PBL Symposium, Republic Polytechnic

Welcome

Theme
The theme for the symposium is “PBL and the Problematization of Teaching and Learning”.

Designing curricula problems that would engage students and prompt them to pursue a meaningful enquiry is neither simple nor trivial. It requires the application of well-developed technical skills involving adroitness at stimulating thinking, and the facility for crafting problems that are perceived to be relevant, applicable or useful. It calls for the problem crafter to deftly balance problem familiarity – students’ prior knowledge of the content and context – and problem complexity – setting problems at the appropriate difficulty level.

Problematization of teaching and learning however has another connotation, one that is rooted in the disposition of critique, wherein knowledge, curriculum and teaching and learning are in and of themselves essentially problematic. Meaning that embodied in each of these aspects are fundamental questions like whose interests is this knowledge or curricula serving, and how legitimate are these interests? What ideas are accepted and what ideas are rejected and why? Who is heard and not heard? The idea that knowledge is not neutral and that whatever ideological underpinning it may possess is contestable and malleable to the experience of the learner alludes to a purpose of education where the chief outcome is a learner that is empowered because they are participants in the process of knowledge construction.

Finally, the problematization of teaching and learning points us to the conundrum of knowledge and learning in the larger context of our world today. The contemporary world we live in is super complex and radically unstable – a world where every perspective, knowledge and position (and pedagogy) is subject to contestation. Therefore, ‘learning’ against such a backdrop has shifted its focus to a kind of ‘learning-to-doubt’. In Professor Ronald Barnett’s words (2nd International PBL Symposium 2009), how do we ‘go on in a world in which there are no rules for going on’?

This theme opens up a host of questions and challenges in education. It can be unsettling for us as educators – there seems to be more questions than answers; teaching and learning seems more beset by uncertainties and dissonance rather than offer resolutions. However, in selecting this theme for our conference, it is our desire that such a problematization also propounds questions and opens up new possibilities for pedagogy and curricula while shaping us to be more effective and profound educators.

Sub-themes

Self-directed learning/ self-regulated learning
IT and innovation in education
Assessment of student learning
Teaching in PBL
Collaborative Learning
Professional Development
Curriculum Design
Epistemology underpinning PBL

Downloads
PBL Symposium Brochure