Project and Problem Based Learning with Technology

"An intelligence is the ability to solve problems, or to create products, that are valued within one or more cultural settings.” - Howard Gardner
Get your copy of Hacking Digital Learning or The 30 Goals Challenge or take a fully accredited online course for graduate credit (Online Learning Best Practices, Connected Educators or TESOL Methodologies)! 
Kids and teens worldwide are currently using social media and ICTs to become heroes and solve real world problems. You can read about a few in this post, 10+ Kids Transforming the World Through Social Media. At the Bammy’s, I was privileged to meet one extraordinary 13 year-0ld, Mallory Fundora, who founded Projectyesu.org, an organization that provides food, medicine and education to women and children in Uganda. She raises awareness and gains support through social networks. We have the opportunity to implement problem based learning and teach our learners how to use web tools and social media to solve real world problems. It’s learning that shows results in a meaningful way. Below are tips, resources and slides (download as a pdf) to help you integrate project/problem based learning. 
STEAM/STEM/PBL Resources

*Find STEM projects and resources from school here.
*STEAM Up Learning (STEM) presentation and resources here. 
*Coding ideas and lessons here. 
​*STEM SOS website and resources. 
Parts of a PBL Lesson 

These are the basic parts of a PBL lesson with digital devices. Most of the examples are from Valerie Burton’s lesson, Teen Advocates Fight Against the Drop-Out Rate.
  1. Problem or Driving Question
    1. Students do an initial investigation of the project's question or problem
      • Ideally, students should come up with their own driving questions. Here's a great resource for coming up with effective driving questions.
      • Make it a powerful story that engages them or strikes an emotional chord if you present a problem.
      • Ways to introduce the problem- through a blog post, show a video, take them through a case study, analyze an infographic, or have them play an online game or simulation. Valerie introduces the problem on her blog. In addition, students play a game at Boosthigh.org to learn about the drop-out rate.
      • Give students their mission with guidelines. Valerie’s mission is, “Create a website that hosts videos, blog posts, comics, PSAs, etc. to help decrease the dropout rate at our high school.” Keep it short and simple so students understand the task. You can include the solution product or leave that open and allow them to decide how to solve the problem. Most teachers will have a solution or product in mind.
    2. Give students time to reflect on the problem in pairs or groups. Find a variety of brainstorming tools here, http://pear.ly/bKmy9.
  2. Problem Research
    1. Options- Interviews, surveys, digital databases, list of recommended websites, curated research, or web quests
    2. Various online tools- http://pear.ly/bP38v
    3. Teach digital literacy, evaluation of online resources, bookmarking, curation, and annotation
  3. Solution
    1. Students should ultimately come up with solutions and products.
    2. Some teachers prefer to have one product. Examples may include, create a digital campaign or poster, make a Public Service Announcement (PSA), create an online game, create an ebook, organize an online project, create an advertisement, make a video, develop a product, design an app, host an event, create an infographic, or create a social network!
    3. Alternatively, you can give them a list of solutions to choose from like Valerie did.
    4. Generating solutions- in pairs/groups, students brainstorm possible solutions and the steps involved in implementing the solution
    5. Implementation
  4. Presentation/Product
    1. Students present the solution, reflect on the process of implementing the solution, and discuss it’s impact

Tips
​The Process: Some Ideas and Resources

This is an outline of my process, but feel free to adapt it to meet your needs. Note that before implementing the process, I already know what digital product I want students to create (timeline, infographic, video, etc.) and have determined the topic/unit/chapter we are covering and outlined the objectives and standards.

*Evaluate an Example
The first step is to evaluate examples that are age and topic appropriate. For example, if students are producing a tv commercial about a historic invention for math, science, history, etc., then students might evaluate successful and famous tv commercials you discovered on YouTube.
  • During this step, students are provided with a general definition or description of the digital product, a list of elements the product generally includes, and relevant vocabulary. This is important, because many students, for example, may not know the difference between a digital poster and infographic or what goes into producing a stop motion video.
  • Students also determine the author’s/creator’s purpose and the intended audience. They critically reflect on the information and ideas shared.
  • Students also evaluate the design of the product (layout, color scheme, use of visuals, font size, etc.).
  • Students work in pairs or small groups to create a list of what makes the example awesome. We discuss the lists and decide on one set list of criteria which we use to guide the design of our digital creation. This criteria is also included in the rubric used to evaluate the creations.
*Assigning the Project/Mission
  • During this step, make sure to provide the students with a meaningful purpose and have them reflect on their audience. Due to social media and the Internet all digital projects have a purpose and audience and usually some kind of message.
  • You might also want to present the assignment as a mission to be accomplished. In my book, Hacking Digital Learning with Edtech Missions, I provide Mission Cards that outline each project’s audience and purpose. These are examples of missions created by teachers who’ve taken my online courses.
  • The assignment and all necessary materials should be easily accessible in one area, such as an assignment page on a learning management system (LMS), a page on a class website, a desktop/Google folder, or a curated board (Educlipper). The assignment page/folder might include simple instructions, due dates, a checklist, the rubric or scoring guide, recommended tools (a digital sandbox), templates, tutorials, student choice menus, or curated websites, articles, or media students should use for research.
*Ideation/Brainstorming/Project Conceptualization 
  • During this step, students come up with ideas brainstorm and plan (ex. sketchnote, outline, storyboard, concept map, script) the design and layout of information, keeping in mind the audience, purpose, and criteria.
*Research
  • Students then conduct research about the topic. I provide a curated list of bookmarked websites, videos, infographics, etc. so that students do more than Google the topic or look at Wikipedia. 
*First Draft/Prototype
  • Then students design their first version of the digital product. If we are using an app or web tool then I let them choose from the digital sandbox of suggested web tools and provide templates when needed.
*Peer Feedback/ Experimentation/ Focus Groups
  • During this step, students evaluate each other’s digital products and provide feedback based on the criteria and also check for grammar, spelling, and other errors. Peers list what they like about the creation (Where it glows) and offer a few suggestions for improvement (Areas to grow).
  • Feedback could also be in the form of focus groups, public surveys, or experiments. 
  • Students then have the opportunity to make any edits based on the feedback.
*Share/Present/Publish/Implement
  • During this step, students turn in the finished product and share their work with the intended audience so they experience how their creations make a real world impact. This audience might be their peers, their family, another class, the school, the community, a charity, or the general public. The creation also might be included in a digital portfolio.
*Evaluation/Reflection
Students are assessed and receive feedback in a variety of ways:
  • Self-evaluation- students assess their effort, creativity, time management, organization, and product. This may also include an assessment of their performance as a team member if this was a group project.
  • Peer-evaluation- peers assess the finished product and any presentation given. This may also include a group evaluation.
  • Teacher-evaluation- after reviewing the above evaluations and the rubric, I provide feedback to enhance future products.
  • Audience feedback- students receive feedback from the audience who experienced and viewed their creations.
  • Digital badge– students might also receive a digital badge for their completed projects.

Bookmarks