About Me: For the past 7 years I taught English Language Arts and Social Studies at the middle school level through a student centered, project based curriculum focusing on leveraging technology in all aspects of the classroom from organization, information collection and dissemination, to student exploration, creation and presentation. For the past three years I was also a Technology Integration Specialist, and have spoken at CUE, CUE Fall, FETC and CAIS about integrating technology into the classroom.

Title: Project Based Learning in the Digital Age

Brief description: Project Based Learning can take a digital leap forward in the 21st Century. Come learn how to leverage the technology you have in your school to get students interested in learning and sharing their knowledge with their peers, digitally!

Abstract: 

Starting points:

        Dan Pink

                3 key tenets of motivation

                        Autonomy

                        Mastery

                        Purpose

        Sir Ken Robinson

                Creativity is Crucial

        Choice, Creativity, Exploration, Failure is ALWAYS an option

Step 1:

        Students have to be interested in what they are doing

                Give them choice - Let them identify areas they are interested in working in

                        Use Google Forms/Survey Monkey to collect survey responses to the topic that students want to work on

                                Align into groups based on shared interest

Step 2:

        Help them care.

                Make them responsible for their information

                        They will become the experts and will share out with their classmates

Step 3:

        Develop a single collaborative document for the compilation of all relevant material

                Google Doc/Microsoft Office Live/Wiki/Blog, etc

                        ALL relevant information is placed in this “backup document”

Step 4:

        Have students research

                Set the boundaries/limits of what they can/cannot use

                        Include “just in time” learning about wikipedia/veracity/reliability/ how to best utilize a search engine as the topics come up during research time

Step 5:

        Have students synthesize information to determine what is significant and needs to be shared with classmates

Step 6:

        Have them create a digital presentation

                Can vary the type/style/format/length/requirements to challenge/get variety

Step 7:

        Submission

                Collect all the digital submissions (Dropbox, Drive, Box, Evernote, etc)

Step 8:

        Sharing out

                Have students to present their work at the conclusion of the project, then back fill any holes that may exist

                        At conclusion of all sharing (or where appropriate) synthesize the information that has been presented.

Step 9:

        Publicize

                Youtube (as appropriate), School website, parents, assembly presentations, digital school displays, etc

Step 10: Repeat with a new and different project