descarga completa del vol. 9 nº 1 - REDU. Revista de Docencia ...

IntroductionHigher education systems have been, in the recent years, under strong pressure fromstudents, employers and society at large, in demand of adequate answers to thechallenges of a rapidly changing world. Mass education, diversity of student profiles, aswell as cultural, sociological and economic changes have all contributed to thisscenario. In this context, a strong emphasis has been put on the need for an actualshift from teacher‐centred to student‐centred systems, in which the development ofinterpersonal and professional capabilities (e.g. working in groups, leadership, makingpresentations, writing technical reports, tackling a problem) gains relevance, thedemand being that the opportunities for their development should be made explicit inthe learning experience [1],[2].For institutional reasons strongly related to this scenario, the Higher EducationPolytechnic School of Águeda ‐ University of Aveiro (ESTGA) has decided to movetowards the PBL paradigm in its three‐year engineering degrees. The process started in1999 and developed into an overall educational paradigm change involving everymember of the staff at the time. After three years of internal discussion and curriculumdevelopment, on October 2001 the move took place on the field. The process ofchange is thoroughly described by Alarcão [3] and by Oliveira [4], and will be theobject of discussion of the next section of this article.The paper will then set out to briefly discuss the change process, and will thenproceed to describe the current structure of ESTGA’s technological curricula. Finally,the author will offer a personal perspective on the development, reflecting on theaccumulated nine‐years experience as an actor engaged in the process, and discussingdifficulties and challenges of running PBL curricula on a daily‐basis.The change processIn response to a challenge from the Rector of the University of Aveiro, in 1999, theESTGA’s staff initiated a discussion of the Danish Aalborg University Project BasedLearning model using the book “The Aalborg Experiment, project innovation inuniversity education”, by Kjersdam and Enemark, as a start‐up for exploration. Sensingthe scepticism and doubts raised by this first exploration, the Rectorate took a furtherstep in the promotion of innovation: a visit to Aalborg of a university delegation leadedby the Vice‐Rector for Pedagogical Affairs, and including four members of the Águedastaff, was arranged. This visit made it possible to get to know, in loco, the Aalborgeducational reality. As a result, a report was produced that served as the starting pointfor an Águeda internal discussion on the possibility of adapting the PBL model to thereality of Portuguese society and higher education framework.The reduced number of staff members at the time, fifteen at the beginning ofthe process growing to twenty‐four along the way, allowed for general discussionmeetings in which decisions could be taken in a democratic way. It was clear thatsenior management, although not imposing a change to PBL, had expectations thatsuch a project would be undertaken by ESTGA. The staff’s feelings towards an overallchange ranged from enthusiasm to strong scepticism, with a fair number of peoplestaying in the mid‐waters of doubtfulness. As a result, the collective decision of46