Overview

A PBL course could take more time to develop than the traditional model because of the structured planning that must take place and the coaches guide that must be developed. This is particularly true if it is the first time that you have attempted this task. Like most activities you will become more adept and take less time the more practice you have. The up-side for you is that your students will have a more fulfilling learning experience and will be more employable upon graduation. This is a positive result for the University's reputation and our graduates.

You will already realise that courses that don't have readily available texts to support them can impose significant demands on the academics charged with developing them. However, these days the Internet provides a considerable amount of information and resources that your students can access.

This resource based model is a good one for PBL since research is an important and an integral part of the PBL learning process. It is likely that your students will find more information through this media than you will, even if you have a research assistant helping you. This will provide additional resources for your course and provide a richer learning experience for later students.

As a rule of thumb, allocate about 30% more to your development time for a PBL course, more if this is your first time. Also, factor in some time to train your tutors--this will be new for them also.

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