The learning design implemented for this exemplar involves three similiarly structured problem-based tasks. Students are required to locate resources to help them solve the problem and are heavily supported through the problem-solving process.

The Learning Design Sequence is illustrated as follows.

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WHAT THE STUDENTS DO
Students are required to conduct three activities and for each activity they are to follow "The Approach" which is a problem-solving scaffold.

The three activities involve solving and answering questions posed after a "situation statement" is presented, followed by writing an individual response to the questions. For each activity, four weeks are set aside for the learning process.

SIGNIFICANCE OF ORDER
The order of the activities is aligned with the content of the curriculum so that the students are exposed to situations that are relevant to the curriculum being taught at the time. Also that additional information required to solve the situation is supplied as the situation unfolds and develops.

CRITICAL ACTIVITIES
All the activities nominated form an integral part of the design.

ACCESSIBLE RESOURCES
Resources provided to students are:

• Online content – instructor provided reading resources.
• Class outlines with reading material and directions to internet resources and library books.
• Study guide supplied as hard copy to external students and available to internals also via the reserve collection of the library.
• Students are encouraged to search for their own resources in addition to the resources provided (Step 5 of "The Approach" also encourages students to access material via a variety of mediums).

RESOURCES IN CONTEXT
The importance of the resource set is that they provide the content of the unit and the types of understandings of land degradation and land evaluation you would like the students to appreciate and be able to adapt to the particular situation at hand.

VARYING THE RESOURCE SET
As above, but an alternative would be to have all materials online or on a CD.

SUPPORTS SUPPLIED

The types of supports provided are:

The learning guide - "The Approach"

"The Approach" is a significant scaffold/support provided to the students. It involves the following steps:

1. Meet the situation (scenario).
2. Define the situation.
3. Gather the Facts:

• identify relevant experience and knowledge;
• identify what you need to know (further information and learning);
• identify potential information/learning resources (place ideas in 5).

4. Generate relevant questions from the previous section:

• for you to go away and answer before next class;
• for me to go away and answer in next class.

(Steps 1 to 4 will be covered in class for the "Internal" students. For the "External" students points 3 and 4 are covered online via the Bulletin Board.)

5. Research Required (Type of…).
6. Rephrase the situation (refine the original question statement).
7. Generate answers (select possible, probable and preferable explanations).
8. Advocate answers (choose the "best" answer and justify it).

( Steps 6, 7 and 8 need to be written and presented in an individual student 6 page write-up.)

Class discussion

Internal students are supported by attending and participating in face-to-face classes where relevant material is discussed. For example, small groups discuss the situation statement, and are asked to discuss: What they know?, What they need to know?What are they going to do? In order to answer these questions the students formulate questions for the teacher to answer, and questions for them to answer (self-directed learning). The same process is repeated for the external students by Asynchronous Bulletin Board Discussions.

Online discussion allows the students to raise questions for which they realise more information will enhance their understanding of the situation and how it is developing. Also by reading other people’s questions they can come to a shared idea about the situation and it tends to affirm what they believe is going on. So usually it builds their confidence that they are on the right track to solving the problem.

Teacher facilitation

The role of the instructor is very important, and supports the students' learning in several ways:

The week after the introduction to the situation the students in class are provided with answers to some of their questions as well as direction for further research by the teacher. The same information is provided to the external students via the Bulletin Board or as hard copy with teaching material. The teacher also provides instruction on how to problem-solve, and to add meaning to the information supplied. The teacher emphasises that having more information does not answer the question and the students need to understand what the additional information means and how it affects the situation.

The instructor provides feedback on student performance. This is completed in a timely fashion, and posted on the Bulletin Board within 2 weeks of the assignment submission. The students also receive individual guidance on the marking sheet. Feedback: After the three activities are assessed, feedback on student performance is lodged on the Bulletin Board as well as provided to students in class. Individual feedback on performance in the various stages is also placed on the marking sheet. Students are expected to conduct their own self-directed learning and search for information or resources that will assist them in problem-solving and adding meaning to the information supplied. The level and direction of self-directed research very much depends on the individual learning needs of the student, but is expected to occur every week as the problem unfolds.

Internal students meet the problem (Week 2, 6 and 10 of the semester) in class and discuss in small groups of around 6 Steps 1 to 4 of The Approach . A week later in class the teacher provides a reply, which answers and summarises the student questions.

External students follow the same procedure, except that they discuss as individuals the questions they would like to ask of the teacher on the Bulletin Board in the week following the introduction to the problem. The teacher then responds a week later and on the Bulletin Board provides a reply, which answers and summarises the student questions.

The internal students also had in Week Two a "dry run" with a scenario before going through the process in class that exemplified the thinking and questioning skills required. This was also done to relieve their anxiety of a learning activity they were not familiar with.

The external students had some explanation of Problem-Based Learning (PBL)in the handbook (hard copy and online), but it was necessary at the residential school (some 8 weeks into the semester) to have a follow-up session of what PBL is and how it operates, as there were some critical misconceptions and misunderstandings amongst the students. The third stage of the PBL was introduced and questions raised at the residential school. The teacher also supplied the reply at the residential school. All situation statements and replies were available as hard copy as well as online.

SIGNIFICANCE OF SUPPORT STRATEGIES
The significance of the support strategies is that without them the students would have no scaffolding to support their learning, and for those (the majority) who have never been confronted with PBL then this aspect is very important. The support framework enables students to build confidence about their problem solving ability especially for those students who are less familiar with the content material and its meaning.

SUPPORT STRATEGY ADAPTATION
At this stage all forms of support are critical, unless the students had greater computer/internet access in which case some of the hard copy material could be optional. Most of the students rely a lot on visual learning, and thus the face-to-face component with the teacher was very valuable to them.