Problem-Based Learning

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a catchall term for several educational strategies, each of which employs different terminology and instructional purposes. While PBL strategies may be called PBL modules, scenarios, vignettes, critical incident analyses, or teaching cases (not to be confused with case study methodology), they share in common that they employ problems in the instructional process. Problem-based learning exercises generally have three distinctive design features: a narrative, responses/activities, and a debriefing.

• 1.
  Narratives describe a specific, complex predicament that is written as a scenario for exploring critical issues. As used in the preparation, training, and professional development of educational leaders, narratives range from a completely developed case, which includes extensive and detailed qualitative and/or quantitative information, to narratives that are constructivist in orientation. That is, while PBL strategies may present students with a great deal of data, they may also call for students and instructors to search for or generate additional information to complete the exercise.
• 2.
  Responses/activities entail analyzing information provided in the narrative and crafting actionable solutions to those problems. It has been suggested that analyses of PBL exercises generally follow the following sequence: (a) recognizing the problems in the narrative, (b) framing the problems in the narrative using a perspective grounded in curricular and/or course content, (c) searching for viable analytic alternatives, (d) developing and implementing a plan of action, and (e) evaluating the processes students used to formulate their solution and the quality and viability of their solutions.
• 3.
  Debriefing, often the final step of PBL activities, has a twofold purpose. First, debriefing discloses the instructors' evaluation of student work. Second, debriefing provides a chance for the instructor and students to constructively discuss alternative solutions or interpretations (and possibly group processes) they may not have previously considered.

There are many potential benefits to employing PBL educational strategies in the preparation, training, and professional development of educational leaders. Service-oriented fields such as medicine, business, and engineering have employed PBL educational strategies effectively to provide students with opportunities to apply their academic knowledge to the solution of real-life situations as part of preinternship preparation. Increased interest in the use of PBL educational strategies to aid in the development of educational leaders over the latter half of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century has yielded many useful resources, including The Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, a peer-reviewed journal devoted solely to the development and dissemination of high-quality PBL exercises (available in full text online at http://www.ucea.org). While there are other useful educational strategies available that are designed to help prospective educational leaders understand the complexities of practice, few approaches offer the benefits of PBL strategies. Such benefits have been identified as increasing awareness of where additional knowledge is required within the existing [Page 807]knowledge base and fostering collaboration between professors, practitioners, and students.