Student Attitudes Towards Project Based Learning at SOU

Winston Friedman

Southern Oregon University (SOU) is a small public liberal arts university, currently going through large institutional changes. As part of these changes, SOU is piloting a cohort house model that gives students an opportunity to choose their topic of interest and explore that topic in their general education and major. These new house programs will be using project based learning (PBL) as a main component. This study is interested in where PBL is already used at SOU and what the students' attitudes are towards it. This research could either validate the house's decision to use PBL or show that it may not have been a good decision. Given that the purpose of the new house model is to raise retention rates at SOU and provide a better learning experience for students it is important to know what students feel about their current learning experience. Also if it is known how students feel about the different types of learning at SOU, then SOU can adapt accordingly.