app-docs

OPEN-PBL APP

OPEN-PBL APP is an open-source software that manages problem-based learning experiences taken in vocational education. Schools can use the OPEN-PBL APP for free to ensure that their learning experiences are aligned with problem-based learning’s theoretical framework and best practices. Small businesses can also take advantage of the problem-based learning approach’s benefits by using OPEN-PBL APP for free in their employee training and development.

What is PBL
Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a learning strategy adopted - wholly or partially - by some schools in their educational architecture. At PBL, students learn by solving problems and reflecting on their experiences. They work in small collaborative groups where they learn what they need to solve a problem presented to them. In this context, the teacher acts more as a facilitator to guide student learning than as a holder of knowledge, as in traditional learning approaches.

Harvard, Minerva, and the tech school ‘42’ are some examples of successful initiatives of using PBL to develop professional higher skills. The strength of adopting the PBL strategy in vocational education lies in the pragmatism of their learning experiences, which helps accelerate students’ employability gains in the labor market.

CLASSICAL SCHOOL SYSTEMS	PBL TUTORIAL PROCESS

Figure 1. Traditional learning management systems do not adequately support the PBL approach.

Why using OPEN-PBL APP
Despite the advantages of adopting PBL-based educational architectures, only few schools fully embrace the PBL approach because it requires more expensive academic resources as they are often scarce and poorly scalable. The OPEN-PBL APP helps schools and businesses address these constraints by providing a set of features for managing the execution of class trails to discuss problem-cases solving, such as business and medical case study classes, sessions for discussion of tech projects solutions and more. To ensure the integrity of the application of PBL tutorial process, OPENPBL APP:

Interacts with teachers to help them create and disseminate case-problems (CP), and evaluate student performance in CP discussion classes.
Interacts with students to help them research and learn the academic skills required for CP analysis, and prepare the individual arguments for CP discussion.

OPEN-PBL APP	ACTORS OF OPEN-PBL LEARNING PROCESS

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OPEN-PBL APP’s set of features enables schools and businesses to embrace the PBL strategy in their architecture and educational systems without the need of acquiring expensive and non scalable academic resources. Thus, they can ensure the proper application and measurement of the effectiveness of educational architectures to:

Deploy fully student-centered educational systems by embracing the use of PBL; or
Just add some PBL experiences to the education systems they currently use.

More details at:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/openpbl/about/
https://github.com/openpbl/app-docs
http://www.open-pbl.org/

OPEN-PBL CONCEPTUALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT

The process of conceptualizing and outlining the architecture of OPEN-PBL APP originated from doctoral research from the Department of Informatics of PUC-Rio. Currently, code development is coordinated by OPEN-PBL.ORG, which is responsible for applying best international practices for the creation, versioning and licensing of free code.

Universalization of PBL
The primary mission of OPEN-PBL.ORG is to foster the use of PBL by social organizations, governments and small businesses that would otherwise not have access to the resources required for its adoption.

Licensing
The license to use OPEN-PBL APP is BSD. The code as well as all instructions for its secure deployment can be accessed at github.com/openpbl.

Monitor of PBL practices
OPEN-PBL.ORG maintains, in partnership with ”The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning”, the publication of a monitor of new academic studies and PBL application cases. The content of PBL Monitor is aimed at teachers, educators, T&D professionals, and education executives interested in following developments and discussions about the PBL learning strategy.

Support for social actions
OPEN-PBL.ORG maintains a voluntary consultancy program for the free implementation of the OPEN-PBL application in educational initiatives promoted by municipal governments and non-profit organizations.

OPEN-PBL ENVIRONMENTS WITH GOOGLE CLASSROOM APP

Virtual Learning Environments
OPEN-PBL uses the virtual environment of the Google Classroom (GC) free application as the default interface for interacting with (and between) the actors involved in the learning process. The interaction is made in the following environments:

GC environment of individual interaction with each student;
GC environment of individual interaction with each teacher;
GC environment shared by groups of teachers, dedicated to the structured development of each “case-problem” (CP);
GC environment of individual interaction with each student, dedicated to research and proficiency assessment in each subject prerequisite for PC analysis;
GC environment shared by groups of students, dedicated to the preliminary study and the elaboration of the arguments of PC analysis;
GC environment shared by students and teachers, intended for preliminary preparation for PC discussion classes;

OPEN-PBL KEY FEATURES

Instructional planning and design
Key functionalities for instructional planning and execution provided by OPEN-PBL APP in the teacher and student interaction GC environments are:

Assist teachers in the structured creation of CP;
Disseminate the PC and all complementary material associated with the interested students;
Evaluate students’ proficiency in academic topics, prerequisites for CP analysis;
Assist the teacher in the preparation and execution of CP discussion classes;
Record student participation in CP discussion classes;
Assist in the evaluation and classification of student participation in CP discussion classes;

Learning experiences
Key features for managing learning experiences provided by OPEN-PBL APP in GC teacher and student interaction environments are:

Create a conducive environment for research on each prerequisite subject for CP analysis;
Create an environment for discussion among students to elaborate the arguments of CP analysis;
Create an environment for consolidated explanation of the collective learning generated in each discussion session of a CP;

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