Handbook of Enquiry and Problem-based Learning: "The purpose of this handbook is fourfold. Firstly, ...it seeks to encourage the enhancement of the student experience of learning, through the development of problem and Enquiry-based Learning. Secondly, it aims to share success stories while painting a realistic picture of the processes involved... It does this by discussing progress with initiatives and exploring difficulties, barriers, “mistakes,” improvements, alongside the strategies used to tackle these real emerging challenges. Thirdly, by drawing on many contributions from Ireland, it places Irish problem and enquiry-based practice in the international context. ...Finally, this handbook aims to strengthen collegiality and help develop a collective approach to tackling common educational issues across Ireland and beyond." 12/18/05

Problem Solving: Collaborative Learning Online: Elizabeth Stacey, Deakin University, offers details of her own case study on "Redesigning an online course in teaching online to suit a new courseware management system." You can hear the entire study by audio, or in text summary with select relevant sections linked within the text. "Reflecting on her learners and her experiences, Elizabeth covers areas such as her involvement as a teacher, learners taking on roles as ‘experts’ and ‘technical collaborators’ and the frustrations some learners experienced. Of particular interest were comparisons with previous experiences in terms of contribution and structure of communication. 10/30/05

Project-based Distrubuted Learning and Adult Learners: "Kilpatrick’s philosophy places the teacher in the role of facilitator, i.e., coach or guide, and thrusts the learner into a role of active learner as researcher, collaborator, author, artist, or combination of these. ...According to Driscoll (1998), adults prefer problem-based learning. They are motivated to learn as a response to the problems in their lives, thus organizing the content of training programs by problem area, rather than by broad subject would be more significant for them. For, example, adults prefer a class in writing business letters rather than a course in business writing and grammar (Driscoll, 1998)." 04/11/04

What’s Your Problem? Increasing Student Motivation and Quality of Participation in Discussions through Problem-Based Learning: The article refers to online discussions as a "special type of course content that might be used in a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) environment. Too often, I see online learning environments where students are asked to “read this and share your thoughts”, and this rarely results in high quality collaborative discussions. This observation, which I consider to indeed be a problem, inspired me to seek out alternative ways to engage students and increase their motivation to collaboratively think at higher levels." 08/16/03

Collaborative Academic Discussions ~ Cardiovascular Case Studies. (To view this article, complete with links to examples, you'll be prompted to create a WebCT login (free) if you don't have one.) 10/14/00

Case Studies ~ Explorations in Instructional Technology & Design

McMaster: Contains several links for PBL

Project Based Learning: a student-centered site from Houghton Mifflin. 08/27/02