Project-based learning in professional and technological education as a proposal to forced remote learning

Crestani, Carlos Eduardo; Machado, Márcio Bender

doi:10.1590/S1413-24782023280049

Carlos Eduardo Crestani Carlos Eduardo Crestani has a doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar). He is a professor at the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de São Paulo (IFSP). E-mail: cecrestani@ifsp.edu.br

Writing – Original Draft

Conceptualization

Data Curation

Methodology

Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de São Paulo, Matão, SP, Brazil.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7317-4683

Márcio Bender Machado Márcio Bender Machado has a doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC). He is a professor at the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de São Paulo (IFSP). E-mail: bender.machado@ifsp.edu.br

Writing – Review & Editing

Conceptualization

Validation

Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de São Paulo, Campinas, SP, Brazil.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3887-5211

Carlos Eduardo Crestani has a doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar). He is a professor at the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de São Paulo (IFSP). E-mail: cecrestani@ifsp.edu.br

Márcio Bender Machado has a doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC). He is a professor at the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de São Paulo (IFSP). E-mail: bender.machado@ifsp.edu.br

Conflicts of interest: The authors declare they don’t have any commercial or associative interest that represents conflict of interests in relation to the manuscript.

Key points:
1. Based on a real industrial scenario
2. The specific and well-detailed driving question
3. Tasks that include critically utilizing the syllabus
4. The depth level of content can be determined by students
5. Freedom to solve problems in different ways
6. Critical thinking and decision-making challenges
7. Integrates opportunities for problem-solving activities within the project
8. Well-defined evaluation rubric

Student’s perception	Some topics
Challenges “I believe that we are going to have several challenges because everything is new for both sides. One of the challenges, which affects me the most, is the contact we had with our teachers for everything, which amid this pandemic is impossible.” “I believe that the interaction between the two sides will be very complicated, taking into account problems with the internet and things like that, but mainly because there is not a discussion where the two are present in the same place. I also really consider the side of the students, who are losing confidence and faith in their potential, putting it in their heads that they can’t.” “Conciliate time for school activities and entrance exams.” “Professors who were not prepared to teach online classes and difficulty in adapting content and students getting used to this pace of study.”	Adaptation Lack of physical contact Volume of tasks Organization Motivation Lack of aptitude for the method
Limitations “I believe that this is the moment to clarify doubts because this is very valuable and being in this DE routine, I believe that this interaction is a little complicated.” “The limitations would be that the teachers won’t be there to teach you and support you privately, for example, come to your desk. We’ll have to send texts explaining.” “Probably what will affect the most is inequality, not everyone has access to networks and does not even have adequate/sufficient equipment for remote teaching.”	Internet bandwidth Practical classes Communication Combating inequality
Potentialities “This class model is adaptable, each one can organize their studies according to their routine, which in a way is an advantage.” “When the class is recorded students can pause, go back, and copy more calmly.” “I believe that students will learn to study by themselves, and that is very good.” “I believe it will be advantageous for shy students who don’t like to talk in class, they can feel more comfortable, and the content can be done calmly at home.” “Best learning on the computer side.” “For me, there are no benefits to this teaching model.”	Sense of responsibility Flexibility of schedules Study pace flexibility Use of computers

Student’s perception of PBL

Some topics

“I find it interesting. With the development of projects, I believe that when doing research on a certain topic, you tend to know more about the subject.”
“I think it’s going to be cool, there are research stages and there’s the whole group that can help each other :)”
“It will be a little difficult at first, we will have to get in touch with the project group and normally speaking in groups is a little messy, but I think with time we will get used to it. My expectation is that it will be something very interesting and that we will learn a lot from it, we will have to do research and edits, it will be cool.”
“It will be a challenge as I am not an extrovert.”
“I think it’s an interesting approach that encourages creativity and more dynamic learning with some difficulties because it’s something we weren’t very used to (in parts) in traditional teaching.”
“Groupwork in face-to-face is already complicated, I believe that virtually it will get even worse. In my opinion individual work is better.”
“I feel like it’s going to be full of very difficult challenges, and we’re going to be very tired and worried about that, but I also feel that this in a way is going to help us prepare for the future.”
“It appears to be difficult, but I think it enhances our creativity in how to approach the content.”

Initial challenge and adaptation
The potential of groupwork
The difficulty of working in a group
Autonomy
Interest
Creativity
Use of technology
Motivation
Afraid of the unknown

Student’s perception

Some topics

Opinion on remote teaching after one bimester
“Remote teaching is not so easy for me, it is difficult to adapt and learn, it is very different from face-to-face classes.”
“More difficult to understand alone, the study time seems to be longer and the time to study for the entrance exam is almost non-existent.”
“Without a doubt, remote teaching is far from resembling a face-to-face class, the contact is greatly missed and at home, it is much more difficult to concentrate on classes, where we all have different factors that prevent us. However, these classes are teaching me to be more organized about my schedule and homework.”
“It’s not the same thing as being in the classroom, sometimes we have difficulties communicating with some teachers and are ashamed to be answering our questions. The platform we use is easy to understand and the video lessons and pdfs have helped a lot to understand the subjects.”
“Teaching is very complicated and confusing.”

Lack of time
Best organization
The vestibule in the background
Difficulty with focus
Good adaptation to the platform

Opinion on the PBL after the 1st project
“I prefer this method to assessment tests, so I think it’s easier to learn from research and videos.”
“At first I thought it could be easy, but in practice, it is not that easy, even more so when you have to work in a group virtually, much more complicated, even more so in a scenario where we are full of tasks, sometimes not everyone has the availability of a time to discuss the project.”
“It was a little more difficult, maybe because I don’t like working with large groups, but I’m proud of the result.”
“I thought it was cool, I think it should be a more used method, even in face-to-face classes.”
“We were able to have direct contact with the course area before working in the industry.”

Difficulty working online
Contact the course area
Funny
More laborious/difficult
Curiosity in applying to face-to-face classes
Self-criticism
Further research

Student’s perception

Some topics

Opinion on remote teaching at the end of the 2nd bimester
“DE has become something very boring and tiring now, before it seemed that it would be something different (less bad), now everything is very boring...”
“I keep thinking that it is difficult to organize myself and fulfill all the tasks.”
“My opinion regarding remote learning has not completely changed, for example, I still find it difficult to work away from teachers and classmates. On the other hand, I have learned some lessons, as a matter of fact, the ones I have acquired the most are autonomy and independence, I do things I’ve never imagined. I would be able to do it alone, I see this as something super positive.”

Tiring
A large volume of tasks
Improved autonomy and independence
Distance between teachers and students remains a challenge
Best organization
Difficulty understanding the subject

Opinion on the PBL at the end of the 2nd project
“The PBL method makes it easy to develop teamwork and this is a very important skill for our future.”
“I believe it ends up being more difficult to carry out, even more so in a situation like the pandemic. Research ability and self-control.”
“I like the method used, I acquired a lot of autonomy with teaching in DE and the resource used by the teacher was one of the contributors for this to happen.”
“I liked this method, as it helped us to develop more thinking by looking at the problems in more detail.”
“I find PBL much more difficult because it requires a lot more time and effort from all of us, so far I haven’t noticed any skills I’ve developed with it.”

Teamwork development
Difficulty
Autonomy
Maturity in the organization
Research skill
Search deeper and for a longer time

Question	TA	PA	I	PD	TD
Q1. Project-based learning needs to be complemented by traditional lectures	42%	35%	16%	6%	0%
Q2. The difficulty level of problems presented was very difficult, we could not solve them without the teacher’s help	16%	44%	0%	41%	0%
Q3. I feel ready to use the knowledge acquired in the course in future activities: professional, graduation, etc.	25%	50%	6%	19%	0%
Q4. Activities such as planning, researching, interpreting feedback, discussing, and presenting helped to develop my independent study skills	55%	33%	9%	3%	0%
Q5. With teaching based on projects, learning is more meaningful because we research the theory thinking about how to apply it	36%	42%	15%	6%	0%
Q6. Planning helped the group to organize itself to develop the project	67%	9%	18%	6%	0%
Q7. I have a better understanding of technical content because with projects it’s like working in a company	30%	45%	15%	9%	0%
Q8. With projects, learning is more meaningful because, with group solving, students help each other	26%	45%	13%	16%	0%
Q9. I retained more knowledge about the discipline with the projects because, in addition to reading concepts, we had the chance to apply them	27%	52%	15%	6%	0%
Q10. Teacher feedback helped us to move forward with the project	79%	9%	9%	3%	0%
Q11. Teacher feedbacks were detailed enough	76%	15%	6%	3%	0%
Q12. When I’m explaining a principle to a colleague, I feel like I’m learning more	48%	36%	12%	3%	0%
Q13. Because of my daily commitments, I could hardly dedicate myself to the project	22%	33%	22%	22%	0%
Q14. Although we had already worked as a group before, we had difficulties caused by the distance	53%	19%	19%	9%	0%
Q15. It was great to have the material stored in Moodle, I always had access to what was being studied	79%	18%	3%	0%	0%
Q16. I did not understand the content because I prefer to learn through the traditional method, with classes and solving exercises, even online	4%	30%	48%	19%	0%
Q17. The project-based method was a good solution for online teaching	39%	55%	6%	0%	0%
Q18. I would like to try the project-based method with face-to-face classes	58%	29%	13%	0%	0%

Opinion on remote teaching

Some topics

“My view on remote teaching changed a little, as I realized that the lack of face-to-face interaction with both colleagues and teachers can end up harming the psychological. I ended up becoming a more anxious and insecure person with everything that was happening, but I found the best way for me to be able to study and learn.”
“Remote teaching in my mind was easier and better because I was at home and more comfortable. In reality, it was not like that, you need a lot of discipline to have DE.”
“Yes, despite the difficulties, I discovered myself as a person capable of learning remotely and I felt that I had matured a lot since delivering activities and maintaining a study routine was my greatest responsibility and helped me to gain more maturity and independence.”
“Unfortunately, no, I still don’t like this form of teaching. I believe that because of everything that happened this past year, I ended up relaxing a little in my studies.”

Organization and responsibility
Anxiety
Insecurity
Disengagement from studies

Expectation vs. reality of the PBL, has your opinion changed?

Some topics

“Yes, a lot. In the beginning, I found some jobs complicated, mainly because it was a new subject, but as the course progressed, we saw that despite all the difficulties, we managed to do them all.”
“I don’t remember very well, but I believe I found the idea different and quite challenging, and these projects were challenging. But I learned many things that perhaps in a normal class I would not be able to understand.”
“At first, I didn’t like it very much, I thought it wouldn’t work, but now, my vision has completely changed. It was great to be able to work in a group, get to know each other better, learn to share functions without overloading anyone and we learned to get along better with each other.”

Complicated and then it got better
Better learning
Good results from the student’s point of view
Learning in practice
Interpretation
Organization
Coexistence

Student’s perception	Some topics
Difficulties “Doing a group project takes time and patience, both to discuss ideas and opinions, and to organize everything correctly.” “It is tiring as it requires a lot of research and reading.” “Without a doubt, planning is a difficulty, as it has to be something very well done, so as not to get lost when putting the project into practice.” “The need to know, seek and study the information to be able to apply it to the project is the most difficult step, in my view.”	Commitment, interdependence, and group organization Group brainstorming Help from colleagues Difficulty finding content on the internet Planning Group discussion Tiredness Search for technical information
Challenges “It’s your project, so you worry 10 times more.” “The issue of organization and autonomy and also more research for understanding.” “I believe that if this method were applied in the face-to-face modality, it would be much better.” “I believe the biggest challenge for a student is to stop receiving information and start looking for it on their own.”	Greater commitment Difficulties of remote teaching Communication Organization and autonomy Research and theory pursuit “Don’t give up when something is wrong, see the mistakes and try to correct them” Autonomy
Limitations “Perhaps authenticity. As it is in a group, sometimes their opinions end up falling apart.” “Since this year it was in the distance learning modality, I feel that this was the impasse, but if it had been in person, the method would be much more dynamic and with no limitations.”	Lack of computer Dialogue and communication Communication by text Missing face-to-face class Group discussion and brainstorming No limitation

Student’s perception

Some topics

Planning
“At first we had difficulty, even to understand the area of ease of each one, but we soon adapted and the plans became very useful.”
“Our group followed the planning very well... those who couldn’t or didn’t understand would clear up their doubts and sometimes, if necessary, we’d change the functions of these people, so that everyone could do it.”

Perception of skills
Disappointment with people in the group
Praise for groupwork
Self-help within the group
Subgroups that performed well
It helped in the subdivision of the project stages

Lessons learned
“With this method, I was able to have a different vision of groupwork and we can see the people who really make an effort and help to develop the activities and those who are there just to get grades without giving their best.”
“I learned how to do better and more detailed research.”
“Learn to work in a group and better understand how things work in practice instead of just working with theory.”
“With this method, I learned to be more autonomous, create good plans, work in groups, and have a broader view of certain subjects.”

Groupwork
Search
Independence
Broader view
Theory and practice aligned

Overview of PBL

Some topics

“As I said, it requires a lot from the student in terms of reading and research. But I also think we created a kind of responsibility with the project.”
“This form of learning is very good, as it offers students a variety of different contents, and even how the creation of projects within an industry works.”
“Maybe I’m very supportive of the traditional method, so I didn’t like it very much, but I can say that I learned the content.”
“Well, since the method demands that the person or group that will carry it out know the subject very well, this method ends up by itself making the learning happen in fact. The person needs to know, otherwise, they will not be able to develop.”
“I liked the method used. It’s a good way to bring divergent thoughts together to form something necessary.”
“I think it’s good, in addition to learning the subject itself, we also have the learning of groupwork and all the organization that it needs.”

Challenger
Initial difficulty
Groupwork
Discussion of ideas
Learning

[1] Carlos Eduardo Crestani has a doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar). He is a professor at the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de São Paulo (IFSP). E-mail: cecrestani@ifsp.edu.br

Brasil

Brasil

Project-based learning in professional and technological education as a proposal to forced remote learning

ABSTRACT