TY - BOOK

T1 - Project-based learning and the development of students' professional identity

T2 - A case study of an instructional design course with real clients in Romania

AU - Hartescu, Ioana

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Instructional design (ID) education is increasingly moving from a modelbased to a design-based approach, prompting renewed attention onrequirements to align students’ and practitioners’ professional identities. Yetthere is little current understanding of how traditionally-used pedagogies, suchas project-based learning (PjBL), contribute to the necessary identitydevelopment of students.This project aims to identify connections between students’ developmentof professional identity and elements of PjBL, based on a two-year case studyof an ID graduate course in Romania. Data was generated via observations,focus groups, written reflections and questionnaires. First, using establishedPjBL concepts, such as related cases, cognitive tools and contextual support, Iexamine how the course design was deployed and received by the students.Second, using Communities of Practice concepts, such as mutuality ofengagement and trajectories, I analyse how students developed theirprofessional identity during the course. Third, I integrate the two perspectivesto identify connections emerging throughout the stages of the course.The findings suggest that incorporating interactions with clients instudent projects benefits students’ development of professional identity, byfacilitating a more complex accountability to a joint enterprise which, in turn,lessens the need for contextual support from teachers. Yet students’ existingrepertoire of problem-solving, reflection and teamworking skills influences howthey use and benefit from elements of PjBL, such as related cases and cognitiveand collaboration tools. Additionally, those student teams engaging in jointeffort, as opposed to dividing labour, make richer use of the cognitive toolsprovided, leading to a more inbound trajectory into ID identity.The analysis has implications for the effectiveness of PjBL courses, aswell as for interventions designed to develop students’ professional identity.Moreover, the theoretical analysis widens current perspectives about thedilemmas and difficulties experienced by students trying to make the transitioninto professional life.

AB - Instructional design (ID) education is increasingly moving from a modelbased to a design-based approach, prompting renewed attention onrequirements to align students’ and practitioners’ professional identities. Yetthere is little current understanding of how traditionally-used pedagogies, suchas project-based learning (PjBL), contribute to the necessary identitydevelopment of students.This project aims to identify connections between students’ developmentof professional identity and elements of PjBL, based on a two-year case studyof an ID graduate course in Romania. Data was generated via observations,focus groups, written reflections and questionnaires. First, using establishedPjBL concepts, such as related cases, cognitive tools and contextual support, Iexamine how the course design was deployed and received by the students.Second, using Communities of Practice concepts, such as mutuality ofengagement and trajectories, I analyse how students developed theirprofessional identity during the course. Third, I integrate the two perspectivesto identify connections emerging throughout the stages of the course.The findings suggest that incorporating interactions with clients instudent projects benefits students’ development of professional identity, byfacilitating a more complex accountability to a joint enterprise which, in turn,lessens the need for contextual support from teachers. Yet students’ existingrepertoire of problem-solving, reflection and teamworking skills influences howthey use and benefit from elements of PjBL, such as related cases and cognitiveand collaboration tools. Additionally, those student teams engaging in jointeffort, as opposed to dividing labour, make richer use of the cognitive toolsprovided, leading to a more inbound trajectory into ID identity.The analysis has implications for the effectiveness of PjBL courses, aswell as for interventions designed to develop students’ professional identity.Moreover, the theoretical analysis widens current perspectives about thedilemmas and difficulties experienced by students trying to make the transitioninto professional life.

U2 - 10.17635/lancaster/thesis/1068

DO - 10.17635/lancaster/thesis/1068

M3 - Doctoral Thesis

PB - Lancaster University

ER -