On Implementation of Classroom-Based Pedagogies of Engagement: Relevant Measures and General Outcomes

Educators, at all levels, as well as policy planners have advocated student involvement as an essential aspect of meaningful learning. Learning “about” things through conventional methods (low interaction lecture–based) does not necessarily enable students to acquire the abilities and understanding they will need for their future studies and or careers. Research has shown that interaction among students and interaction between faculty and studentscarried by far the largest weights and affected more general education outcomes than any other factor examined, including the curriculum content factors. The paper focuses on implementation of problem–based learning (PBL) in an engineering program, examines different variations of PBL discussed in the literature, selects suitable versions for potential adoption at the start, and identifies and illustrates faculty role in implementing PBL. It also includes a brief history of PBL, selected strategies to infuse PBL in an engineering program, and suggestions for redesigning courses to catalyze change in the classroom environment through student engagement. The paper, also, addresses the potential difficulties that could arise during implementation of PBL, particularly when instructors are new to this instructional method, and argues for the need, at the start, to resort to “informal” cooperative learning approaches, intertwined with the traditional lecture, to help equip students with the tools necessary for the formation of long-term cooperative learning strategies, enabling students to acquire the knowledge and understanding they will need for their future careers.