You may have just read about the new issue of IJPBL in my previous post.  I just wanted to let everyone know about this new call for manuscript proposals for a special issue of The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning. This special issue will celebrate the work of Howard Barrows, who is widely considered the founding father of problem-based learning.  From the call announcement:

The special issue will include papers that:

• As a collection, represents the diversity of fields in which PBL is used.
• Investigate PBL or particular facets of PBL, such as simulated patient assessments, or facilitation, in one of the following ways:
  • theoretical papers (limited number accepted)
  • empirical investigations (defined broadly as quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods)
  • literaturereviews (limited number accepted)

In addition the special issue editors (Andrew Walker, Heather Leary, and Cindy Hmelo-Silver) are interested in representing problem-based learning currently as “PBL is used as a label for a wide variety of interventions (1986). We want to represent that breadth as part of the special issue but want authors to be clear about how their own variations depart from Barrows’ norms.”

The deadlines for the submissions are:

• Proposal (1000 words) submission deadline: November 1, 2011 (extended from previous announcement of October 1)
• Full paper invitation notice: December 1, 2011
• Full papers (3000-5000 words) submission deadline: March 15, 2012

If you are doing research in this area, then I highly encourage you to submit a proposal and review the full call on the IJPBL site at http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1252&context=ijpbl