PBL@UD
For more than twenty-five years, the Leaders and Fellows of the Institute for Transforming Undergraduate Education (ITUE) have encouraged the adoption of student-centered and active classroom pedagogies and—in particular—the use of PBL in the undergraduate classroom. On- and off-campus workshops are held for faculty and students to enhance their understanding of PBL. We support the PBL Clearinghouse, a rich source of classroom-tested and challenging problems that support learning in a variety of disciplines.

Faculty leaders at UD have provided workshops to approximately 1,000 faculty from over 100 institutions throughout the world. You can see our recent workshops here. We are active leaders in the PAN-PBL alliance, which sponsors conferences throughout North, Central, and South America every two years. We have noted expertise in STEM disciplines, with current NSF grants in problem-based learning, but we also attend to the full curricular range of a research university. We work regularly with teachers in our public schools who wish to pursue team-based, active learning.

In general, we promote these learning outcomes:

  • critical thinking applied to real-world problems
  • teamwork and communication skills
  • effective uses of technologies of learning
  • skills in gathering and using information

We promote approaches to learning that reflect these characteristics:

  • classrooms that are student centered, where learning is active and engaged
  • pedagogies that promote learning to learn
  • approaches that apply technologies effectively to enhance learning
  • education that supports a variety of teaching approaches and learning experiences

“Great institute! I learned a lot and enjoyed interacting with participants and the ITUE staff. ”

—PBL@UD participant

hesburgh award

  Recipient of a Hesburgh Certificate of Excellence
The Theodore M. Hesburgh Award was created to acknowledge and reward successful, innovative faculty development programs that enhance undergraduate teaching. ITUE is a recipient of the 1999 Hesburgh Certificate of Excellence for its work in implementing problem-based learning in the classroom

What will you find at UD?

A campus deeply engaged with innovative education:

  • Faculty who are pursuing new models of introductory science education in the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratory.
  • Classrooms and buildings that support active, team-based learning. You will see new models for classroom labs; new buildings to integrate research, education, and client services,; and new approaches to design education.
  • Model approaches for bringing faculty together to create new approaches to learning, including a new Faculty Commons, a hotbed for teaching development.
  • New models of mathematics education, teacher preparation, digital humanities, and health education.
  • Programs and sites that bridge education and the workplace: the JP Morgan Chase Innovation Center, the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, and the STAR Health Sciences Campus, all programs which co-locate labs, clinics, classrooms, and businesses to promote student learning and connections to careers.

“It was a great event. All of you were so positive, dedicated, and egoless that you kept us interested. It was hard work, but you made me feel you really believed in the method.”

—PBL@UD participant