Portraits of PBL: Course objectives and students' study strategies in computer engineering, psychology and physiotherapy

The central theme of the investigation concerns the role of course objectiv es in relation to students' study strategies in problem-based learning (PBL ). The results comprise data from three different PBL programmes at Linkopi ngs Universitet; a Bachelor's programme in physiotherapy, a Master's progra mme in psychology, and a Master's programme in Computer Engineering, respec tively. In all three programmes, the faculty provides course objectives wit h the intention that these should function as a supportive structure and gu ide for the students' independent studies. The results show that the object ives were used differently in the different programmes; as an integrated to ol in the learning process, as an administrative schedule or as a retroacti ve checklist, respectively. The students' use of the course objectives in t he learning process varied according to how the objectives were formulated and conceived. The relationship between the format of objectives provided b y the faculty and how students deal with them in the learning process could also denote fragments of the different educational cultures within the thr ee programmes and how the meaning of problem-based learning is interpreted.