Overcoming the Six Biggest Objections to Project- Based Learning #PBLchat

Join BAM radio's Rae Pica for a discussion about overcoming the biggest obstacles in project-based learning.  

While interest in project-based learning continues to accelerate, this approach to teaching has its share of skeptics and detractors. In this segment we lay out the benefits of project-based learning and dispelling the concerns, doubts and objections. 

Joining Pica are the following: 

• John Larmer a Director of Product Development at the Buck Institute for Education. 
• Nikhil Goyal a 17-year-old author of One Size Does Not Fit All: A Student's Assessment of School. 
• Nicholas "Nick" Provenzano a high school English teacher and writes thoughts on education at TheNerdyTeacher.com. 
• Lisa Nielsen (Me!), author of the book Teaching Generation Text and a long time public school educator. 

In the program I share the work of teacher Pauline Roberts who brings project-based learning to life which you can check out here. 
  
You can listen to the program on the BAM radio site here!

Follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag  #PBLchat

Preparing Students for Life-Long Success is Not Preparing Students for Long Bubble Tests

Unfortunately, in the 21st century education reform has equated to measuring a school’s ability to produce good test takers. But think about it. In real life there are few if any tests to be taken. More than a decade into the 21st century and I have yet to take a test and I don’t envision any being in my future either. How did we get to a point in America where we’re measuring schools by their success in forcing students to waste their time being good at something few will ever need to do in real life?  Could it be that this meaningless time waster is doing exactly what it was designed to do?  

1. Line the pockets of testing companies and publishers who are good at following the money, but know this does little to prepare students for success.
2. Produce compliant young consumers who are good at believing, memorizing, and regurgitating what they are told without questioning authority.

For some it is hard to imagine anything different or better.  There are tools however, like Personal Success Plans or Project Foundry that help schools provide a personalized, learner-centered approach that tracks performance-based assessment and values real world skills.  There are also tools like OurLearningfolio that help home learners and their families do this.  What these tools do is help learners identify their passions and interests and help them engage in real-world, authentic activities to develop them while also providing a framework for measuring success. Completion of an activity doesn’t simply result in a letter grade. Instead it becomes part of an authentic online portfolio that can be used to attain academic or career goals.  

What if kids designed their learning? Here are some resources to get started.

If you are, or want to be. a fan of project-based learning (PBL), this site (http://pbl-online.org/default.htm) funded by the Buck Institute has some terrific resources. Project-based learning is great, but what if we took the idea of PBL and married it with learner-centered instruction or democracy education or unschooling. Well, that equals something rather significant. Instead of teachers owning the learning, teach kids how to design their own projects and let them gather by area of interest or passion. Like Shelley Wright, who engages her students in Real Life Learning, teachers may feel weird about doing this because it kind of seems like we're making kids do the job of a teacher and HEY! Teachers are the experts in designing learning opportunities. Kids can't design their own. Hmmm...or can they?

Below are the resources you'll find on the site. Depending on the level of your students, you may want to simplify material to accommodate their reading level or...if you have mixed reading levels in each group, the students can probably work that out too.

Welcome to PBL-Online, a one stop solution for Project Based Learning! You'll find all the resources you need to design and manage high quality projects for middle and high school students. You can:
	Learn how to Design your Project. Plan rigorous and relevant standards-focused projects that engage students in authentic learning activities, teach 21st century skills, and demand demonstration of mastery.
	Search for projects developed by others or contribute your own projects to the PBL-Online Collaboratory and Project Library.
	Learn important strategies for teaching online and learning online.
	Learn what defines Project Based Learning and the PBL-Online approach to successful project design.
	Review research and find web resources about effective Project Based Learning.
	Purchase the BIE Project Based Learning Handbook which is the foundation for the PBL-Online

Who Owns the Learning and Assessment?

Personalization is the big buzz word in my world this year.

Personalized learning. Personalized learning environments. Personalized assessments.
Personally, I'm thrilled!

But what is this? What does it mean? And, as Alan November asked numerous times at his conference #BLC10 last month, "Who owns the learning???" Well, the students of course? Though when you look in a typical classroom frequently that is not evident.

Digital Ethnographer Michael Wesch recently shared an idea I loved. Students enroll in his class knowing upfront what the learning goals are. He has a blank slate for the class syllabus on a wiki. Together he and his students determine how they will meet their learning goals and in many cases that is different for different students.

Here is what I've heard lately about these concepts.

Personal Learning Environments
Thanks to Celine Azoulay for sharing with me this video of a student who gives a tour of her personal learning environment in a 7th grade life science class.


Personalized Assessment
"We can't ask students to move to personal learning and then have us as their teachers own the assessment." - Dean Shareski

This insightful quote is from the inspiration behind these next two pieces I recently read.

Students Must Own Learning & Assessment | Dean Shareski
Personalized Assessment | Dean Shareski

Here we get an overview on Personalized Assessment from Dean Shareski as he considers what personalized assessment and evaluation might look in personalized learning environments. He also shares two forms of personalized learning environments- putting learning in the context of student passions and interests, and giving students "unprojects" as described by middle school math teacher Chris Harbeck.

This is certainly an important topic that I plan on putting a lot more focus on this year, including, hopefully, some student perspective as well. Stay tuned.