EXPERIENCES IN PROBLEM-BASED AND COOPERATIVE LEARNING

We report on experiences in Problem-Based Learning and Cooperative learning in two Master's level Computer Science courses at Al Akhawayn University. Taking advantage of small class sizes and the opportunity to offer essentially new courses, we adopted an approach in which students' work and learning was largely driven by an individual or shared project, and where students shared with each other and the instructor their learning through classroom presentation followed by homework writing and programming activities. Students were asked to provide feedback and suggestions to the instructor at the end of the course. While, as is the case with all first-time experiences, these left ample room and provided useful suggestions for future improvement, students' reaction to the approach was largely positive and performance in the course generally quite high. The combination of approaches used in the courses is in line with our University's commitment to develop and apply novel educational practices that distinguish it from other Moroccan higher-education institutions and forge students with multi-faceted competences.