A BLENDED LEARNING EXPERIENCE APPLYING PROJECT-BASED LEARNING IN AN INTERDISCIPLINARY CLASSROOM

In this paper we present a successful experience of a blended learning course applying the active methodology Project-based Learning (PBL) in an interdisciplinary classroom at three Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology of Brazil, they were: IFPB, IFSul and IFSC. This course was supported by e-tools to foster social interactions among students, teachers and coaches, as well as, by innovative pedagogical techniques in order to help students on developing 21st Century Skills and Collaborative Project Skills. The course was organized in 10 weeks, totaling 60 hours and focused on training students from different areas about how to work collaboratively in projects, merging knowledge about agile project management, teamwork and collaborative tools. The course audience was composed by 95 students (N=95) from higher education courses, like Business, Computer Science, Design, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Electrical and Environmental Engineering. In order to foster critical self-reflection and increase the feedback among teachers, coaches and students, it was asked to all students the creation of an Individual Board Diary, where they were able to share the evolution of the project, learning and collaboration challenges, achievements and everything they had considered important. Teachers and coaches guided students and adjusted the path of the course based on Board Diaries, giving them suitable feedback as it advocates the premises of formative evaluation. It was investigated the relationship between the active learning methodologies, such as Project-based Learning and blended learning, and students' motivation and engagement. According to the research objectives, it was performed a qualitative analysis of the student's diary boards. The data was encoded considering two nodes: (i) blended learning challenges and achievements and (ii) students motivation during the project development. The students have written about some challenges related to teamwork and project development process, discussing about how motivated they were by different aspects: collaborative work, impressive achievements, freedom to learn regarding time and place and learning by doing. Some students reported that blended learning provided them responsibility and they realized that collaborative tools were able to support coaching sessions, discussions and feedback. Concerning students' motivation in a Project-based learning experience, they realized they could drive their own learning, work collaboratively for planning and developing projects that reflect their knowledge; and also, even though interdisciplinary students formed the most part of teams, join the strength of each one and develop challenging projects. An immediate benefit of this course is related with the mindset change of the participants from teacher centered learning to student centered learning. After all, these are the benefits of an approach that brings real problems to the student's lives.