Associate Professor Willy Sher

© 2017 TEMPUS Publications. Problem-based learning (PBL) is widely used across the professional education sector and is now emerging in engineering education as both a viable and effective teaching and learning strategy. PBL originated some 45 years ago in medical education at universities in McMaster (Canada), Maastricht (Netherlands) and Newcastle (Australia) and since then has gained popularity worldwide in many professional disciplinary fields. The PBL approach, as presented in literature, supports a shift from teacher-directed, or centred, learning to facilitation of students' learning, thus shifting the focus to students' learning. Facilitation, as practiced in PBL, involves a different style of teaching compared to traditionally accepted styles, and from the experience of both students and lecturers, brings with its adoption challenges. Importantly, a skilled PBL facilitator, who issecurein their role, can contribute significantly to the effectiveness of PBL groups' work and thus to students' learning. This paper reports on a qualitative study, and its findings, concerning the experiences of academic staff and students atone institution, the German Malaysian Institute (GMI), in Malaysia. During interviews and focus groups, lecturers and students identified the challenges that lecturers face in effectively facilitating PBL. Analyses revealed two major themes that inhibit success: lecturers' and students' adaptation to PBL. These findings provide interesting insights into what is required to adapt to this mode of delivery.

© 2015 Archnet-IJAR. This paper presents the results of a preliminary protocol study of the cognitive behaviour of architectural designers during the design process. The aim is to better understand the similarities and differences in cognitive behaviour using Sequential Mixed Media (SMM) and Alternative Mixed Media (AMM) approaches, and how switching between media may impact on design processes. Two participants with at least one-year's professional design experience and a Bachelor of Design degree, and competence in both sketching and computer-aid design (CAD) modelling participated in the study. Video recordings of participants working on different projects were coded using the function-behaviour-structure (FBS) coding scheme. Participants were also interviewed and their explanations about their switching behaviours were categorised into three types: S¿C, S/CR and C¿S. Preliminary results indicate that switching between media may influence how designers identify problems and develop solutions. In particular, two design issues were identified. These relate to the FBS coding scheme, where structure (S) and behaviour derived from structure (Bs), change to documentation (D) after switching from sketching to CAD modelling (S¿C). These switches make it possible for designers to integrate both approaches into one design medium and facilitate their design processes in AMM design environments.

The Department of Civil and Building Engineering at Loughborough University, in partnership with the Chartered Institute of Building, are currently collaborating on a two-year project, 'Recording Achievement in Construction' designed to encourage personal and professional development. The project, funded by the Department for Education and Employment, aims to promote a culture that will enable and support construction students and graduates to monitor, build and reflect upon their own personal development within the construction discipline. This paper outlines the rationale for the project and explains the reasoning behind the design and development of the RAPID (Recording Achievement for Professional and Individual Development) Progress File (Loughborough University, 1999). Furthermore, this paper outlines how this tool is currently being implemented within the Higher Education community, the lessons learned to date, and offers recommendations as to how it can be most effectively integrated with existing educational structures and practices. We conclude that the RAPID Progress File is the kind of personal and professional development tool that can assist and encourage individual learners develop a life-long perspective on the learning process.