Group Projects

Teaching & Learning Practice

What did this practice look like prior to the digital education strategy?

What was missing from the way this practice was executed?

What does this practice look like based on the digital education strategy?

Group Projects

Students pick from a menu of options to demonstrate their learning.  Come after some type of learning. Demonstrating knowledge learned rather than part of a learning process.  Might be the only non-written component of the unit. More creative and presentation based. Kids taking on separate parts/roles  (time keeper, recorder etc.), record some finished project together rotating roles. Usually a rubric set. Not always standards based. Lacks authenticity to real world applications. Research-based with different roles, focused on current events

Make the experience more authentic. Address a final outcome, not so much focus on “roles”. Give students a chance to do the real work of being a reader/writer/creator/communicator. Discourse needs to be the most important part. The importance of your teammates participating shouldn’t just check a box. The thinking of each student should grow based on how they’re building on each other’s ideas and understandings. New connections. Allow paradigm shift to reflect real world experience. People have authentic roles, and if they aren’t fulfilling those roles, it’s much more difficult for the rest of the team to be successful.  Less micromanaging Teach kids more executive function recognition. Use as an opportunity to practice SEL.

Project is in response to a complex, authentic question that requires student discourse. Group projects are not always just a summative assessment, but should also contribute to deepening student understanding. Outcome of group work is an authentic product that allows the teacher to assess the understanding of each member of the group. Students reflect on their contribution to the group, on the group’s process, and on their own learning.  Students self-assess their learning and their work and what to work on next time. In-person Students meet synchronously to discuss the project and to plan their response.  Physical products are an option (in-person video, poster, etc.) Publish or present work in an authentic way that other students can respond to.  Online Students meet synchronously in a digital space to discuss the project and to plan their response.  Individual contributions to the project can be done asynchronously and will be digital on some level (consider different tools that students can use to show understanding like Adobe Spark, Podcasting, G Suite tools, etc.) Create a digital space for presentations or publishing work in an authentic way that classmates can respond to. Needs to mimic real world or have real world application. (Service Learning or action plan development.)