PBLWorks Creates New Free Web Resource for Educators to Facilitate Project Based Learning Remotely

PBLWorks, the leading provider of professional development for high-quality Project Based Learning (PBL), has created a resource site to provide teachers with ideas, examples, and tools to facilitate PBL remotely.

“We know that during this uncertain time, educators have a pressing need to find solutions to keep students connected and engaged,” said Bob Lenz, CEO of PBLWorks. “Now more than ever, as students are distanced from their teachers and classrooms, Project Based Learning can be a powerful tool for keeping them engaged through real-world relevant, personally meaningful work.”

PBLWorks created this dedicated resource for teachers in response to their most frequently-cited requests, including: projects that can be adapted for remote learning across the grade levels, technology solutions for collaboration and connection, and ideas for how families can support their PBL students.



Additional resources on the website include a series of free webinars about doing PBL remotely, articles on best practices for remote learning, and ideas for making remote learning accessible for all students. PBLWorks will continue to add to and update this resource as the need continues.

To learn more about PBLWorks and its resources for remote learning, visit https://www.pblworks.org/pbl-remote-learning.

Related:

• Project Based Learning Resource Page
• PBLWorks Hosts Webinar Series on How to Facilitate PBL (Project Based Learning) Online 
• PBLWorks Introduces PBL School Leader Networks - a Support Program for Schools Implementing Project Based Learning
• PBLWorks (formally Buck Institute) Introduces Project Idea Cards for Teachers

.

PBLWorks Hosts Webinar Series on How to Facilitate PBL (Project Based Learning) Online

PBLWorks Hosts Webinar Series on How to Facilitate PBL Online

Free webinar series this spring to guide educators through distance learning with Gold Standard Project Based Learning

PBL Works, part of the Buck Institute for Education, is hosting a free webinar series on how to facilitate PBL (Project Based Learning) online. This is a great resources for schools during this time of learning from home. The webinar series will offer practical guidance for facilitating Gold Standard Project Based Learning online with students. To register, visit pblworks.org/free-webinars-pbl-online. All webinars will be presented live and recorded versions will be made available for free upon request.

The webinar series is based on what they heard from educators on what they need to deliver PBL to their students. 

The free webinar series is facilitated by Antoinette Magee, regional director of educational partnerships at PBLWorks, and will include a variety of guest experts. The first four webinars in the series include:

How to Adapt a Gold Standard Project for Online Learning (Wednesday, April 15 – 12:00-1:15 PM PST or Friday, April 17 – 9:00-10:15 AM PST) will teach educators how to adapt a Gold Standard PBL project for online learning and how to engage students in intellectually challenging and meaningful work online.

Solutions for Sticky Problems of Practice for Facilitating PBL Online (Wednesday, April 22 – 12:00-1:15 PM PST or Thursday, April 23 – 12:00-1:15 PM PST) will present practical solutions for the top challenges teachers are encountering as they design and facilitate PBL online. 

How Can High Quality PBL Create Equity in the Classroom? (Wednesday, April 29 – 12:00-1:15 PM PST or Thursday, April 30 – 3:30-4:45 PM PST) will explore how bold educators can activate change to foster equitable learning environments that better equip all learners to reach their academic, vocational, and personal aspirations.

An already completed webinar on 7 Tech Tools for Supporting Online PBL took place the week of April 6. A recording can be requested here. This webinar offers technology tools that work well for online learning and align with PBLWorks’ 7 Essential Project Design Elements.

To learn more about PBLWorks’ webinar series, visit https://www.pblworks.org/free-webinars-pbl-online.

RESOURCES:

• Project Based Learning Resource Page
• PBLWorks Introduces PBL School Leader Networks - a Support Program for Schools Implementing Project Based Learning
• PBLWorks (formally Buck Institute) Introduces Project Idea Cards for Teachers

.

Today is National STEM/STEAM Day! Here are some great resources

STEM/STEAM Day falls on November 8. There’s no way around it: children are significantly better off with strong science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics skills. That’s why STEM and STEAM education programs are so important. It’s undebatable that these subjects push society forward, and these programs help to find fun and engaging ways to teach them to students, which is all worth commemorating. So, on November 8, we celebrate STEAM/STEAM Day!

STEM/STEAM help students learn skills they will need for the future. Beyond the content, they will learn critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, collaboration and more. 

Here are some great resources for teachers and students:

• STEM Resources 
• more STEM resources
• Project Based Learning Resources
• PBL Resources
• Project Based Learning Resources
• Science Resources
• Educational Technology Resources 
• Engineering Resources
• Math Resources
• Art Resources
• Resources from NASA 
• Lesson Resources

.

PBLWorks Introduces PBL School Leader Networks - a Support Program for Schools Implementing Project Based Learning

PBLWorks Introduces PBL School Leader Networks - a Support Program for Schools Implementing Project Based Learning

First two cohorts will launch in Los Angeles and Massachusetts


PBLWorks, the leading provider of professional development for high-quality Project Based Learning, has launched PBL School Leader Networks—two-year training programs that bring principals and their school leadership teams together to support the implementation of high-quality Project Based Learning at their schools, and sustain its momentum.

The PBL School Leader Network features a blend of face-to-face workshops, personal online coaching for each school, school site visits, and deep collaboration with a peer network of fellow local PBL leaders.


The first PBL School Leader Networks will convene in Los Angeles in February 2020, and in Boston in March 2020. Leadership teams from 8 to 10 schools will be selected to participate in each PBL School Leader Network. Additional locations are being planned.

PBLWorks created the PBL School Leadership Networks after achieving great success with a similar initiative, the Hawaii Innovative Leaders Network (HILN), implemented in Hawaii in 2018. Evaluated by McREL International, a not-for-profit education research organization, this program demonstrated the power of a network of school leaders to create larger regional change through shared learning, mutual accountability, and site visits that build and sustain the PBL work.


For more information about the Los Angeles and Boston School Leader Networks, including how to apply, visit https://www.pblworks.org/pbl-school-leader-networks.


About Project Based Learning

In Project Based Learning, teachers make learning come alive for students. Students work on a project over an extended period of time – from a week up to a semester – that engages them in solving a real-world problem or answering a complex question. They demonstrate their knowledge and skills by developing a public product or presentation for a real audience. As a result, students develop deep content knowledge, as well as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication skills in the context of doing an authentic, meaningful project.

About PBLWorks

At PBLWorks (the brand name of the Buck Institute for Education) we believe that all students – no matter where they live or what their background – should have access to quality Project Based Learning to deepen their learning and achieve success in college, career, and life. Our focus is to build the capacity of teachers to design and facilitate quality Project Based Learning and the capacity of school and system leaders to create the conditions for teachers to implement great projects with all students. For more information, visit www.pblworks.org.

Related:

PBL Resources

Project Based Learning Resources 

PBLWorks (formally Buck Institute) Introduces Project Idea Cards for Teachers

PBLWorks Partners with the Bezos Family Foundation to Launch “Hunger Challenge” Project Based Learning Unit

.

PBLWorks (formally Buck Institute) Introduces Project Idea Cards for Teachers

PBLWorks (new brand name of the Buck Institute for Education) has introduced a free online library of more than 60 downloadable Project Idea Cards to help teachers use Project Based Learning (PBL) in their classrooms. There will be more cards released going forward as well.

The Project Idea Cards are free downloadable resources, standards-based, with project ideas from math and science to history and English. Each project card lists a driving question, a project description, the standards the project addresses, the anticipated outcomes, and reflection questions to help teachers bring the project to life in their own contexts. They were developed by teachers and PBLWorks. You can search, as well as sort by grade level, subject area, and standards (including NGSS).

Project Based Learning Resources:

http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/p/project-based-learning.html 

-

Simplify Project Based Learning With Biteslide - guest post

Simplify Project Based Learning With Biteslide


Introduction
What is Project Based Learning?
What is Biteslide?
Planning the project
The Entry Event
Researching the project
Creating the project
Presenting the project
Conclusion

Introduction
In this article I shall give you a brief introduction to Project Based Learning (PBL) and show you how Biteslide can be used as an end-to-end technology solution for PBL projects.  

There is a dizzying number of EdTech tools on the market today. Some are good and will give you a significant return on your time investment, others aren’t so good, and will lead to wasted time and frustrated students. Using an end-to-end solution simplifies the integration of technology and keeps the focus where it should be, on the project.




What is Project Based Learning?
Project Based Learning (PBL) is a dynamic approach to teaching where students undertake extensive inquiry in response to real-world problems and challenges.

In response to a driving question, students create authentic products and presentations that are then delivered to a public audience.

PBL projects are designed to address the curriculum and also develop students' 21st century skills - creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking.

If you’re new to PBL, two of the best resources around are the Buck Institute For Education and Edutopia.


What is Biteslide?

Biteslide is a creative presentation tool for school projects.

Teachers use Biteslide to assign, manage, and give feedback on projects.  Students create slidebooks - a creative form of self-expression combining images, video, and text.

Biteslide works well across the curriculum and with students of all ages.

Now let’s see how Biteslide can be used used in each phase of a PBL project.

Planning the project
Good planning is the key to running a successful PBL project. If you've never planned a PBL project before, here is a good place to get to grips with the basics.

When planning your PBL project it’s a good idea to organise your planning into a series of project documents.  Commonly these are a project form, project calendar, and project rubric.  Thanks goes to Manor New Technology High School for sharing these excellent sample documents.

So, how can Biteslide help? Rather than having a static series of PDF documents stored on your school server, you can use Biteslide to create a slidebook of project documents.

This means your documents can be stored right within the project itself. They are accessible online, and can be easily copied into future projects.

Once the plans are in place and the project launch date has arrived, it’s time to introduce the project to your students.  

The Entry Event
When introducing the new project to your students the aim is to activate their ‘Need To Know’. A simple handout just isn't going to cut the mustard. Starting with inspirational and motivational content sets the tone and will energise your students.  

A powerful way to activate your students’ need to know is to have an entry event. Entry events can be videos, discussions, or debates. Any format will work as long as it resonates with your students and makes them eager to learn more.

Slidebooks are a great tool to use at the heart of the entry event. During the planning phase of the project, use a slidebook to gather research and develop your entry event presentation. The slidebook format makes it easy for you to create a thought-provoking and interactive presentation as the centerpiece of the entry event.

And when your slidebook is ready, you can present straight from the slidebook to your students. You can do this from any computer or interactive whiteboard. Slidebook presentations save you time repurposing content and also provide an interactive forum for your students after the entry event has finished. They are the perfect catalyst to activate your students’ need to know.

Researching the project
Typically the initial phase of a PBL project will involve some form research.  It could be desk-based or out in the field. Students begin to develop their knowledge and gather the significant content for their project.

As part of this process, they'll inevitably gather a wide range of assets that they'll need to organise for use in their final presentation. These could be quotes, photos, videos, diagrams, and much more.  

During the research phase, a slidebook is a brilliant way to scrapbook together images, videos, and text. Students can use their digital scrapbook to organise and re-organise their thoughts before putting together the final presentation.

Students can even collaborate on slidebooks and use them as a shared resource to gather and organise their research. And as Biteslide is entirely web-based, students can do this from anywhere they have an internet connection.

Biteslide has several simple, yet powerful, research tools built right into the slidebook. Students can drag and drop images straight from Google and Flickr, and even add videos from Youtube.  And if they want to gather images as they are browsing the web, they can use the Nibbler bookmarklet.

But to be honest, the best thing about researching a project with Biteslide is that it’s fun.  The drag-and-drop interface and easy-to-use tools take the strain so your students stay energised and can keep their focus where it should be, on the research.

Creating the project
Once students have gathered the resources they need to create their slidebook, it's time to synthesise the research and create the project narrative.

Biteslide's easy-to-use design tools mean that students all the way from K-12 can create stunning projects. Eye-catching extras (backgrounds, borders, and stickers) help students to bring their projects to life.

During the creative process, a project’s slidebooks are open for teachers and other students in the class to view. This means that teachers and classmates (if you’ve enabled the feature) can give feedback during the project creation phase.

Making projects authentic is fundamental to Project Based Learning. This means involving people from the outside world. Biteslide can be used to invite outside parties into the project to comment and review as the slidebooks progress. This is a great way for students to hone their final presentation with authentic input from the outside world.

Presenting the project
A key milestone in a PBL project is the final presentation.  As well as demonstrating what the students have learned and created, it provides focus and authenticity to the project.

Your students have used the slidebook to research, create, and now they can use it to present. A single button-click transforms the slidebook into presentation mode - an engaging showcase for your student’s work.

Presenting in person is undoubtedly valuable, but slidebooks can also be shared on the web.  Embedding slidebooks into blogs, websites, and virtual learning environments (e.g. Edmodo or Moodle) is an excellent way to share projects with both inside and outside the school walls. Other teachers and students as well as outside parties such as parents or industry experts can all be invited to view and give feedback on a project.

Conclusion
We are living through a golden age of technology. Incredible new web tools for educators are appearing every day. Having choice is a good thing, but it also comes with two key challenges. Choosing the tools that meet your pedagogical needs and deploying the tools your chosen tools in the best way.

There are no clear cut solutions to these challenges. Two good rules of thumb are to choose tools that are easy to use for both teachers and students, and keep the number of tools chosen to a minimum.  As is often the case, keeping it simple is the key to success.

Sign Up For Your Free Biteslide Account Here

About the author
Seb Hardman is a EdTech entrepreneur passionate about making great digital products.  He is a founder of Biteslide - the creative presentation tool for school projects.

Free Project Based Learning resource available

 

I just found a new publication on project based learning, Work That Matters: The Teacher’s Guide to Project-based Learning, produced in partnership with San Diego’s High Tech High.

This is available as a free PDF download and has great tips, ideas, resources, and information for helping teachers and schools implement project based learning in their schools and classrooms. There is step-by-step advice on planning, organizing and managing projects, as well as how to assess them.

You can also request a hard copy by emailing Alec Patton here.


Related:

Project Based Learning Resources for Educators

Free Project Based Learning Resources from Edutopia

Edutopia, the George Lucas Educational Foundation, is an excellent resource for educators. Their site has a huge variety of resources, tips, and research on education and is accessible for free. They are a big proponent of Project Based Learning (PBL) and also have a lot of resources on best practices in education.

They have a tremendous amount of resources on Project Based Learning available for free on their site. 

Resources include lists of reading materials on PBL, links to schools that are using PBL, Resources from Edutopia on PBL, Resources from Maine on PBL including examples of PBL, lesson plans, assessments for PBL, planning guides for teachers and schools, professional development resources, resources for parents, and links to organizations and other resources on PBL. (Resources are in PDF form).

Project Based Learning is a great way to teach content, as well as essential skills such as teamwork, collaboration, problem solving, and more. 

This is an excellent collection of resources about PBL and how to implement it in your school and classroom. 

Related:

Free Classroom Guides and Downloads for 2011 from Edutopia

More free classroom guides for educators from Edutopia

Project Based Learning Resources for Educators

WPI Plan - a great educational model for all schools

10 Important Skills Students need for the Future

"Lehr und Kunst" or "Theory and Practice." - what we strive for in education

21st Century Skills

(cross posted at http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/23342)

"21st Century Skills" is an often used phrase to describe the skills that educators and employers feel that students need to learn in order to be successful in school, careers, and life. I've argued that many of those skills have been needed and taught for decades.

If you think about it, students have always needed to be able to communicate, work in teams, follow directions, solve problems, and find information. I was taught these skills in high school and college and I was doing projects back then also. I graduated high school in 1988 and college in 1992. 21st Century Skills and Project Based Learning are not new ideas. The difference is that these skills need to be applied using new technology.

I was in college when the internet was young. We had text based FTP, email, and newsgroups. In my first engineering job, we started to use the internet for research and communication. Today, everything can be done using the internet and anything and everything can be found on the internet. When I was in school, we had encyclopedias and other reference books that were considered acceptable, reliable and peer reviewed. Today, we have the internet with information published by anyone. This means that today's students need to know how to find the information they are looking for and analyze it to see if it is reliable.

When I was in school, we had to go to the library, or hope our textbook or the encyclopedia at home had the information we needed. Today, students can find information on the internet from home, school, or anywhere using WiFi and even their phones.

This instant access to information means that students don't have to memorize as much information to get things done. They have to know how to find it and analyze it to see if it is reliable or not. We should be teaching them this. Instead of content memorization, we should be teaching content processes.

I feel that critical thinking, problem solving, communications, and teamwork are not 21st Century Skills. They are critical skills that humans have needed throughout our history. I would say that 21st Century Skills would include finding and analyzing data on the internet and using new technologies to do things better and more efficiently.

To do this, we should incorporate projects in our curriculum that require students to use technology to complete the project. We need to go beyond just web research and PowerPoint and have students create and interact. Blogs, web sites, online discussions, videos, and more can all be used in a project. The project then teaches the critical skills mentioned above, as well as the 21st Century Skills.

Projects should be based on real life issues, not just a topic from class turned into a project. To get ideas, look in the newspaper and news stories, as well as hot topics online. You can also talk to local businesses about issues that they are working on. You can even ask the students if there are issues or projects that they would like to work on. Be creative.

Educators need to teach content, critical skills, and how to use technology to find information, solve problems, and achieve goals. Projects are a great way to do this.

For more information on 21st Century Skills and Project Based Learning:

http://www.techlearning.com

and search this blog.

End of the year fun / madness?

(cross posted at Tech&Learning magazine)

As the end of the school year approaches, we, as teachers, have a lot of things to deal with. I can only speak about high school, but I'm sure the middle and lower grades have similar issues.

At the high schools we first have the issue of AP Exams at the beginning of May. Once the exams are done, many AP Students feel that they are done for the year. As an AP Physics teacher, I keep them engaged and learning for the rest of the year with fun projects. They start with a web quest about rockets and then build and launch their own model rockets. They love it! Then, they do a web quest on aerodynamics and then design, build, and fly their own gliders. They learn some great physics topics while having a lot of fun.

The next issue we run into is prom season. Prom's and Ring Dances equal early dismissals on those days for the students attending (need to do hair, makeup, tux, limo, etc.). On these days, I do fun learning activities with the students that are here. The activities are web based, which they enjoy. But this also means that I can have the absentee students make up the assignment on their own later.

I teach 90% seniors. Senior skip day is another day where I have some students and I do the same thing as the prom day.

Then the inevitable end of the year assemblies, parties, and events start interfering with class time. I have learned to finish the majority of the material by AP Testing time so that I'm not pulling out my hair with all the interruptions to class time at the end of May and beginning of June.

My class plan for May and June is all projects. In this way, class interruptions and absences don't really affect the class. Students can work on the projects on their own when they miss class, and the rest of the students are engaged. They very quickly get senioritis and can not, and will not, sit for very long. Group projects keep them learning and engaged while allowing them the socialization and change in pace that they all want.

Another nice part of projects is the fact that they give the teacher more time to mingle with the students during the day and really get a feel for how the class went and how much the students have learned. It is also easier than correcting problem sets or essays!

I use web quests, videos from Discovery Streaming, and projects to keep my students learning during a time of distraction. Think of projects related to your curriculum that would be great to do at the end of the year and use that instead of lectures, problem sets, or standard labs.

The rockets project is my favorite and my students favorite. The web quest incorporates elements from NASA's web site. The students are applying multiple areas of physics during this project: energy, chemical reactions, fluid dynamics, forces, Newton's Laws, and more. They get to work in a group and do something hands-on and creative (they get to decorate the rockets any way they want and they are also able to do different fin designs). The best part is launch day. The students get to go outside and launch rockets. I handle the actual launching so that I can ensure safety, but the students love the countdown and watching the launch. They also have to chase down rockets that drift in the wind. Who wouldn't want to be outside launching rockets on a beautiful Spring day?

Rockets resources:

NASA's Beginners Guide to Rockets: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/rocket/index.html

Estes Model Rockets - Educator Page: http://www.esteseducator.com/

Apogee Rockets - http://www.apogeerockets.com/ (click on "Educational")

National Association of Rocketry: http://www.nar.org/teacher.html

Fly Rockets: http://www.flyrockets.com/

I also use a music video to get them inspired for the rockets project - "Countdown" by Rush. The video is on YouTube and you can find the lyrics on line on a variety of web sites.

The song was written after the band attended a Shuttle launch in the 80's. The song and video are very powerful and really show the excitement and achievement of the space program.

Many of the science teachers in my school also use projects at the end of the school year and do many of them outside. Next year, we are thinking of doing a science field day outside in May, and have a cookout for lunch. I am working on some ideas for projects now. For physics, I was thinking of the rockets, catapults, bridges, mousetrap cars, and boats.

The end of the school year has many distractions for students and teachers need to be creative in how they keep students learning and engaged during this crazy time.

How to Get Started with Project Based Learning

(image from education-world.com)

Originally posted on TechLearning magazine.

Project Based Learning (PBL) is a great way to teach students content, 21st century skills, and engage them in something fun and educational. I spoke more about PBL in an earlier blog (http://www.techlearning.com/blogs_ektid17052.aspx ) and we had some great reader comments (Tech&Learning, May 2009, page 14). Today I'd like to give some tips and ideas on how to get started with PBL in your classroom.

First of all, PBL can be used in any classroom, in any subject, at any grade level. Projects can be one class period, or take weeks to complete. Projects can address one curriculum item, or many. It all depends on how you want to implement it and how comfortable it is for you.

PBL does take planning. You need to look at your curriculum and the objectives you want to accomplish and then plan a project that will lead your students to reach these objectives.

For instance, I teach physics and developed a project for my classes on structures and stress and strain. The project started with a very short lecture on the topics of stress and strain and the physics behind it. Then the students completed a webQuest about stress and strain that lead them to information about bridges and bridge design. From here, they used bridge design software from West Point to design a bridge that would meet certain requirements I set up. The final step was to build a model of their bridge and see if it would hold the weight. Each group was competing to see who's bridge would hold the most weight. During this project, students learned about stress and strain, structures, applications of physics to real life, web searching, team work, communications, design, and model building.

Another example of PBL is having the students research a topic and present it to the rest of the class through a multimedia presentation, website, or poster. Each topic should be an extension of something you just did in class. In this way, the students teach each other. They will also learn their topic more in depth when they have to be able to explain it to others.

Start small. Think of a lesson you teach and think of a way that the students could do a project to learn that topic instead of sitting in class listening to you talk about it. Try out a one class period project before moving on to a large scale project. Search the internet for examples of projects and adapt them for your class. An internet search of "Project Based Learning" will get a huge list of results for you. I also suggest searching for "WebQuests", "Problem based learning" and "Projects" with your classes subject and grade.

Another idea for projects is to look at your school or community and see what they need. Art students could research the history of the school and create a wall mural. English students could write a history of the school, or help other groups write letters to lawmakers to get an issue addressed. Music students could write an updated version of the school song, or even a new one. Tech Ed students could build wheelchair ramps, furniture, or other items needed in the community. Biology students could study water quality in a stream nearby or research animal or plant life.

An idea I got from my wife (a Biology Education student) is to have students create a lesson for other students about a topic. I am planning on using this with my AP Physics students after AP testing this month. They are going to create a physics help guide for the honors physics class. Next year, I'm going to have the honors physics class create a help guide for the general physics class. The students will learn their content better and provide a great resource for fellow students.

PBL offers teachers a new way to have their students learn content as well as 21st century skills. The students can have fun while learning, and even provide a service for others as part of the project. Be creative and have fun with PBL.

Some web resources to get you started:

Tech&Learning - http://www.techlearning.com/article/1784,http://www.techlearning.com/article/7942

Project Based Learning online - http://pbl-online.org/

Edutopia - http://www.edutopia.org/project-learning

THE Journal - http://www.thejournal.com/articles/23893,http://www.thejournal.com/articles/17124, http://www.thejournal.com/articles/17105

Checklists for PBL - http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/

PBL Multimedia Project - http://pblmm.k12.ca.us/PBLGuide/WhyPBL.html

Intro to PBL - http://www.gsn.org/Web/pbl/

Getting started with PBL - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA011887851033.aspx

Eduscapes PBL guide - http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic43.htm

Please share your project ideas with everyone!

Updated - another great resource: http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/free-project-based-learning-resources-that-will-place-students-at-the-center-of-learning/