An Instructional Design Model for Online Problem Based Learning (PBL) Environments: The Learning To Teach with Technology Studio.

Abstract

Problem-based learning (PBL) is often promoted in response to the current need to offer authentic and effective professional education. PBL is a curriculum development and instructional system that simultaneously develops both problem solving strategies and disciplinary knowledge bases and skills by placing students in the active role of problem solvers confronted with an ill-structured problem that mirrors real-world problems. Traditionally, PBL is used in face-to-face environments, with a facilitator guiding collaborative teams of students in solving a problem. This paper provides a discussion of the theoretical and methodological implications of designing a problem-based professional development system on the Web, and describes an instructional design model for designing such a system, called the Learning to Teach with Technology Studio (LTTS). This model should help instructional designers better understand the theory and methodology of online problem-based learning and enable them to adapt it as needed for their own online learning environments. The model should also help support new models of professional development for K-12 teachers. Before discussing the instructional model used in the design of LTTS, the theoretical framework that was used as the basis for its development is addressed. (Contains 46