Project based learning (PBL) in the teachers' education

Abstract

For a long time, the education means gaining knowledge and skills but this have changed and todays education is more focused on gaining competences. The competences are much more aligned with the concept of learning for life. In the 2012 we started the course Information support for didactical strategies for the 2nd year of postgraduate study program of general pedagogy. We have gathered students reports — their didactical feedbacks; and interviews to assess the students' abilities to cope with real professional problems. All students' assignments have common goals: good design; development; and implementation of students' projects. Topics of collaboration, communication, project managements, and assessment strategies are studied and used in practical students' work. Students are required to provide their own view where and how specific topics can or could be applied in known didactical strategies. Four years' study provide the interesting insight into our students' characteristics. We discovered some: • known facts (good knowledge of their study discipline, campaign learning) • surprising facts (preferences to the simple e-learning materials PDF or Word) • alarming facts (no self-initiative, cannot comply with time constraints, misunderstanding of quality concept), and • interesting facts (cannot work in school, hate to talk in front of the audience, they do not “know” their schoolmates).