It has also helped students understand the criteria for evaluation. Class presentations, in particular, tended to turn into an entertaining debate, but little else. When we focused on decision making, it became clear that groups needed to present enough evidence and valid arguments from all sides to allow the rest of class to make their own decisions on the issue. Benefits and Challenges Allowing students to choose and research their own issues has had both its benefits and its challenges. Students all work on different problems, and must be responsible for teaching the rest of the class about their issue, and often the instructor as well.
Instructors serve more as peer learners and critics than authority figures.
This very fact, of course, is disturbing for many students. We have attempted to reduce some of the concern about the latter by experimenting with different techniques for helping students organize and reflect on their work, such as journals and portfolios. This has decreased significantly many students' frustration with the project as a whole, making it more likely that they will be able to learn and grow intellectually from the experience. Workload is probably the primary remaining concern, for both faculty and students. Our course format allows us to dedicate significant amounts of in-class time to working on these projects.