Problem-based Case Learning (PBCL) is an effective practice for producing changes in teaching strategies and subsequent redesign of courses into integrated, assessment-driven, learning experiences set in a business context. PBCL is based on yet unsolved problematic local industry situations that require learners to build on their knowledge, engage the situation to build a depth of competence, and reflect on their own thinking and process. The approach facilitates development of complex communication, expert thinking essential in a global economy and advancement in adaptive expertise. Over 400 faculty from participating ATE projects have adopted PBCL resulting in improved student learning and professional development of faculty. Building on what was learned in previous NSF-funded projects and the ideas and input of John Bransford at the LIFE Center at the University of Washington, Nashville State Technical College in partnership with WGBH, produces and disseminates video, web-based and print resources for professional development of faculty and for use in classrooms. Training teams of experienced practitioners are established at Nashville State Community College and the Midwest Center for Information Technology in Nebraska to extend the effectiveness of PBCL by making the fundamental principles more easily accessible to a wider audience of practitioners. The effect of the instruction on student performance and employer satisfaction is measured. The project also evaluates the changes in colleges due to the development of a community of PBCL practitioners.
Problem-Base-Case-Learning (PBCL) offers significant potential to produce more engaged and better prepared students for the workplace. PBCL is a teaching method that trains students to tackle real-world business problems in the classroom. The concepts included in PBCL instruction create excellent opportunities for businesses and educational institutes to work together to provide workforce readiness in their communities. PBCL has shown that streamlining and enhancing the connections between businesses and education can improve instruction. The PBCL process was developed over a 12 year period with NSF funding. It started with teachers touring a business site to glean problems for their students to solve. It developed over time to a process where a business partner is asked to cooperate with an instructor to define a real, current problem from the business that students can work in their class. Students may interface directly with the business partner when they have specific questions and, as a team, they use all resources available to them to develop and communicate a proposed solution to the business partner's problem. The business partner answers student questions and eventually listens to and responds to the students proposed solution. Instructors from across the nation have been trained in the PBCL process where teachers become facilitators of learning rather than lecturers. They work directly with business partners to identify appropriate problems for students to solve and assist students locate resources to help solve the problem. This type of instruction has shown significant promise in its work with community colleges and buinsesses in different locations. Both students and the business partners benefit from this dynamic relationship. Students learn the context of the workplace which increases their educational experience while employers benefit by knowing that students have been trainied in the way to solve problems in a real-world environment..
