Capitalizing on the integration of problem based learning (Barrows, 1995) and learning from cases (Kolodner, 1997) we have been working for the past seven years to translate the research on teaching and learning (Bransford, Brown, and Cocking, 1999) into learning environments that will prepare Information Technology students for current business needs and future business practices. Our approach has expanded to include real-time business problems. The Corporate Scholar Solutions (CSS) program has evolved out of earlier problem based case studies that were generated by faculty in actual business settings. These cases were the foundation for learning in a variety of technology classes at several community colleges and universities in Tennessee. The richness of these second generation problems allowed faculty to present students with real world situations that could provide the context for learning the necessary skills to be successful in the technology arena.

While we recognized this powerful mechanism for engaging students in generating their own learning issues and finding a solution to an authentic problem, we felt the actual partnership with the business community seeking solutions to IT problems in real-time might provide an even more robust opportunity for faculty and students to learn more about current and potential technologies while helping solve an actual problem that the business partner presented. This first generation problem based learning should allow our faculty and students to learn together with the business partner to find solutions and along the way develop the necessary skills to move towards “adaptive expertise” (Bransford & Brophy, November. 2003).

From the beginning of the semester, students must monitor their work and with support from faculty and the business partners, they begin to practice self-regulation developing and executing their project plan. They quickly see that the way to a viable solution is not a lock step, recipe like approach. Even the project learning cycle is not necessarily a direct mapping to the project unfoldment. As conditions change throughout the semester, students must by nature of the reality of the business problem, “adapt” their approach to these changes. While they certainly must construct knowledge about the technical skills they would cover even in a traditional class, they recognize that technical knowledge alone will not promise a solution. Assessments of CSS projects suggest that students themselves come to see the need for flexibility in their thinking as well as the need for “soft skills” and teamwork integrated with IT knowledge (Loring, 2003).

Managing this kind of learning environment and making the business partnership work places new demands on faculty and business. Providing innovative professional development for faculty requires a new set of standards as well.

To provide an opportunity for faculty and business partners to reflect on their CSS accomplishments and to articulate next steps for the program, the Center for Information Technology Education (CITE) hosted a workshop in November 2003 in Nashville. Learning researchers from colleges and universities around the country also attended to offer support and guidance during the sessions. The goal for the workshop was to model the very processes that are required for implementing the CSS project with students for the workshop participants. Modeling the CSS Project Cycle, sessions were held to address the issues that would optimize the power of CSS efforts.

These sessions addressed the following:
• Reframing what is taught to explicitly develop adaptive expertise
• Supporting the business partnership
• Supporting faculty teaching and learning practices
• Examining consequences for assessment
• Building a community of practice

This document is intended to describe that effort as an example of what can result from the synergy of these concepts.