Executive Summary While delivering the Intelligent Systems course, an elective course in the Master of Business Information Technology program at RMIT University, it was felt that there was a learning issue as students' learning seemed to be superficial. This perception was based on the questions students asked in class and the mechanical attitude they adopted while doing lab work. In the next version of the course, it was decided to trial a problem-based learning (PBL) teaching and learning

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... roach in order to improve students' learning experience. PBL is a revolutionary and radical teaching approach. It is completely different from the traditional lecture-tutorial approach as there is a shift of power from the "expert teacher" to the "student learner". In the traditional teacher-centered approach, the teacher is knowledgeable in the subject matter and the focus of teaching is on the transmission of knowledge from the expert teacher to the novice student. In contrast, the PBL approach is a student-centered approach in which the focus is on student's learning and what they do to achieve this. In such an environment, the role of the teacher is more of a facilitator than an instructor. ing appropriate research questions, and working out strategies for finding solutions. The PBL process used was adapted from the literature. When redesigning the course, it was decided to retain the first part of the course as this part operated without major problems. Delivering the whole course using the PBL approach was considered too risky because of a complete shift from one extreme (teacher-centered learning) to another (student-centered learning). Furthermore using a PBL approach in one part of the course would enable comparison with the traditional method used in another part of the course. The redesigned course was offered in semester 1, 2006, and the first part of the course ran smoothly without any apprehension about programming from students (this was a concern in the previous version of the course). Since PBL is a drastic change in learning approach and students are encouraged to be active rather than passive and co-operate rather than compete, they must be prepared for the new approach in order to minimize potentially distressing aspects and maximize learning opportunities. An induction to PBL was offered to students in the first session of the second part of the course. The PBL approach was evaluated using a questionnaire survey at the end of the course. Although 88% of students enjoyed the PBL experience, their preferences leaned towards a combined traditional and PBL approach.