Purpose: Project-Based Learning (PBL) is considered to be an active learning methodology
which can be used to develop both technical and transversal competences in engineering
programs. This methodology demands a great deal of work effort from the students and also
from the teachers and it requires a meticulous plan and a well-managed project as well. These
activities go far beyond the normal activities in traditional lectures, enabling to outpace the
difficulties that spur along the way that may be both complex and demotivating. This
methodology has been implemented in the Integrated Master Degree on Industrial Engineering
and Management (IEM), at one public university in Portugal, since the 2004/2005 academic year.
The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss the main difficulties of the implementation of
PBL, mainly from the teachers’ perspectives. Additionally, some effective strategies will be
recommended to overcome such difficulties.
Design/methodology/approach: The perceptions of the teachers were collected through a
survey based on six main themes. The participants in the study include eight teachers from the
five courses of the first semester of the first year of the IEM program involved in the 2012/2013
and 2013/2014 editions.
Findings: Integration of courses in the project; student assessment; growing number of students
in each team and the need of physical spaces for them; and compartmentalized knowledge has
emerged as the main difficulties. To overcome these difficulties some key strategies were
recommended.
Originality/value: A new perspective based on course teachers' views and experiences will
deepen the understanding of the problems and provide inputs for the development of strategies
that may improve the effectiveness of PBL and introduce changes for its successful
implementation. These strategies are intended to be transferable to other contexts, as most of the
problems and constraints are common to other active learning approaches.
