To support PBCL within your classroom it is often necessary to prepare as well as reinforce the “teamwork” skills of your students.
We teach an introductory IT course at Iowa Western Community College that uses Problem-based Case Learning. We spend several weeks at the beginning of the course teaching teamwork skills such as listening, sharing knowledge, brainstorming, and consensus building. I have used team building activities that I found on-line and corny team discussions like which two super heroes could defeat all others in a tag-team wrestling match.
We also discuss the different roles that team members assume; facilitator, recorder, negotiator, realist, idealist, and out-side-the-box thinker. I have also used personality surveys to get the student to understand how they and others on their team think.
It is then my job as facilitator to remind the students to use their ‘Team’ skills as they work on their case problems during the rest of the semester. It is important to monitor the team activities, redirecting them into good team and problem-solving behaviors and attitudes