Page 27 - Learning & Teaching Model

nature of a person’s worldview; fragmented psyches are generally considered ill adapted to the needs of adult survival (Ackoff
and Greenberg, 2008, pp. 42-43).
Avoiding the ultra-compartmentalization described by Ackoff and Greenberg above, integrative learning enables students
to synthesize knowledge from different sources and disciplines, make connections between theory and practice, link knowledge and skill development, and apply their learning to authentic workplace contexts (Huber and Hutchings, 2004; Scott, 2002). According to Arcario, Eynon and Clark (2005), integrative learning helps students overcome the fragmentation and
make critical connections that can support academic success and professional relevance:
In their hurried approach to education, students often miss the opportunities to nd critical intersections between their personal, professional, and educational lives. As passengers on life’s express train, they usually don’t have time to get off and make those connections (p.15).
Furthermore, Humphreys (2005) argues that making these connections not only helps students effectively manage the complexities in their academic and working lives but prepares them for addressing the signi cant challenges facing broader society in the 21st Century – the “multilayered, unscripted problems”(p. 30) that require an integrative mindset.
This approach to learning aligns exceptionally well with
the university’s mission to provide undergraduate and graduate students with applied, practical relevance, and experience. Many of our programs include a number of learning activities designed to actively promote integrative learning such as case competitions, applied major projects, capstone projects, re ective portfolios, etc.
One example of a teaching approach designed to facilitate integrative learning that is used in many RRU programs is problem-based learning (PBL). PBL can be de ned as
[A] curriculum of carefully selected and designed problems that demand from the learner acquisition of critical knowledge, problem-solving pro ciency, self-directed learning strategies, and team-participation skills. Students work in small groups, generate hypotheses about the ‘problem’ and learning objectives, work outside of class to ll these de ciencies, then reconvene
to teach each other and solve the problem. (Kinkade, 2005, p.300)
These solutions often draw on knowledge and skills that transcend traditional disciplinary structures and mirror the kinds of integrated, inquiry-oriented approaches that are considered valuable in the workplace (Donnelly & Fitzmaurice, 2005; Dunlap, 2005). PBL seems well suited to applications where students often possess or desire substantive real-life experience and are seeking ways to apply new skills and knowledge
to directly enhance workplace performance. The approach attempts to re ect authentic and contextualised problem- solving processes encountered in real-life situations (Dunlap, 2005; Hmelo-Silver, 2004; Boud, 1995). Therefore, Dunlap (2005) has referred to PBL as an “apprenticeship for real-life problem solving, helping students acquire the knowledge and skills required in the workplace” (p.65). The effective implementation of PBL stresses the importance of using authentic and relevant problems that: (1) have real-life consequences; (2) are embedded in a supportive community of practice comprised of fellow students and instructors who serve as mentors/coaches;
(3) involve collaborative learning; and (4) rely on an integrated model of assessment.
A noteworthy element of the PBL experience is the metaphorical nature of how a problem is conceptualized. ‘Problems’ exist
Royal Roads University Learning and Teaching Model 25