A Practice for Training IT Engineers by Combining Two Different Types of PBL

Abstract

PBLs signifies both problem-based learning and project-based learning; we clearly distinguish between the two types of PBLs. The former PBL involves finding ways to solve problems under unfavorable conditions. In the curriculum at our institute, problem-based learning has been conducted since 2006. By contrast, project-based learning involves a student team undertaking an actual project, devised by a company. We did not adopt project-based learning in our curriculum. In 2016, our institute joined the Education Network for Practical Information Technology project of Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. In that project, around 40 universities are engaged in developing a cooperative network. Each university develops practical education using PBL; its knowledge and resources obtained are shared among other universities in the network. For our part of the project, we added 3 practical exercises based on project-based learning. By combining the two different types of PBL, our curriculum provides exercises that introduce better problem-solving skills, instill a challenging spirit, and provide practical experience for students. In this paper, we report our exercises and practical results for 2017.