OCEL supports PBL: Project, Practice, Problem-Based Learning

PBL describes coursework that is interdisciplinary and collaborative. PBL courses encourage analysis, evaluation, and critical thinking skills through real-life application. By the end of the course, this applied learning often results in outcomes relevant to campus and community stakeholders. For real examples of how faculty have incorporated a community-engaged element into their PBL courses, watch this recording of PBL-Palooza (November 2022)!

OCEL supports PBL efforts by connecting faculty with community partners in order to build a long-lasting, mutually-beneficial partnership over time. Take a look at some current engaged-PBL partnerships and their related activities below.

Join Professor Marcus Harris for ENT 403 this Winter 2024 and learn how to make an impact in your community and beyond through entrepreneurship. This course also partners with our annual Poverty Simulation.

A fantastic Urban Futures and engaged-PBL opportunity - contact Professor Ulrich Kamp for more information about this upcoming study abroad program.

Brilliant Detroit is a nonprofit with a focus on holistic early childhood development, offering education, health, and family support programming in their 18 locations around the city of Detroit. UM-Dearborn's Spanish faculty were seeking a community partner to add a PBL aspect to their courses, and Brilliant Detroit was a perfect fit. This is the beginning of a rich partnership with a long-term vision including cultural immersion events, book clubs, workshops, campus tours, and more. Check out Professor Gonzalez del Pozo and Professor Martinez-Valencia's upcoming cooking demonstration at Brilliant Detroit's Southwest Center featuring Spanish Cuisine and Whole Food Plant-Based Meals on December 7th! 

The Eastern Market has been a mainstay community hub and farmer's market since 1891, boasting the area's multitude of fresh food vendors and artisans. It was CASL faculty's hope that these vendors and artisans could benefit from UM-Dearborn's campus resources and that they might share their expertise about natural

products and entrepreneurship. Soon, a partnership was formed between faculty of the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Certificate program, UM-Dearborn's Environmental Interpretive Center, and select Eastern Market stakeholders. We are so excited to watch this relationship mutually grow through potential internships, workshops, and knowledge sharing.

Part of the planning process for the Poverty Simulation involves working with faculty to incorporate the experience into their coursework. Faculty from a wide range of disciplines have successfully implemented the Poverty Simulation as engage learning assignments - from entrepreneurship, to history, to sociology, and more.

This slide deck has real examples of prompts assigned in conjunction with attending the Poverty Simulation. Thank you to Professors Georgina Hickey, Carmel Price, Marcus Harris, and Lara Rusch for sharing!