Problem-Based Learning in a Technical Course in Computing: A Case Study

Problem-based learning has been well-documented, from its early days in the teaching of medical professionals to its more recent use in other disciplines. It has been adopted in many educational institutions because it gives students a realistic problem and provides opportunities to translate knowledge into solutions. This article is a case study of this approach at a second-year technical course, in which members of the class were divided into groups and given a scenario concerning a fictitious organisation about to embark on a major upgrade to its existing and problematic networking infrastructure. The course consisted of two parts. The first group was provided with a set of virtual machines to upgrade, and the second group chose and implemented a major technology on this newly upgraded network. The authors outline how problem-based learning is used in this context in a way that informs the teaching of any technical computing course.