Direct instruction approach has been widely used in higher education. Many studies revealed that direct instruction improved students' knowledge. The characteristics of direct instruction include the subject delivered through face-to-face interaction with the lecturers and materials that sequenced deliberately and taught explicitly. However, direct instruction resulted in low creative thinking and teamwork skills among students. Therefore, problem-based learning activities were adapted to reform and create an innovation of a direct instruction approach in developing the new situation.

This study aimed at exploring lecturers' and students' perspectives towards Direct Problem-Based Learning (DPBL) activities as a new approach for activities in the classroom.

A quasi-experimental design was used.

Third-year students (N = 276) who signed up for Computer Networks subject from Dian Nuswantoro University, Indonesia and five lecturers were involved. Findings