ABSTRACT
Designing high-quality problems is a key success factor for problem-based learning (PBL) curricula (Gijselaers & Schmidt, 1990) as the problem is the starting point and the driving force for learning. The role of the problem-designer is to construct or select the presenting problem to be given to the students at the beginning of the learning process. It is then the students’ role to define the kernel of the problem. As problem-based learning practitioners, we have benefited from much advice from the literature that tells us that quality problems should be:
engaging and motivating;
authentic, real-world, from professional and social life;
ill-structured, open to multiple ideas/hypotheses, sustaining discussion;
multidimensional with physical, cognitive, social, emotional, ethical, and other dimensions;
a stimulus for the generation of a web of collaborative enquiry;
challenging students to achieve learning outcomes, gain an understanding of key concepts, and acquire an ability to work on common practice problems;
graduate attributes-focused, i.e. enhancing the development of transferable skills, e.g. teamwork, information literacy, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving.
(Barrett, 2005; Barrows & Tamblyn, 1980; Conway & Little, 2000; Gijselaers, 2005; Jonassen & Hung, 2008; Margetson, 1997)
