Curricula as spaces of interruption?

Abstract

This paper suggests that there has been a move away from teaching as a means of transmitting information, towards supporting learning as a student‐generated activity. There has been much work relating to this in the arena of problem‐based learning, which to date has been seen as a relatively stable approach to learning, delineated by particular characteristics and ways of operating. Most of the explanations of and arguments for problem‐based learning, thus far, have tended to focus on (or privilege) the cognitive perspectives over the ontological positions of the learner. This paper suggests that problem‐based learning (PBL) should be seen as a more troublesome learning space than it is because of the challenges of new and emerging technologies and what the constellation of ‘learning’ means. However, new curriculum spaces need to be created that help students to embrace contemporary dislocations and mediate rhetoric differently which will in turn encourages us to be brave teachers.

Keywords:

• problem‐based learning (PBL)
• curriculum
• models
• troublesomeness
• innovation

Acknowledgement

With thanks to Ray Land for making the link between disjunction and Macbeth.