The PBL 2026 Workshop is hosted by the Institute for Transforming University Education (ITUE) at the University of Delaware. The workshop facilitation team is comprised of highly effective university faculty who have successfully integrated and refined Problem-Based Learning experiences into their own courses. (more details coming soon).
Dr. Philip Duker is the Director of the Institute for Transforming University Education (ITUE) at the University of Delaware. He is an avid proponent of problem-based learning and has also published pedagogical research on: standards-based grading, just-in-time teaching, flipped pedagogy, and using clickers to capture dynamic thinking. His current pedagogical research interests include: ways to foster curiosity in the classroom and the role of scaffolding and backwards design in the creation of PBL problems. Dr. Duker remains active as a classroom instructor and continues to pursue research in music theory around repetition and temporality. He holds a Ph.D. in Music Theory from the University of Michigan where he was the James A. Winn Fellow at the Institute for the Humanities.
Dr. John Jungck is the Associate Director of the Institute for Transforming University Education (ITUE) at the University of Delaware. He was the founder of the Society for Mathematical Biology Education Committee/Sub-Group and is well-known for his contributions to mathematical and theoretical biology education, and promoting interdisciplinary work at the interface between science, technology, and the humanities. Dr. Jungck is the former director of the Dupont Interdisciplinary Science Learning Laboratories. He is a tenured full Professor of Biological Sciences and holds joint appointments in the Department of Mathematical Sciences, the Bioinformatics/ Computational Biology Program, and the Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN). Dr. Jungck’s research interests include Mathematical Biology, Evolution, Bioinformatics, Image Analysis, Education, Citizen Science, Crowdsourcing, and Constructivist Pedagogy.
Dr. Agnes Ly is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Delaware. She is an advocate for the use of mixed pedagogies and tools, such as problem-based learning, team-based learning, and clickers, to tailor and enhance student engagement and learning. Dr. Ly’s current pedagogical interests are in developing methods to engage and support students taking large-enrollment introductory courses and the use of technology to support student learning both inside and outside of the classroom. She holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of California, Irvine.
Dr. Lydia Timmins is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication. She brings more than 20 years of experience as a professional television journalist to the University. She worked in large and small-market TV stations in the Midwest and East Coast of the United States, spending 14 years at Philadelphia’s NBC10 as a producer, writer and digital editor. She is a strong proponent of learning through experiencing and doing. She uses traditional problem-based learning strategies, as well as client-based projects and other ways in which to engage students in learning and doing. Dr. Timmins earned a PhD in Mass Media and Communication from Temple University in 2010 and a MJ (Master’s of Journalism) from Temple in 2001.
Dr. Lauren Genova is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of Delaware. She is passionate about incorporating active learning activities in the classroom to enhance students’ learning experiences and has published a book on teaching for graduate students and early-career instructors in higher education. During her undergraduate studies (also at UD), she was exposed to PBL pedagogy by two leading experts in the field: Dr. Hal White and Dr. Susan Groh. Now as a faculty member herself, Dr. Genova teaches a biochemistry course rooted in problem-based learning and routinely facilitates workshops around campus to train faculty, staff, and graduate students on incorporating PBL techniques in their classrooms. Dr. Genova’s research also centers on education, with a current focus on leveraging game-based learning strategies and/or molecular visualization techniques to enrich introductory chemistry and biochemistry courses. She is also actively exploring methods to support undergraduate students’ sense of belonging in large introductory science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses.
Dr. Fred Hofstetter graduated from St. Joseph’s College and The Ohio State University, and is a Professor of Education specializing in Instructional Technology at the University of Delaware. His career goal is to help make multimedia easy enough for everyone to become a creator, not just a consumer, of multimedia. Dr. Hofstetter has led projects in science, nursing, engineering, and music that have won many awards, including a Gold CINDY for best videodisc, a gold medal from the New York Film Festival, an EDUCOM/NCRIPTAL best tutorial award, and several Joe Wyatt Challenge awards. As an IBM Consulting Scholar, Dr. Hofstetter developed the PODIUM hypermedia program for DOS, Windows, and OS/2.
As a Full Professor of Music and Educational Studies, Dr. Hofstetter authored the GUIDO Ear-Training Lessons, the Atari Music Learning Series, Temporal Acuity Products’ NoteBlaster note-reading game, the Random House book Making Music on Micros, the Prentice-Hall book Computer Literacy for Musicians, the Wadsworth book Multimedia Presentation Technology, and the McGraw-Hill books Multimedia Literacy, Advanced Web Design, and Internet Technologies at Work. Originally specializing in music, Dr. Hofstetter now supports projects across the curriculum and teaches general education courses in multimedia and Internet technologies.
Dr. Hofstetter’s latest work has been to make his Internet and Multimedia textooks available at a lower cost by self-publishing them as eBooks in the Amazon bookstore. Links are in Dr. Hofstetter’s curriculum vitae at https://www.udel.edu/fth/resume.html.