I delivered the research project to apply for a place in the PhD program of the Federal University of Santa Catarina, the last step of a selection process that takes 5 months. I used the experience in consulting for the Catari Research Group to base the project. Basically finding a way to use PBL more easily supported by technology, and with a more flexible implementation model than the curriculum PBL.
When OpenPBL project started
I finished consulting in an extensive specification of how the plugin to enable Moodle in PBL use should be improved, both in terms of UI and in terms of UX. The Catari Research Supervisor thanks my help and praises the results presented. What I gained most was the knowledge of PBL and the history of frustrated or discontinued attempts to develop software to support this methodology.
The first spark
My first doctoral advisor asks for help to develop an application for PBL implementation in a research by the University of Qatar. In this research, a plugin for Moodle to be used as a PBL activities support tool is designed. To my surprise, the authentic PBL is not supported by Moodle, nor in its Wordkshop module, nor for its assignment module.