Over the 2009-2010 academic year, thirty secondary, community college, and four-year
college and university in-service STEM educators were recruited nationwide to take part in a
15-week online course. The online course is being conducted in three 5-week sessions in fall2010, winter 2011 and spring 2011, for a total of 90 hours of coursework, with a break of 6-8
weeks between sessions. Experience gleaned from prior online course delivery [30] revealed
that participants perform better in short-term sessions with time in between to reflect on the
experience and begin to plan implementation of the course material in their own classrooms.
Experienced PBL instructors from the PHOTON PBL project have also enrolled in the
course as mentors who monitor discussions and provide guidance to new faculty. Course
participants work in small teams of 3-4 teachers to model the dynamics of how the PBL
Challenges will be used in their classrooms. Using Blackboard Vista® as a course delivery
platform, participants work to solve three STEM PBL Challenges, beginning with a
Structured format (Session I), then a Guided format (Session II), and finally an Open-ended
format (Session III) through threaded discussions and online chats. From session to session,
the participants are given greater autonomy as more responsibility is placed on them to selfdirect
their own learning. The course structure, from highly structured to open-ended will
emulate the way instructors will use Challenges with their own students. Between online
class sessions, participants will collaborate with each other, PHOTON PBL mentors and the
STEM PBL project team to explore how best to incorporate the PBL Challenges into their
own classroom and curriculum.
Prior to the online course, a two-day introductory workshop was held in early fall 2010 at a
central location to acquaint participants with the online learning environment and the PBL
Challenges, and to create a learning community to foster online collaboration. All
participants were added to the PBL listserv; an email listserv managed by the New England
Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) and composed of a nationwide network of PBL
educators, educational researchers, and industry mentors. Employees of partner industries
and research universities also participate in the listserv to provide ongoing technical support
to educators.