Ineffective collaboration, or its lack, is a challenge with many different roots. It can cause a variety of problems in the learning process and the university community. In the Problem-Based learning environment, students often prefer to collaborate with friends or people they already know.
This said, students often avoid tasks or classes that require group work. This happens either because they are not very social and do not feel comfortable around other people. They can also believe that communication within the group will be harder that organizing the work independently. This problem becomes magnified when the students avoid their peers from a different cultural background.
As PBL classrooms in Europe become more multicultural and the workplace more diversified, it is imperative that graduates possess collaboration skills.
PBL is a form of collaborative learning. In theory, PBL should foster collaborations. However, collaboration is not possible if the person lacks the will to work together with others. Hence it is important for you, as the teacher, to actively introduce measures that remove barriers to collaboration. One of such barriers, is the subject of this course- intercultural communication.