by Chuanwen Fan
Before taking the PBL course, I imagined group learning to be quite straightforward: put students into groups, let them talk, and learning would naturally happen. I had grown up in a lecture-based education system where the teacher speaks and students listen, so PBL felt like stepping into a completely different world. For the first time, I experienced a model where students construct knowledge together while the tutor acts as a facilitator rather than a giver of answers (Barrows, 2006).
This shift changed the way I think about learning. Through observing tutors and joining group discussions, I saw how powerful a single, well-timed question it can be how opens up thinking, activates prior knowledge, and helps students take ownership of their learning (Jaganathan, Bhuminathan, & Ramesh, 2024). But the most transformative part of this course was something I had never expected: realizing how deeply culture and language shape the way students participate in PBL.
Understanding group dynamics: more fragile than they appear
One of the biggest insights for me was discovering just how complex group dynamics in PBL actually are. I had assumed that once students were placed into groups, collaboration would emerge automatically. However, the case analyses, role-plays, and group reflections in this course revealed a very different reality. Small-group interaction is fragile. Unequal participation, cultural differences, lack of psychological safety, unclear expectations, and different communication styles can quietly accumulate and quickly affect the quality of learning (Dolmans, De Grave, Wolfhagen, & van der Vleuten, 2005).
The role-play sessions on “problematic groups” made this especially visible. I saw how a group could get stuck and stop progressing. When some members avoided conflict, or when one or two voices unintentionally dominated the discussion and others withdrew, at that point I was the “quiet, low participation” member, the group broke down almost instantly. The experience showed me that when misunderstandings or imbalances appear, a tutor’s gentle and timely intervention can make the difference between stagnation and meaningful learning.
Cultural rhythms: why silence doesn’t always mean disengagement
What made me reflect the most was seeing how strongly cultural background influences communication. Coming from an East Asian academic culture, I was used to being careful, polite, and indirect. Being too assertive or openly disagreeing with others often felt inappropriate. In contrast, Swedish and many Western learning environments encourage quick responses, open disagreement, and active engagement. In our PBL groups, these cultural rhythms were easy to spot. Some students voiced their ideas immediately, when others took more time or waited for the “right moment.” To understand this better, I spoke with several PBL students from East Asian backgrounds.
Their experiences were strikingly similar:
1. Being the secretary created intense anxiety—different accents made it hard to take notes quickly, and some even lost sleep the night before.
2. Discussions without a “standard answer” felt unsettling, because they came from systems where correctness is clear and measurable.
3. Even after preparing thoroughly, they struggled to find a chance to speak in fast- paced discussions.
4. They were sometimes mistaken for being unprepared or “free-riding,” and a few were directly told, “You never contribute.”
These conversations, combined with my own experience, helped me see that silence or low visible participation often has little to do with motivation. Instead, it may come from language barriers, cultural norms, or low psychological safety (Hansen, Chen, Lyngdorf, Bertel, & Du, 2025). Not knowing when to interrupt, not understanding certain accents, or needing more time to organize thoughts can all make a student appear “inactive.”
When these factors go unnoticed and students are judged harshly, the emotional impact can be significant, not just for the individual, but for the whole group’s climate. This course showed me that many participation differences reflect different cultural rhythms, not differences in effort or ability. Without cultural sensitivity, misunderstandings are almost guaranteed.
What makes a good PBL tutor: facilitation with cultural awareness
Through this course, I realized that tutors play a much more complex role than simply leading the process. They are also cultural mediators who help groups understand each other’s needs, differences, and communication patterns. Based on what I learned, an effective PBL tutor should:
1. Get to know students’ backgrounds early: Culture, language comfort, and previous learning experiences matter. Everyone introduces themselves in the first session, as in our course, to help create a safer, more connected atmosphere.
2. Shape a shared “discussion rhythm”: This includes reminding fast speakers to pause and creating gentle openings for quieter students to contribute.
3. Prevent misunderstandings before they escalate: Explaining early on how cultural differences affect communication helps students become more patient and understanding.
4. Build psychological safety: Students need to feel safe asking for repetition, taking time, and making mistakes.
5. Receive training in cultural sensitivity: Being a former PBL student isn’t enough. Effective tutors need cross-cultural communication skills, an understanding of group psychology, and the ability to intervene supportively.
One student summarized this beautifully: “Those who walk fast need to slow down sometimes; those who walk slowly need to dare to move closer. Only then can the group really become a group.”
This line stayed with me. It reminded me that cultural differences are not obstacles to eliminate, they are opportunities for deeper learning, more empathetic communication, and a more genuinely inclusive group experience.
What I will take forward
Through this PBL course, I have come to see small-group learning in a completely new way. I now understand that group processes are part of the learning itself, that human interaction lies at the heart of PBL, that participation is shaped by culture and context rather than attitude alone, and that silence is often a meaningful signal rather than a problem to fix. Whether or not I become a PBL tutor, I hope to carry these insights into my teaching and supervision: creating safer, more inclusive learning spaces where different cultural rhythms are recognized, every student feels supported, and every voice and pace can be heard and respected. In the end, this course didn’t just teach me how PBL works, it also taught me how people learn: across cultures, through collaboration, and with care. That is something I will carry with me for a long time.
References
Barrows, H. S. (2006). Problem‐based learning in medicine and beyond: A brief overview. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 1996(68), 3-12.
Jaganathan, S., Bhuminathan, S., & Ramesh, M. (2024). Problem-Based Learning – An Overview. J Pharm Bioallied Sci, 16(Suppl 2), S1435-S1437.
Dolmans, D. H., De Grave, W., Wolfhagen, I. H., & van der Vleuten, C. P. (2005). Problem-based learning: future challenges for educational practice and research. Med Educ, 39(7), 732-741.
Hansen, S., Chen, J., Lyngdorf, N. E. R., Bertel, L. B., & Du, X. (2025). Supporting psychological safety in teamwork – in which ways do engineering students feel safe doing creativity–focused interventions in a PBL environment? European Journal of Engineering Education, 1-20.