Abstract:
Problem-based learning (PBL) is already practiced in medical
education. In 1960s, it started at McMaster University situated in
Canada and became an instructional approach where students learn by
solving open-ended problems that are challenging in nature. Socially
and contextually based teams of students are created and the problems
that are authentic tasks are solved. The students “rely on their current
knowledge of the problem; identify information they need to know
to solve the problem; and decide the strategies they use to solve the
problem”. Due to rigid curriculum developed by University to which
given self-financed college is affiliated, implementation of PBL
becomes a challenging task to undertake. The main reason being that
there are many references that do not enlighten the issue of PBL but
rather only focus upon importance and success stories of the given
practice. To address this problem, in Silver Oak Group of Institutes,
Ahmedabad, we have started implementing PBL by allocating openended
problem to the group of second and third year engineering students
of any branch and giving them timeline chart and other resources
to solve such problems. To analyse the grading criteria of students,
Problem Recognition, Organization Structure, Quality of the Work,
Presentation Skills, and Learning Outcome-based Evaluation criteria
were employed. The prediction of the student’s self-employability can
be done by observing his/her entrepreneurial education and attitude.
The knowledge gained through the studied matter should be able to
reflect upon the skill set of the attendee, which should be the main aim
while designing the curriculum for the any given course.
