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Adopting PBL at Helia
Value Creation through Learning Relationships in Business Education. Adopting PBL at Helia.
Fagerholm, Harriet and Helelä, Matti
Helia,
The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the curriculum transformation process at Helia,
As a response to the changing needs in the workplace, we began to think about how well the traditional subject-based curriculum can meet the future requirements. We also felt increasing dissatisfaction with the traditional instructor-centred way of learning and teaching, with the students often lacking motivation and commitment. We were particularly disappointed with the curriculum of our 3½-year International Business Programme, Liibba (210 ECTS credits), conducted in English. Our graduates attain the title of Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) or the Finnish title ‘tradenomi’.
We started by experimenting with problem-based learning in a couple of courses and quickly felt a need for a bigger investment of time and money to develop a real PBL curriculum, instead of using PBL a method in a traditional subject-based curriculum. One of our instructors sent a written proposal to the President of the polytechnic for beginning a total curriculum reform in the Liibba programme. The proposal was accepted and the transformation project started in early 2000. The objective of the reform project was to implement PBL as a teaching and learning strategy in the whole curriculum and to deepen the knowledge of PBL at Helia, thus sharing information and experiences throughout the organisation. Our project group consisted of eight instructors and a principal lecturer from Helia School of Vocational Teacher Education. Our first PBL students started the renewed degree programme in January 2001.
To learn about PBL, some Helia instructors observed tutorials at the Faculty of Medicine at the
PBL Curriculum as a Learning Community
In business, the idea of mass marketing based on transaction thinking is becoming less effective and less profitable. Instead, companies now focus on retaining their existing customers by creating long-lasting relationships to create value for both parties. The relationship paradigm is strongly emphasised. This means focusing on the process instead of the outcome and aiming at mutual cooperation.
This framework has helped us to define the principles of our work in the Liibba programme. The PBL approach enables us to create valuable relationships in many different ways, not only among students but also between students and instructors. It is also important to network with companies and organisations around us. The crucial point is to base our work on the assumption of mutual interdependence, aiming to create value for all parties (see Figure 1).
Mutual cooperation is emphasised between students and instructors. Competition and conflict can be avoided through an open dialogue and constructive feedback, aiming to constantly re-evaluate and improve the way we work. The value creation for students means trustworthy personal relationships with the tutors and peers, with a high quality of guiding and feedback. Involving the whole tutorial team in knowledge construction increases value, and different cultural perspectives bring additional points of view. The experiences and ideas from peer students can, when the PBL approach works successfully, really bring added value to the process. This naturally requires good personal contribution and high-quality work during self-study from each member in the process.
The added value for the instructor may come from learning from valuable student work experiences, cultural differences, new articles, new company examples, new theories, and other shared knowledge. The relationships may turn into true learning relationships, where both parties are interested in learning as much as possible from each other. The aim is a win-win situation for all parties involved, with a perspective to facilitate mutual value creation. The ultimate goal is a true learning community and a learning organisation. In organisations, the focus is more and more on collective learning instead of facilitating self-development and individual learning. Educational organisations need to adopt the same ways of working and make the students to learn collectively.
Figure 1. Value creation in curriculum design
In our experience, many students have difficulties in understanding the shift of focus from teaching to learning. This is due to their experiences from more traditional curricula, where the student’s main interest is to focus on individual performance, gathering credits and gaining good exam results. They have a very transaction-based way of thinking. Instructors are often seen as opposite to students with the power to determine who will pass or not. For students from very authoritative cultures, it is an even bigger challenge to adjust to the value-creating way of working. They have difficulties in relating to an instructor as a facilitator instead of an information provider. The new way of working requires a major change in everyone involved, including the instructors. Therefore the idea of the Liibba programme as a learning community should be promoted and emphasised all the time. Value creation cannot be taken for granted.
There are already several encouraging examples of how the learning relationships work between students and tutors. Students have taken numerous initiatives of their own to promote the Liibba programme, sending e-mail from all over the world sharing what they have learned and what we should teach in the programme, and gathering material for the tutors from different seminars and occasions. All this helps us to increase the value for all parties involved.
Values Guiding the Work and Behaviour in the Curriculum
Since the definition of the professional identity guides the content and working principles in the curriculum, our first Liibba PBL students themselves began to form specific values for the Liibba programme. They felt that values could be beneficial in evaluating the success of the work, guiding students in their behaviour. Companies today usually work according to defined values, and therefore it is beneficial for students to get used to value-based work during their studies.
Professionalism is regarded as one important value in every part of the work. This means professional behaviour in every contact between students and instructors. Since we want to see the tutorial session as a metaphor of a professional business meeting, it is fairly easy to adopt a professional way of working. This means high working morals, meeting the deadlines and expectations, and good interpersonal communication based on respect. Tutorial teams as well as project groups make their ground rules for working together. These usually contain ideas about punctuality, preparedness, feedback and respect.
Our value definition process began with a workshop for all Liibba students arranged by the tutors. As an introduction, we organised a professional lecture on values and their use in organisations. After that, the students discussed the need and objective for defining values in the curriculum. The students suggested that everyone should propose three values for the final definition of the Liibba values. The students then posted their value suggestions on Discussion Board in the Blackboard learning platform, also briefly arguing their choice. After this, the tutors selected the final values from among the students’ suggestions, since the tutors also have to observe and fulfil these values in their work.
The three values chosen by the tutors are respect, trust and growth. The next phase in our ongoing value definition process has been to ask the students to define the meanings of each of these three values. In other words, the students are expected to expand upon the meanings of the values more explicitly, and to translate them into the language spoken by Liibba students.
When the tutors defined the three Liibba values, they also defined the Liibba mission as follows:
Our mission can be summed up in three words: passion, performance and progress. Passion means the desire to learn, to work and to achieve. Performance is the quality and end result of the learning process. Progress expresses the individual’s personal and professional growth and development.
These three words were chosen for the Liibba mission model from an experienced Liibba student’s own value suggestions. The tutors found these concepts very good, but more suitable for defining the Liibba mission rather than values.
In the same connection, the tutors defined the Liibba vision as follows: To Excel in Professionalism
Content of the Liibba Curriculum
When developing a Liibba curriculum, it was necessary to involve instructors from as many disciplines as possible. The content of the Liibba curriculum is no longer based on subjects, but it is organised in themes covering different subjects and areas of knowledge. The themes are organised into larger study modules consisting of 13 to 24 ECTS credits. The major idea is to integrate the subjects into challenging learning tasks covering authentic problems.
A major challenge has been to integrate language studies and other skills, such as computer science and mathematics. It has been up to the instructors whether this integration can succeed or not. Everyone’s input has been needed. What has also been important when planning integrated PBL modules is the content accuracy, which has been discussed with representatives from the workplace.
We planned the content of the curriculum as a whole. In order to grasp the major idea and content of the integrated PBL modules, it was necessary to define the following factors: (1) the objectives of the module, (2) the learning processes taking place in the module, (3) the specific tasks to be accomplished, and (4) the skills to be developed. The assessment principles defined for the module guide the evaluation of the success of the above-discussed factors.
Projects as a Part of the PBL Curriculum
To transform the Liibba programme into a problem-based learning curriculum, we emphasised versatile ways of conducting student-centred learning. We considered projects a very important part of the curriculum and integrated them into the PBL modules from the beginning. The connection between these two PBL acronyms is very close. We considered the problem-based learning format very suitable for the early years of study (1 to 1.5 years), since it gives the students the abilities to work in more demanding projects later. Project-based learning would be the most appropriate study approach on an advanced level. PBL tutorials give a clear structure to the studies and the students may focus, during the first year, on developing their personal skills in project work. Based on our experiences, we see that the combination of both of these two learning strategies in the curriculum has been beneficial. Theory and practice are combined, and the projects have been conducted according to project management principles. Instructors have the same role as in problem-based learning: giving guidance, helping with the theory sources, and facilitating learning. The curriculum must be very flexible and give space to the projects. Theory related to the project content area as well as project management must to be studied. Students need enough time and space to organise their studying.
Events as Part of the Curriculum Content
A special characteristic in the new PBL curriculum is provided by the events arranged by the students. Since learning by doing is emphasised in the PBL context, we came up with the idea of using events for practical learning of project management, marketing and organising. In the first-semester module, students have arranged events to introduce the PBL learning approach to guests invited from businesses, educational institutions, and Helia. The students have been fully in charge of planning, arranging and performing the programme, and the feedback from the guests has been very positive.
In the second-semester module, students have arranged a Business Plan Fair Event to present their business plans in the business-fair format, using posters. They have also arranged panel discussions about entrepreneurship in
The most successful event regarding the number of outside participants was arranged by the students in the third semester called Becoming an International Actor. This event captured the idea of how to use storytelling in a corporate setting. The students presented their storytelling projects and invited an outside committee to evaluate their work. The topic was very up-to-date and created a positive interest in the Liibba programme. Unfortunately we were not able to continue the storytelling project due to difficulties in integrating the different subjects into the storytelling project.
During the planning and implementation of the events, some student groups have shown great contribution, creativity and enthusiasm. This has really made us understand the enormous potential in students. The curriculum must be planned to put most of that potential into use. We feel that in a traditional curriculum, the student potential is not fully explored and used.
Assessment and Constant Evaluation of the Liibba Programme
The role of assessment is an integral part of learning in the Liibba programme. The mission of assessment is to provide continuous information for the student and the tutor about how the learning process is proceeding on both a personal and a professional level. As the learning occurs, it builds upon previous knowledge and its structure becomes more complex. Assessment should therefore reflect the present state of learning complexity and how it matches with the objectives of the curriculum. A learning outcome must be assessed holistically.
In our assessment strategy, we see assessment as an endeavour that involves all parties of the learning community (student, tutor and peers). Assessment should focus on formal and procedural knowledge. The Liibba assessment strategy also aims to consider the divergent side of assessment. Usually the convergent side is well covered, but the divergent thinking has to be assessed in appropriate assessment procedures as well.
Students assess their learning by reflecting on their learning experiences and critically important learning incidents by using student-generated criteria. Self-assessment may take place in written forms and orally in exam situations or in evaluation sessions. Peer assessments take place in different learning environments, such as tutorials and projects. Self and peer assessment not only sharpen content learning but also provide opportunities for students to learn the metacognitive processes of self-monitoring, which they will be required to perform later in their professional career.
In order to develop student contribution and the quality of the PBL modules on a continuous basis, we arrange evaluation seminars in every PBL module. They are compulsory for the students, and, before the session, each student must fill an electronic evaluation form. The questions in the document are related to the content and the learning processes, as well as projects and tutorials. The evaluation sessions take place both in the middle and in the end of the module. The students must learn to stop the process and reflect on what is going on and why. Evaluation sessions are often held informally in an outside surrounding, helping to create a trustworthy atmosphere between tutors and students.
Lessons Learnt
We have learnt that PBL is an effective learning approach when implemented by a team of tutors who constantly seek to find better ways to answer to the changing demands of the workplace. The transformation of the programme required a great deal of time and devotion. Above all, we needed strong faith in our vision. Knowing that we are on the right track was a carrying force when looking for answers to many open questions. In fact, many advantages of PBL are much clearer now than when we began.
The Polytechnic gave us resources for the planning process. The actual implementation is now based on the same financial resources as the non-PBL curricula, if measured financially. The greatest power in PBL planning and implementation is nonetheless the team-oriented spirit of all those involved. The new curriculum has been an ideal forum for instructors to work together for the ‘big picture’ – not only focusing on the area of their previous expertise. This way we have been able to welcome more ideas from business organisations at the same time. And the students have become even a surprisingly important asset for better implementation and continuous enhancement of our ways of working together. They provide numerous ideas during their studies and even after graduation.
According to our experience, PBL tutors in their role as a learning process facilitator get to know their students much more personally than teachers generally know their students in conventional curricula. Students are no longer faces in the classroom, but they are persons with a brain and heart. Both the tutors and the students act in the roles of the learner and instructor.
We would not change the programme back to the traditional way of teaching and learning. We feel that, once you have experienced PBL, there is no turning back. On the contrary, you begin to question how you could do this better. Pedagogical discussion has become an everyday activity in our learning community. We feel that we have not only the need but also the opportunity to question our working patterns. One of our challenges is to tackle the epistemological issues in business education. Our understanding of knowledge greatly affects our way of implementing PBL and our approach to assessing students’ learning.
REFERENCE
Fagerholm, H. & Helelä, M. (2003). Handbook for Transforming a BBA Program in International Business into a Problem-based Learning Curriculum. Helia publication series A:8.
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