| The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study is to investigate how the integration of a PBL curriculum in an online MBA program impacts the learner experience. The learner experience includes three stances as created by Savin-Baden (2000). The stances are personal, pedagogical and interactional. The overarching theme was to examine the experiences of eight learners all in different BPL courses and at different stages in an online MBA program (the beginning, the middle and at the end of the program). The primary research question was: How does problem-based learning (PBL) in online MBA courses impact the learner experience? Purposeful sampling, specifically multiple variation sampling was chosen. The data was collected in accordance with Yin's (2003) five key components derived from documentation, archival records and interviews. The variety of data collection methods served to triangulate sources corroborating findings and offsetting the pitfalls of any one given method. Data analysis consisted of the constant comparison method using NVivo7 as the primary data management tool. Key findings correlated with the Savin-Baden (2000) study revealing how the stances were interdependent upon one another depending on the individual learner. |
