Adapting project based learning to distance education : case studies

CQUniversity introduced Project based learning (PBL) courses for the undergraduate engineering degree programs with one of the objectives being to increase students’ self-directed learning to enable them to gain deeper understanding of the course content through research, problem solving, investigative activities and design of projects. These PBL courses have been offered in internal delivery mode and are now being made available in distance (FLEX) mode. This paper provides case studies of two of the PBL courses including the mode of offering, content, assessment strategies and guiding steps for students to meet the learning outcomes of the courses in detail.