ISANA

Alan McWilliams & Fiona Henderson

Abstract: This paper reports on the development of a problem based learning (PBL) approach to lectures in a large first-year subject in an undergraduate business degree. The PBL approach was adopted as a means of encouraging students to engage with the formal discourse of the subject discipline and to ground the theories presented in the subject in an authentic simulation of business practice. The first-year undergraduate subject Management and Organisation Behaviour (M&OB) is one of eight in a compulsory common core for all Bachelor of Business degrees offered by Victoria University in Melbourne.The subject is taught across three campuses in Melbourne, and at offshore partner institutions. The subject normally has about 900 students in Melbourne and around 300 students offshore each semester. Students in M&OB come from a diverse range of business degree specialisations. Assessment, central in forming students’ perceptions of learning, has been designed using Biggs’ concept of constructive alignment.

The diversity of degree specialisations for students taking M&OB often results in some them not seeing the relevance of the subject to their degree or their career goals. This has lead to students disengaging from the subject, not attending lectures that they see as ‘boring’ and subsequently failing.

In an attempt to capture students’ interest lectures have been written as a semester-long story centred on a fictional organisation. The characters in the organisation are used to present management theory in the context of authentic business situations. Students are able to participate in the decision making processes of the organisation. Questions about issues faced by the organisation are put to the students during the lecture and they respond using wireless “clicker” devices. Their responses are recorded automatically and can be immediately projected onscreen during the lecture.

Student feedback has been positive and tutors are reporting an improvement in the quality of tutorial participation. Any impact on pass rates is as yet inconclusive, evidence points to an enrichment of the overall student learning experience. However, the lectures rely on the ability of the lecturer to be a convincing ‘raconteur’ and the effects of student participation on the unfolding ‘story’ of the fictional business raises difficult questions regarding the consistent delivery of the subject across multiple campuses with different lecturers. It also meets with problems when lecturers have limited industry experience; student perception of the authenticity of the PBL scenarios may be diminished due to this (Savin-Baden, 2000, p.1). The experiential learning model conflicts with the traditional didactic form of lecture delivery.

Key Words: Problem Based Learning, Constructive Alignment, Undergraduate, Business Degree, experiential learning

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