so-

complex open-ended problem to try out a variety of possible solutions before arriving at a

consensus result. DesignThinking is unique in this aspect as you are given the opportunity to

try out real world skills in an environment where it is acceptable to fail and “to learn from

your mistakes, because you come up with new ideas, get feedback on them, then iterate”

(IDEO, 2011, p. 3).

DesignThinking is a five step process:

Discovery: Your CoLT has been assigned a problem—how does your team approach

it? Discovery builds a solid foundation for your ideas. Creating a

meaningful solution for the problem means opening up to new

opportunities, and getting inspired to create new ideas. With the right

preparation, this can be eye-opening and will give you a good

understanding of your design challenge.


Ideation: Ideation means generating lots of ideas—you may know this as

brainstorming. “Brainstorming encourages you to think expansively and

without constraints. It's often the wildest ideas that spark visionary

thoughts. (IDEO, 2011, p. 4).

Investigation: This is the time when you explore the ideas generated in ideation. It is here

you find the first significant difference between problem-based learning

and what you are used to—the instructor does not give you everything you

need to learn about your problem. In fact, in PBL “you learn to become

self-reliant, and eventually independent of your [instructor]. This method is

particularly important in the education of professionals…where students

are eventually expected to become independent, problem-solving, self-

motivated learners” (Barrows, 1988, p. iii).

Interpretation: When you arrive at this stage you have learned something about your PBL

problem by researching the issues in the investigation stage. The problem

now is “how do you and your CoLT go about interpreting or transforming

information into something meaningful?...Interpretation transforms your

[research] into meaningful insights…but finding meaning in [your

research] and turning it into actionable is not easy for it involves …sorting

and condensing thoughts until you've found a compelling point of view

and clear direction.” (IDEO, 2011, p. 5).

Conversation: This is the last step in the DesignThinking process. It is here you decide as a

team which option is the best. This stage requires you to “step back, to

reflect, analyze, evaluate, think again” (IDEO, 2011, p. 5) and then reach a

consensus decision and finally prepare a product that describes your

consensus decision.

One Thing to Keep in Mind

“The design process may seem very straightforward at first glance, but there is one

important aspect to understand: its real value lies in the mix of tangible problem solving and

abstract thinking. The observations during the first phase are then abstracted as you define

themes and insights. Only after you have developed a sense of meaning and direction do you

develop tangible solutions. What may seem like a detour in idea development ultimately

makes your solutions much more meaningful.

“It requires taking a step back to reflect, analyze, evaluate, think again, and then evolve. This

takes time—a scarce resource—and can be challenging, as educators.” You are used to

solving problems on the spot…but there are no shortcuts…The design process therefore

integrates various modes of working: some steps are more reflective, others are hands-on,

and some encourage interactions with people outside of your team” (IDEO, 2011, p. 5).


Step 1: Discovery

Discovery builds a solid foundation for your ideas. Creating meaningful

solutions for students, parents, teachers, colleagues and administrators

begins with a deep understanding for their needs. Discovery means

opening up to new opportunities, and getting inspired to create new

ideas. With the right preparation, this can be eye-opening and will give

you a good understanding of your design challenge. IDEO (2011), p. 13

The first step in reaching a solution to the assigned problem on which all members of your

team can agree is to decide what needs to be done. The outcome of this step in the

DesignThinking process is a concise description, in a single sentence, describing what it is you

want to have accomplished when you arrive at a consensus decision at the end of this

process. As you work together in your CoLT “start with a broad view: ask yourself why

people might need, want, or interact with your topic” (IDEO, 2011, p. 14)—let your creative

juices flow and generate as many possible reasons why your CoLT problem is important.

Next, think about constraints that have been imposed on your problem: is there a due date

for this stage and for the other four DesignThinking stages? Is there a final due date for your

team to present your consensus decision? After looking at and considering the constraints

develop a single sentence that describes what it is the problem requires of you? In all

probability you will have to create several drafts revising the wording or the organization of

the sentence until all members of the team agree with not only the content but the wording.

Finally, transfer your sentence to a Post-It Pad in letters of a size which can easily be read

from a distance say 5-to-6 feet and be sure the CoLT scribe includes it in the meeting’s

report.10

I think by now it should be apparent that a collaborative team is essential to the success of

your CoLT11. However, it is important you know the strengths, weaknesses, experiences, and

knowledge each member of your CoLT brings to the meetings. Next, refer to your Problem

Statement and determine what each member knows about the problem. Don’t be concerned if

you don’t know anything about what you included in the problem statement as the purpose of

this stage is to determine what your team needs to learn. You should now have two lists: (1)

what you know and (2) what you need to learn. Include both in your scribe’s report as well

on a Post-It-Pad sheet. You will want to have both available to frequently refer back as you

move through the next DesignThinking stage.

10 NOTE: You may need to revise parts or sections as you move through the DesignThinking process—feel free to do so, but if you do, be sure and update both your Post-It Pad and see that it is reflected in your scribe’s report (I would suggest putting it a different font and changing its appearance by putting it in bold and italics or some other way to make sure everyone knows the that section has been changed from the original). 11 Reference the following sections in this manual: Learning, PBL and Your Collaborative Learning Team (CoLT), What Happens in a CoLT Meeting, and Collaboration in this manual if you need assistance.


Step 2: Ideation

Ideation means generating lots of ideas. Brainstorming encourages

you to think expansively and without constraints. It’s often the wild

ideas that spark visionary thoughts. With careful preparation and a

clear set of rules, a brainstorm session can yield hundreds of fresh

ideas.

IDEO, 2011, p. 47

Having identified and agreed on your Problem Statement—what it is you need to know to

present a consensus solution to the assigned problem—it is now time to direct your

attention to “solving” it. The first step is to generate as many ideas as you can and this is

usually accomplished by using brainstorming. I am sure at one time or another you have

engaged in a brainstorming session, but just to make sure we are all “on the same page” let’s

take just a little time to go over what happens during a brainstorming session and the

guidelines under which a brainstorming session operates.

Guidelines for Conducting a Brainstorming Session

You already have completed the first two steps:

1. Select a Facilitator and Scribe: Your CoLT facilitator and your Scribe will serve in the same capacities during the brainstorming session as they have previously.

2. Present Your Topic: The CoLT problem statement serves as the overarching problem you need to address in your brainstorming session, but you need to focus your attention on the problem statement during the Discovery stage.

3. Review the Rules of Brainstorming: There is a detailed set of rules for your brainstorming session found in Appendix B12, but what follows are the basics:

A. Defer Judgment: There are no bad ideas at this point. There will be plenty of time to narrow [the ideas generated] later.

B. Encourage Wild Ideas: Even if an idea doesn’t seem realistic, it may speak a great idea for someone else.

C. Built on the Ideas of Others: Think “and” rather than “but.” D. Stay focused on topic: To get more out of your session, keep the

problem statement in sight. E. One Conversation at a Time: All ideas need to be heard, so that they

may be built upon. F. Go for Quantity: Set an outrageous goal—then surpass it. The best

way to find one good idea is to come up with lots of ideas.

12 It is probably a good idea if everyone in the CoLT reviews these before the first brainstorming session and

for the CoLT Facilitator to review them before each brainstorming session just to reacquaint her/himself so they are fresh in his/her mind.


G. Identify Sub-Problems (if applicable): Put them on separate sheets of paper. Move to the next sub-problem only when the CoLT has exhausted all of its ideas on the current sub-problem.

H. Keep the Energy High: If the flow of ideas slows down, move to another aspect of your problem statement.13

IDEO, 2011, pp. 48, 51.

You may think of Brainstorming as the “Wild West” in a classroom—unstructured , loud,

wild, anything goes—but if you follow the aforementioned guidelines and those in Appendix

B and take the time to set up your brainstorming session then you will get the most out of

the session. Don’t neglect the basics!

Select Promising Ideas

Any gardener knows the first rule of having a successful garden is to weed and thin—

remove those plants that are not living up to their potential or are just taking up space. The

same is true with ideas generated in a Brainstorming session and while every idea was

welcome in and encouraged in the brainstorming session it is now necessary to “weed” out

those that are “just taking up space.”

The easiest way to get this part of the ideation process started is to have each member of the

team to select (no more than three) of the ideas they think is their personal favorite the one

she/he thinks will best enable the CoLT to accomplish its task. This should be done silently

so they are not swayed by the votes of others. Vote directly on the brainstorm Post-It notes14.

NOTE: It is important during this phase not to “take ownership” of one of your

ideas. You cannot be overly sensitive to the comments made about the value

of your idea. The purpose of this part of Ideation is for the best ideas, those

most likely to resolve the issue to which you agreed in the Discovery phase “to

bubble to the top.” However, if you feel your idea is worthy of consideration

and someone else doesn’t, then state why. Don’t “roll over” just because

someone doesn’t like your idea, but at the same time, if the CoLT comes to a

consensus your idea needs to be removed don’t take it personally and try to

get even—it is only an idea and as the saying goes: “Get over it” and move on.

13 Cadger Note: Never underestimate the value of sugar during a brainstorming session. You

might want to consider having something for members of the CoLT to snack on—brainstorming

can be mentally exhausting. Ask the members of the CoLT to bring something: fruit, candy,

cookies, coffee, tea, etc. Talk to your instructor for other ideas. 14 Cadger Note: Be sure you have a supply of sticky-dots for the members of your CoLT to record

their preferences by placing them directly on the Post-It notes.


The next-to-last step in Ideation is to discuss the results.

1. Cluster the ideas: is there a common theme running through those ideas with the most votes—if so, reorganize them so they appear together.

2. Look at the ideas and talk about which ideas are the most promising—not the easiest to accomplish but which will yield the best results.

3. Organize yourselves into sub-groups according to the number of ideas you have (e.g. if your CoLT has six members you will organize your team into two groups of three, etc. However, never have a group of one even if one sub-group has an additional idea! Remember the wisdom in the Beatles song lyric: “One is the loneliest number…”).

4. Within the groups, come up with ideas of how to implement the idea and to realize it—this should not be long as all you want are some ideas as to how to get started (no more than 15-20 minutes).

5. Present your suggestions for implementation and get feedback from the CoLT.

The last step in Ideation is to conduct a Reality Check. Up to now you haven’t really given

too much thought as to what may hinder your work as you attempt to implement the ideas

you have developed—so now is the time for a reality check! What you need to do as a team

is look closely at the ideas you have chosen and ask yourselves three questions:

1. Which of the ideas are we really excited about? 2. Which is the most important idea—the idea that will give us the most bang for the buck

as you look at your most exciting or promising idea? 3. Which of the ideas has the potential to address the consensus problem and our

problem statement?

Finally, generate a list of constraints your team sees as impediments to reaching a consensus

decision and list them.

1. Is there anything we have overlooked? Forgotten? Taken for granted? 2. Is there any constraint or impediment we don’t think we can overcome or work

through? 3. Do any of the ideas need to be revised or addressed in a manner different from the

way we originally conceived of addressing the idea?

So what’s next? You will need to summarize your team’s work on a separate sheet from a

Post-It Pad, You will want to include such things as: who is going to do what, why it is

important, and the importance of the parts. Use the following structure to assist you in

describing the most important parts of your idea:

choose a title for our idea;

summarize what we are going to do in a single sentence;

describe our plan of action—the steps we are going to follow to address the consensus problem;

identify the members of the CoLT responsible to each component; and


list the challenges and questions that need to be addressed.15

Step 3: Investigation

Whosoever wishes to know about the world must learn about it

in its particular details. Knowledge is not intelligence. In

searching for the truth be ready for the unexpected.

Heraclitus, Greek Philosopher

(535 BCE-475BCE)

This is the time you get to “dig out” the information you may need to “explore all the other

areas of the problem that might be productive for you” (Barrows, 1988, p. 26). Since you

have narrowed the possible topic to be investigated, you can explore them in depth.

A research plan is integral to this section for it prevents you following after the example of

Lord Ronald who having said nothing, “…flung himself from the room, flung himself upon

his horse, and rode madly off in all directions” (Shapiro, 2006, p. 446). Before you begin the

researching step, a well thought out research plan needs to be developed. Make time during a

CoLT meeting to develop a list of activities you want to pursue, people with whom you want

to talk, specific questions that need to be asked, and print and non-print resources that need

to be read, listened to, or viewed.

You might consider beginning your investigation by looking at a textbook, but remember a

textbook or any other book is probably three to four years out of date. You might also

consider searching for a relevant journal article or locating an expert and asking for an

opportunity to interview her or him.

Barrows (1996) suggests you do the following during this stage when working with

resources:

“During your [investigation] you should copy significant articles,

diagrams, reference lists, drawings, charts, or your own notes,

outlines, and/or diagrams that you have created during your study for

each member of the group. This eliminates the need for you to

describe in detail what you have learned and provides them with

references they can refer to later” (p. 27).

15 Scribe Note: You will want to post this sheet at each meeting of the CoLT. You might also want to provide each member of your team with a copy for them to reference as a reminder of what has been agreed to and for what they are responsible.


It is important you explore with an open mind. When you come together to share what you

have learned it is understandable if you are excited, but be careful the meeting does not turn

into a “show and tell.” The potency of the sharing can easily be lost if the other members of

the team “just sit there and, in essence, lecture to each other about what they have learned in

their study” (Barrows, 1988, p. 39).

Step 4: Interpretation

“Interpretation transforms your stories into meaningful insights.

Observations, field visits, or just a simple conversation can be

great inspiration—but finding meaning in that and turning it into

actionable opportunities [for reaching consensus] is not an easy

task. It involves storytelling, as well as condensing thoughts until

you have found a compelling point of view and a clear

direction…” IDEO, 2011, p. 34

“Throughout the interpretation phase, your perspective will evolve and change. As you gain

a clearer understanding of what your observations mean, you can relate them to your

[consensus problem] and use them as inspiration. This part of the process can be confusing”

(IDEO, 2011, p. 35). Any experienced interviewer or researcher will tell you making sense of

what you talked about, wrote in your field notes, or what you have read or what you have

observed is the hardest part of making meaning and then harmonizing it with your problem

statement. You need to make the time to go back over everything again and make sure you

haven’t missed something.

You will need to share your experience with your team at your next meeting. When you do,

tell a story. There is nothing duller than a recitation of facts. Don’t be concerned about

interpreting what happened. Think about these prompts as you prepare your story (IDEO,

2011):

Details: If you interviewed someone whom did you meet (profession, age, etc.) and what was the location like where you met?

Interesting Stories: What was most memorable event or aspect of your research?

Motivations: If you interviewed a person what did she/he care about the most? What motivates the person? If you visited a site, why is it located where it is? Anything remarkable unusual about how the site is used?

Frustrations: What frustrates him or her? What frustrated you about the site or how it was used?

Interactions: What was interesting about how he/she interacted with the surroundings of where you met?


Remaining Questions: If you were given the chance to go back what questions would you like to ask?

As you are preparing your story, record the things you consider most important—answers to

questions, observations, etc.—on Post-it Notes and, as you tell the story, place them on the

Post-it-Pad. This will make it easier for your team to organize your observations with those

from other members of your CoLT.

When your team members are telling their stories you may want to follow the guidelines for

active listening listed below:

Active Listening Techniques What to Do Why Do It How to Do It Examples of What to

Say

Encourage To convey interest in what the speaker is discussing.

To keep the person talking.

Nod, smile, and use other facial expressions.

Don’t agree or disagree.

Use noncommittal words with a positive tone of voice.

“I see…”

“Uh-huh…”

“OK…”

“Keep going…”

Restate or Clarify To show that you are interested.

To check on your perception of the speaker’s message.

Restate the basic ideas emphasizing the facts.

Clarify points

Don’t “fake listen”!

“If I understand you correctly, your idea is…”

“I see what you mean…”

“In other words, this is …”

“What did you mean when you said…”

Reflect or Paraphrase To show the speaker that what he or she is saying is being heard.

To show you understand the speaker’s feelings.

Restate the other’s basic feelings.

Respond to the other’s main ideas.

“So you feel that…”

“You must feel angry that…

”I think you are very happy that…”

Summarize To pull important ideas, facts, and so on together.

To establish a basis for further discussion.

To review progress.

Restate, reflect, and summarize major ideas and feelings.

“So would you say the key ideas are…”

“If I understand you, you are saying that…”

“Based on your presentation, would it be accurate to say that…”

Frey, et al., 2009, p. 75


While you are listening to your team members’ stories:

Compare and contrast the things you have learned.

Explore areas where he/she may have found something different from you.

Begin looking for themes that are common to your colleagues’ stories and yours.

Looking for Themes16

When all the stories have been told and the Post-it Notes have been placed, the next step is to

look for common themes. What you want to do is move the notes that appear to belong

together into clusters, groups, or buckets. One way to start is by having every team member

choose three Post-it Notes they find most interesting.

Place each of them on a large sheet of paper and begin to look for more evidence of the same theme.

What did many people mention?

Did someone else say the opposite?

Are there behaviors you saw repeatedly?

Which issues were obvious?

Then rearrange the Post-it notes into groups or buckets and label them.

Take a closer look at your buckets and see if there are any overlaps, patterns, and tensions

that relate to content of one bucket to another. If so, move the items or even the entire

bucket to another bucket. As you look at the buckets think…

Can you group several related themes in larger categories?

What contradictions do you find?

What feels surprising and why?

Continue to move around your Post-it notes and sheets until you feel the content of a bucket

is homogeneous; that is, the contents of the bucket adequately describe the title of the

bucket.17

Next, you need to step back and look at your buckets, their contents, and how they

contribute to answering your consensus problem statement.

What have you learned that had not occurred to you before?

What did you find most inspiring?

What sparked the most ideas?

16 The material in this section is taken from IDEO, 2011, pp. 40-42. 17 If you are having a problem with placing an item in a bucket refer to the story from which the item came. You may want to ask the team member to provide more of an explanation or re-tell the part of the story which

led her/him to include this in his/her story.


You will also need to “reconnect” with your PBL problem statement to see what insights the

buckets and their contents provide. Often, you will find things that you knew about before,

but your research may have given you a new perspective. Don’t be shy about retelling these

stories.

It is now time to make sense of your findings. This will probably be the hardest part of the

problem. It may be easier to divide your CoLT in half and assign half of the buckets to one

group and the remainder to the other. You need to summarize the contents of your buckets

in a way that provides a partial answer to your consensus problem statement. Experiment

with the wording and structure to best communicate your insights. Create short and

memorable sentences that get to the point and make sure your insights convey the sense of a

perspective or the possibility of reaching a decision about your consensus problem

statement. When each group has completed their summaries come back and as a single team

revise and reach a consensus on the content. You want your final product to be insightful

describing what you learned about your consensus problem statement; how your research

supports your findings, and how what you learned enables you to see things differently.

Step 5: Learning as Conversation

“Good talk begets good thought”

Bruffee, 1999, p. 133

“Feedback is one of the most valuable tools in developing an idea. Sharing…helps you see

what really matters…and which aspects need improvement” (IDEO, 2011, p. 62). You will

need to make public what your team has learned from working with your consensus problem

statement. How you go about this is a decision your team will have to make18.

What Happens in DesignThinking Stage 5: Learning as Conversation

18 You will also need to check with the Problem Manual or the problem’s specifications and rubrics to ensure the approach

you use complies with the problem’s specifications as set forth by your instructor.


You want to make sure that you provide a balanced yet thorough description of what you

learned. Ventimiglia (1995 as cited in Barkley, et al., 2005, p. 81) suggests you check your

presentation against the following:

Have you summarized the important points your team agreed to in the Looking for Themes section?

Have you explained and provided evidence for the content of your consensus problem decision?

Have you pointed out the implications of your consensus problem decision as it relates to your problem statement?

Have you made explicit the connections to previous content?

After you have made your presentation you will need to provide time for each member of

your team to ask questions. Make sure the team’s scribe make notes about each question and

before you submit your final CoLT report be sure you have done the following:

Did you respond to any misconceptions or omissions that were raised during the question and answer period?

Did you address all the questions raised during your presentation and included the responses in the final report?

Did you address any concerns that were raised by team members as a consequence of the presentation?

Did you go back through the report one more time to make sure everyone agrees with the report’s content?

Did you get the every team member to “sign off” on the final report indicating their approval?

Being a productive CoLT member also means reflecting on what you have learned. Terry

Barrett (2005B) quoting one of his students, “…learning is creative in an experience of being

challenged through doing something scary, and doing it [yourselves]. It is creative and has a wow

factor because it is challenging and scary fun because it is hard (italics added)” (p. 164).


Interpersonal & Small-Group Skills

“You can’t stay in your part of the forest waiting for others to come to you.

You have to go to them sometimes.”

Winnie-the-Pooh

A successful Collaborative Learning Team (CoLT) is an amalgam; that is, it is has many

components each distinctive but all working together toward a common goal. One of the

most obvious is interpersonal skills. Frey, et al. (2009) described the value of interpersonal

skills: “In our view the skills of thinking and communicating with clarity, active listening, given peers

feedback, (italics in original) and considering different perspectives are particularly important for

working productively in groups” (p. 69). When you are working with your team during a

CoLT meeting you will be interacting with your colleagues using a variety of skills. Bosworth

(1994) identified a taxonomy19 of skills you will need to develop for your CoLT to be a

success20:

Taxonomy of Collaborative Skills Interpersonal Skills Congenial, friendly

Make clear statements Listening skills Positive communication(no name calling, put-downs) Eye contact

Group Management Organize work Keep group on task Run a meeting Participate in group self-analysis Show empathy

Inquiry Skills Clarification Critique Probe assumptions and evidence Probe implication & consequences Elicit viewpoints & perspectives

Conflict Resolution Prevention Resolution Mediation

Synthesis & Presentation Summarize, synthesize Speaking in front of a group Creating presentation materials Report writing

Bosworth, (1994), p. 27

However, no matter how skilled you are in managing the interpersonal relations within your

CoLT, there remains the need for you to adopt a stance that may be significantly different

19 Taxonomy: a systematic method of classifying related items (OED). 20 Refer to Appendix D: Explanation of Bosworth’s Taxonomy of Collaborative Skills for a

detailed explanation of why each category is needed.


from the one you may have used in other classes. You will have to change: from passive

listener, observer and note taker to active problem solver, contributor and discussant;

from a private person taking few or no risks to a public person who takes many risks;

from attendance dictated by personal choice to attendance managed by your team’s

expectations;

from competition with peers to collaboration;

from responsibilities and self-definition associated with learning independently to

those associated with learning interdependently; and

from seeing instructors and texts as the sole sources of authority and knowledge to

seeing peers, oneself, and your team as additional and more important sources of

authority and knowledge (adapted from MacGregor 1990).

Duek (2008) in her study of collaborative learning identified a set of roles students may

assume when working in collaborative groups —some good and some not so good:

Aggressing An attempt to run the group without the consent of others. This may include Hypercontributing, Lecturing, and Overtalking.

Derailing/Blocking Making comments or asking questions that may completely remove the group from task-related behaviors for a period of time. This might include jokes and off-topic comments.

Encouraging/Energizing A form of feedback during the conversation that has the result of encouraging the current speaker. An indirect form of Forwarding. (See also Placeholding for contrast)

Facilitating/Orienting Clarifying, asking, probing, or clarifying questions.

Forwarding/Initiating Contributing: Taking a leadership role in moving toward task completion.

Gatekeeping Encouraging quieter members to participate.

Hypercontributing/Dominating Speaking frequently or at length on his or her own or on others' topics.

Hypocontributing, Withdrawing/Following

This could be active listening, passive listening, or total uninvolvement. (See also Observing)

Observing, Participating Peripherally

Paying attention to proceedings without contributing.

Overtalking Interrupting, or talking more loudly than the current speaker.

Placeholding Making noncommittal or repetitious noises or comments. (See also Encouraging for contrast)

Recognition Seeking Trying to gain recognition or approval from the group.

Undertalking Carrying in sotto voce21 your conversations with neighbors; usually off-task.

Duek, (2008), p.92.

21 Sotto voce using your inside voice.


Duek (2008) also suggests members of a collaborative group need not only to be aware of

the processes toward a resolution of the problem being considered, but to be really

successful, your team will need to be aware of what is happening within and among the

members of your CoLT. When you and your team members begin to think about the course,

“the group, and their role(s) in the group may allow them to take more responsibility for the

group and how it functions. They would then be able to take ‘ownership’ of the group and

of their own learning... In this way, students [can] learn the value of positive interdependence

and become increasingly metacognitive22, self-directed learners” (p. 105).

22 “Metacognitive: metacognition: An awareness of one’s own thinking processes; the process of regulating one’s own learning by reviewing one’s knowledge and methods of problem solving” (Ravitch, 2007, p. 145)


Collaboration

Introduction

Two men were riding a bicycle-built-for-two when they came to a big

steep hill. It took a great deal of struggle for the men to complete what

proved to be a very stiff climb. When they got to the top the man in

front turned to the other and said, “Boy, that sure was a hard climb.” The

fellow in back replied, “Yes, and if I hadn’t kept the brakes on all the way

we would have certainly rolled down backwards” (Hewitt, 1988).

Most of us have at some time or another been assigned to an academic group work team and

assigned a project to complete and one of two things happened: either you were expected to

complete the project with little or no assistance from the instructor; or your team started

with good intentions but then one or two members of the team ended up doing most of the

work while the other members of the team loafed or played minor roles (Frey, et al. 2009).

The purpose of this section of the handbook is to assist you and your CoLT members from

having either of the above occurring.

Why You Need to Learn to Collaborate

It used to be a teacher could go into her classroom the day school began, walk out the last

day and in between have very little contact with the teacher next door or across the hall

except at the beginning of the school day picking up her/his students, at lunch, and at the

end of the school day. That has changed. The demands of teaching are such to be successful

you have to collaborate with your colleagues. For example: “Learning to collaborate and

engage in successful teamwork are educational goals expressed in most of the new

educational reform documents” (Barron, 2000, p. 433).

You will need to collaborate with your CoLT members if you wish to be successful in a

problem-based learning course just as you will be expected to collaborate with your

colleagues when you begin your teaching career. The distinguishing feature of a problem-

based learning course is not the content of the course but your PBL team and what occurs

within it: COLLABORATION! “When a [CoLT] collaborates something happens—a

synergy—where the sum of the parts (the members of your team) ‘with complementary skills

interact and create a shared meaning that none had previously possessed or could have come

to own on their own’ ” (Schrager, 1990, in Lee & Tan 2004, p. 135).

How Your CoLT Fosters Collaborative Learning

A PBL case problem requires each member to listen attentively to what the other members

of the team have to say, reflect on what has been said, and integrate that to enable the team

to accomplish its goals, but how is the team to accomplish this? DuFour, DuFour, and


Eaker (2008) identify five components that enable a collaborative team to accomplish its

task:

1. Everyone has someone to turn to and talk to when confronted with difficulties.. 2. Everyone has [someone] with whom and from whom they can learn. 3. Everyone has [team members] who will help them achieve the [team’s] goals. 4. Everyone benefits from processes specifically aligned to promote the learning of

the [team]. 5. Everyone operates within a built-in system of accountability and each is expected

to contribute to the continuous improvements of the team.

It should be obvious that a successful CoLT is the result of each member being dependent

on each other. Have you ever looked at a Three Musketeers Candy Bar (not the new wrapper

but the one I grew up with)?

©®Mars Candy Company, Chicago, Illinois

The three guys appearing just above the name are Arthos, Porthos, and Aramis the Three

Musketeers who along with a fourth, d'Artagnan, appear in a novel by Alexandre Dumas.

What most people remember about Dumas’ novel is not the story but the motto by which

the four friends lived: "all for one, one for all” and that is a good description how a CoLT

work—each member depends on each other.

Lee and Tan (2004) has identified four essential elements that must be present for a CoLT to

be successful:

1. Active engagement in the face-to-face dialogue process based on the concept that one learns best when one is interacting with others. Simply, learning occurs through talking!

2. Collaborative learning is based on a mutual search, by members of the PBL Study Team, for understanding: “Since everyone is grappling with the material simultaneously, collaborative learning has the potential to unleash a unique intellectual and social synergy” (Lee & Tan, 2004, p. 134-5).

3. A shift in focus from the teacher-driven or teaching as telling to one in which expertise is acquired or teaching as making learning possible leading you toward a set of skills to enable you to move “from a novice to an expert level of understanding…[learning various] ways of thinking and knowing” (Cox, 2009. p. 95).23

4. Provision for and the encouragement of a free and open interchange of ideas within the PBL Study Team.

23 This is also known as moving from the “Sage on the stage” to the “Guide on the Side.”


What is the Value of Collaborative Learning?

Lev Vygotsky (1978), a noted child psychologist, wrote: “…every function in the child’s

cultural development appears twice: first on the social level, and later on the individual level;

first between people…and then inside the child [emphasis added]” (p. 57). Frey, et al., 2009

(2009) placed Vygotsky’s comment within the context of collaborative learning by writing:

“…by interacting with others children [and adults] learn not only

what to think but how to think…” (p. 14). Dixon-Krauss (1996)

expounded further on Vygotsky’s views on collaboration when she

wrote: “Collaborative [learning experiences] are designed to

encourage [students] to help and support their peers in the group

rather than compete against them…this idea is based on the

assumption that the perceived value of academic achievement is

raised when [students] are all working toward the same goal. The

classroom [or your CoLT] becomes a community of learners [italics in the

original] in which [students] are engaged in activities that facilitate the

development of all elements of communication (reading, writing,

talking, and listening)” (p.79).

Your collaborative team, through its interactions, becomes interdependent, that is each

member of the team feels valued and each feels comfortable in adding to the knowledge

being co-constructed. Frey, et al. (2009) described what happens next: “If group work is

designed to be interdependent, needs are met, and the resulting positive atmosphere allows

learning to take place” (p. 24).

The Essentials of Collaborative Learning

Your CoLT is not just six-to-eight people who meet, talk, arrive at a defensible solution to

the problem, and report it back to the class. PBL Study teams “are based as much on

relationships as they are in intellectual discourse” (Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec, 1994, p.

21). PBL assumes that for learning to occur every member of the CoLT must participate

(Glenn, Koschmann, & Conlee, 1999). It is the interaction between and amongst team

members by asking questions raised about the contents of PBL case problem. Questions and

the face-to-face interaction within the team are an important aspect of collaborative learning.

Lähteenmäki and Uhlin (2011) wrote:

“Questions help the student to, for instance, define concepts, notice the

appropriate level of knowledge, and make connections between different

concepts. In addition, questions help the students to concentrate on their

roles, take other student’s input into account, and to help each other

create new and shared experiential knowledge in the group” (p. 151).


Your question may prompt another to use her/his expertise to clarify what you asked which

in turn may prompt another member to ask a follow up question and which may generate

other alternative explanations. Other promising resolutions may be investigated enabling you

and your CoLT to build on and clarify each other’s thinking (Kelson & Distelhorst, 2008).

Positive Interdependence: We Instead of Me

“Interdependence is what organizations are about. The willingness of

individuals to cooperate with other members of an organization is one of

the major determinants of organizational effectiveness and efficiency”

(Pfeffer, 2000, p. 197).

“It is only when you come to depend on the other members of your [PBL

Study Team] can you expect the collective power of the team to impact

your learning in a profoundly positive way”

(DuFour, DuFour, & Eaker, 2008, p. 181).

Positive Interdependence is defined by Johnson, et al. (1990) as the “perception that you are

linked with others [in your team] in a way so that you cannot succeed unless they do (and

vice versa), that is, their work benefits you and your work benefits them. It promotes a

situation in which individuals work together in small groups to maximize the learning of all

members” (p. 65).

Have you ever wondered why soldiers during the Civil War were willing to march shoulder-

to-shoulder toward Union or Confederate lines knowing many would either be wounded or

killed? It just doesn’t make sense to our minds. Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard

University, in her book This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (2008) wrote

the answer was quite simple: it was the person on his left and right as they marched forward.

The Civil War solider had probably grown up with the person next to him. He would rather

take the chance of being wounded or killed rather than doing what many would have

considered doing. Each depended on the other and while what you are doing in your CoLT

in no way even remotely compares to what the Civil war soldiers faced there is that sense of

interdependence—the need to support on each other that needs to be present in your CoLT

if it is to succeed.

The value of positive interdependence affords you and your team members have been

identified by several authors (Johnson, et al., 1990; Frey, et al., 2009). Simply, positive

interdependence, the perception each member of your CoLT is linked to the others so that

1. Team members are striving for mutual benefit so all will gain from the PBL experience.


2. The performance of team members is mutually caused. You are responsible for assisting your team members and they, in turn, are responsible to provide help to you when you are in need. In other words, each member of the team is instrumental in the productivity of every other member

3. There is a shared team identity. While you are a separate individual you also are a member of your PBL Study Team.

4. Being part of a team increases the self-efficacy of each so what one may not be able to accomplish alone can be attained by the team.

5. There are joint celebrations of the team’s success. Feelings of pride and accomplishment are taken in one’s accomplishments as well as those of the team.


Appendix A

Sample Set of CoLT Ground Rules

1. The team will be committed to its membership in ways that will encourage

sharing of information and realistic self-appraisal of the team and of individuals

within it.

2. The team will create a safe and supportive learning context that promotes trust

and commitment within the team.

3. Team members will give and receive feedback towards one another which is

supportive and constructively critical.

4. Confidentiality of issues shared and discussed within the problem-based

learning team will be maintained within the bounds of the team itself.

5. There will be a commitment to punctuality as defined by the team.

6. The team will develop its own commitment to attendance and decide upon

ways in which it will manage non-attendance by its members.

7. The team will utilize self-regulation mechanisms as a means of ensuring equity

is maintained across the team in terms of status, workload, and contribution to

the team.

8. Respect for contributions made by other members, both verbally and in

writing, will be maintained as far as possible.

9. Team members will produce agreed work (as decided by the team) on time.

10. The team should seek to clarify, and contribute to, the definition of the role of

the facilitator in the team.

11. The team should take shared responsibility for the progress of the process and

outcomes of the team.

12. Team members should be willing to share knowledge with and learn from

other members of their team.

Savin-Baden & Howell, 2004, p. 79


Appendix B

Brainstorming Rules

1. Determine your objective or identify a problem (you should have done this during

the Discovery stage). Until you truly understand why you are brainstorming and what

you want the outcome to be, there's no point in generating ideas.

2. Establish rules and stick to them. For example, once you make it clear no ideas will

be judged during the brainstorming session, don't get caught in the common trap of

thinking about the new ideas and saying, "Well that won't work, because…" or "That

idea is totally impractical, because…"

3. Set goals or limits. The limits or parameters for a brainstorming session can relate to

the duration of the session or the number of ideas you want to collect. Don't simply

quit brainstorming at the first (or second or third) natural lull in the flow of ideas.

Once you start, don't quit or allow yourself to get distracted until your goal or

session parameter has been achieved. If you're looking for 10 new ideas, don't quit

after the first great one or two ideas are generated.

4. No idea is too stupid. Be outrageous! This is one of the golden rules of

brainstorming. You might come up with a totally off the wall idea that could never

work, but that outrageous idea, once you think about its positive aspects, could lead

you to an entirely new line of thinking.

5. Don't rush the process. Generating new ideas isn't a race. Once you get things

rolling, allow the ideas to flow. Keep building upon those ideas until you have

enough to work with and believe you'll be able to choose the best ideas to implement

as plausible and workable solutions to the problem at hand.

6. Don't judge your ideas too early. The brainstorming session, as you already know, is

for generating new ideas—not for analyzing those ideas. Save the analytical thinking

for later.

7. Generate excitement and enthusiasm. People can only be creative when they are in a

positive frame of mind. It's the facilitator’s job as well as the members of the CoLT

to keep everyone in the brainstorming session motivated, upbeat, positive, and

focused on the issue(s) at hand.

8. Build on other people's ideas. New and totally original ideas are awesome, but

sometimes the best solution to the problem at hand is simply an improvement or

modification to an already existing idea. Don't worry about being too original or not

original enough while brainstorming—just focus on generating ideas.

9. Quantity counts when brainstorming. It's always better to be able to choose from 10,

20, 30, or more ideas generated from a brainstorming session than just a handful.

Even if 99 percent of the ideas generated don't turn out to be useful, coming up with

them will keep your brain moving in different directions and force you to consider

things from different perspectives.


10. Don't be afraid. If you fear rejection or failure, you're more apt to experience it. In

the brainstorming phase, understand that all ideas are important and worthwhile. If

you believe you have a lot to contribute and don't worry about what others might

think of your ideas, you're more apt to generate really great ideas that are creative.

11. Look at things from different perspectives. Use whatever tools are necessary,

including your own five senses, to see things from different points of view. Your

education, experiences, and background knowledge can also be utilized. Sometimes,

your brain will help you make strange connections that will lead to incredible ideas.

Excerpted from:

Rich, J.R. (2003). Brain storm: Tap into your creativity to generate awesome ideas and remarkable results. Franklin Lakes,

NJ: Career Press. pp. 42-43.


APPENDIX C

Conducting an Interview

You will need to develop a question guide to ensure you ask the questions that needs to be

answered. If your consensus problem requires you to interview people you will need to

develop a different set of skills than if all you need to do is read the professional journals.

Fieldwork is one of the most enjoyable aspects of research for you to meet people or visit

sites that directly relate to your consensus problem. It is also the most challenging for there

is so much going on. Knowing what to look for is, at times, quite difficult. Don’t assume you

will remember what was said—take a lot of notes, or if the person you are interviewing

doesn’t object, record the interview. “Take lots of notes about what you see, hear, feel, smell,

and taste during your site visit” (IDEO, 2011, p. 29) and, above all, ask questions—a lot of

them. Write down your thoughts or record them as soon as you can after leaving the site.

Don’t wait until the next day—you will forget. Don’t be concerned about interpreting your

notes at this time just get your impressions on paper or tape.

You will need to interpret your field notes within the first 24 hours of returning from the

site. Is there an answer to a question that was unexpected? What about the surroundings?

Were they what you had anticipated, or again, was there something unexpected? You will

have to go over them and attempt to make sense of what was said in the interview. What did

you learn from the interview? “When you step out of an observation it’s easy to feel

overwhelmed by the amount of information you have taken in. Use [a] half hour

immediately after the session to start capturing what you have learned” (IDEO, 2011, p. 37).

The StoryCorps, a project that affords people the opportunity to share their stories with the

assistance of a facilitator, has been successfully getting people to talk about themselves since

2003. A collection of these stories, Listening is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life

(2007), suggested some possible questions one might ask of an interviewee. If you are

searching for questions to ask during your interview these might help.

What was the happiest moment of your life [career]? The saddest?

Who was the most important person in your life [career]?

Who has been the biggest influence in your life? What lessons did this person teach

you?

Who has been the kindest to you in your life [career]?

What are the most important lessons you’ve learned?

What is your earliest memory [about your career]?

What is your favorite memory [from your career]?

If you could hold on to one memory from your life for eternity what would it be?

Are there any words of wisdom you would like to pass along to me?


How would you like to be remembered?

Do you have any regrets?

What does your future hold?

Is there something you have always wanted to know but have never asked?

What are you proudest of in your life?

If you could interview anyone from your life, living or dead, but not a celebrity, who

would it be and why?

How would you describe yourself as a child?

When and where were you born?

Where did you grow up? What was it like?

What would you do for fun?

Did you have a nickname? How’d you get it?

What kind of student were you?

How would your classmates remember you?

What are your best memories of grade school/high school/college/graduate school?

Worst memories?

Was there a teacher or teachers who had a particularly strong influence on your life?

Tell me about them.

Do you have any favorite stories from school?


Appendix D

Explanation of Bosworth’s Taxonomy of Collaborative Skills

Interpersonal Skills: Interpersonal skills are the basic social skills that most

college students learn through interaction with friends and

family and in social situations. They include being interested

in getting to know someone's name, being able to listen to

another person, giving constructive rather than destructive

feedback, responding to another person's idea and not just

the person, and abstaining from put-downs and derogatory

comments.

Group Management Skills: Include making and following an agenda, keeping on task,

completing tasks on a deadline, showing empathy with the

needs and problems of fellow group members, and

discussing feelings about the group and the process.

Inquiry Skills: Are needed in order to probe for additional information;

analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information and findings;

and draw conclusions. As such, these skills are essential if

students are to seek information from a variety of sources

and to evaluate the information and the sources.

Conflict Resolution Skills: Conflicts can arise in groups over such interpersonal issues

as a member not having his or her work done for a group

meeting, or they can be intellectual because group members

cannot agree on an interpretation or a mode of

presentation. Although thoughtful attention to structure

and organization can prevent some common conflicts, any

serious collaboration is certain to engender a certain

amount of conflict you must be ready to deal with this type

of problem.

Synthesis & Presentation Skills: Once a group has gathered information, group members

need to decide how best to organize, synthesize, and

present it so others can understand and appreciate their

findings. An effective presentation requires group members

to agree on an appropriate approach, carry through on it,

and bring it to closure. Essential to developing the group's

approach are the skills of synthesizing and evaluating

information and identifying evidence that supports or


refutes claims. Basic writing and speaking skills become

important at this stage, but skills in drama, videography,

and art can transform an acceptable presentation into an

exceptional one (pp. 27-28).

Source: Bosworth, K. (1994). Developing collaborative skills in college students. In K. Bosworth and S.J.

Hamilton (Eds.), Collaborative learning: Underlying processes and effective techniques (pp. 25-31). San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass.


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