Students' strategies for managing social loafers in PBL : interactional means of dealing with unequal participation in group work

McQuade, Robert Michael and Ventura-Medina, Esther and Wiggins, Sally and Hendry, Gillian and Anderson, Anthony; Bridges, Susan and Imafuku, Rintaro, eds. (2020) Students' strategies for managing social loafers in PBL : interactional means of dealing with unequal participation in group work. In: Interactional Research into Problem-Based Learning. Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indiana, pp. 275-298. ISBN 978-1557538048

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Abstract

In this new era of education, employers require graduates who are not only academically proficient, but who also possess a variety of attributes such as being communicators, leaders, and networkers (Davidson & Major, 2014). As well as technical and practical subject knowledge, today’s students of the 'Information Age' (Lee, Huh & Reigeluth, 2015) must be capable of working with others and jointly making decisions, regardless of the unpredictable work-based challenges that they may face (Woods, Briedis & Perna, 2013). Essentially, employers demand the professional skills which gear graduates directly towards industry needs, and these competencies must be cultivated by educational institutions throughout (Imafuku, 2012). Problem-based Learning (PBL) – a group-based pedagogical approach where students are placed at the core of their learning – has been shown to foster these very skills (Boud & Feletti, 1997).