Blog 3: Reflections on Project Based Learning

As I have worked in the EdTech industry for several years now, I have come across several Project Based Learning companies that revolutionize the way standards are taught in the classroom.  I love the idea of PBL's being "the main course" rather than the dessert because I have always learned better when teaching was hands on.  One of my favorites to witness has been Lego Robotics because it combines one of my favorite "toys" in Legos and allows students to create based on assignments.  The beauty of sites like Edutopia, as we discussed a few weeks back, is that they will give several resources and best practices of PBL's being taught across the country.

I enjoyed McGrath's "Designing to Learn" article in the way that it laid out the foundation of a good Project Based Learning process.  The four steps she mentions, Design Skills, Planning, Audience, and Standards create a good picture of how a PBL should flow because it made clear what, where, who, how and why this is effective instruction.  It was interesting that she focused on planning as being an area where students have the most difficult time focusing.  I thought it was a great strategy to create a checklist during the planning stage, rather than an outline, because this seems more engaging for the student.  She also mentions the audience and brings up a point that is repeated in the Instructional Design courses, and that is design and evaluate.  It is the students' job to first create and then evaluate their creation.  This is similar to what we are doing with our Integration Project where we create our webpage, and then we evaluate our own project.

I also enjoyed reading McGrath's other article "Launching a PBL Project" because she focuses on how to determine what projects will actually be a success.  This does back to the basic principal of what we want to do with the 21st Century Learner and that is engage.  Make sure the project is on topic with what you are trying to teach.  Is this a project that your students are actually capable of accomplishing?  Is it important?  In other words, are you doing this just to engage, or is this actually important to the learner.  And is it challenging?  Creating a project that causes students to think and strive to work harder is a good thing for both the instructor and the student.  Once a teacher can narrow down the focus of the project, the greater the likelihood of success the project will be.

What I enjoy the most about PBL's is it hits the 4 C's of the 21st Century Learner.   Communication is key because the students must share ideas as they work together determining what to do in their project.  Collaboration is utilized in PBL's because each student joins together to accomplish the task.  Obviously Critical Thinking is used, as long as the project has rigor as mentioned in McGrath's "Launching" article above, because it should be challenging for the students.  And finally, creativity is essential because that is the entire foundation behind Project Based Learning.  The students are given projects in order to inspire them to create things that perhaps would not have been created without the opportunity.

I know Project Based Learning has become an idea for the 21st Century Learner, but I believe we did PBL a little in the early 90s when I was involved with Odyssey of the Mind.  In our competition, we had to create a structure that could withstand weight being added repeatedly until the structure broke.  This project allowed us to not only brainstorm about design, but also build and rebuild until we had a structure that was strong enough to hold the weight required.  This kind of project I believe has led us to the current trend of interactive and engaging learning we see now in Project Based Learning.