Claus Christian Monrad Spliid

The Construction of Teaching Roles at Aalborg University Centre, 1970-1980.

Abstract This paper proposes a historical analysis of the development of teaching roles at Aalborg University Centre in its first 10 years. The research highlights three processes through which the interpretation of the new ‘supervisor’ roles was constructed within the problem-oriented, project-based educational model of AUC. First, the authors show that the institutional framework for teaching roles was deliberately left open to significant interpretation from the various faculties of the university; second, the critical theoretical model that had served as a guideline for the inception of project work in Roskilde failed to make an impact in Aalborg, whereas teachers from AUC were more receptive to constructivist psychology as a theoretical framework for practice; third, through community-building and negotiation within the faculties, different interpretations of teaching roles emerged in the different disciplines. The paper closes with a reflection on the implications of these findings for the more general context of higher education.

Teacher in a problem-based learning environment – Jack of all trades?

ABSTRACT Problem-based learning (PBL) is one among several approaches to active learning. Being a teacher in a PBL environment can, however, be a challenge because of the need to support students’ learning within a broad ‘landscape of learning’. In this article we will analyse the landscape of learning by use of the study activity model (SAM) developed by the Danish University Colleges, with the aim of investigating to which extent this may lead to explication and clarification concerning the challenges faced by teachers in a PBL environment. In the case study, the SAM is applied to the first semester of an engineering programme at Aalborg University, a university setting where the PBL approach to teaching and learning is dominant. The results of the analysis are presented and discussed, and the conclusion is that the model, in spite of some shortcomings, is useful in clarifying the role of the teacher in a PBL environment.

When Students Take the Lead

Self-directed learning (SDL) is an essential element of the problem-based learning (PBL) philosophy, and PBL has been the cornerstone of education at Aalborg University since its foundation in 1974. The introduction of PBL has had an impact on the expectations and the relationships of both staff and students. As a consequence, the distribution of power relating to the organizational as well as the sociocultural context also has to change. Due to the range of diversity among students and staff, we are constantly reminded that common-sense understandings of academic staff-student interactions can be questioned continuously, in particular in a multicultural learning environment like the one we have at Aalborg.