By Dr. David Freitas, Dr. Janet Buckenmeyer

•    Why is it important to engage your students in meaningful, authentic, and learner-directed activities?
•    How will project-based learning activities transform the teaching and learning process in your classroom?
•    What are the essential ingredients and steps in effectively implementing project-based learning activities?
•    How will project-based learning activities contribute to the goal of creating communities of life-long learners?
•    How will you use technology to discover and explore vast project-based learning resources?

As university professors, it’s tempting just to tell you everything you need to know about project-based learning by answering our own questions, while you take copious notes.  (Then, you’ll be required to needlessly memorize this information and regurgitate it back on unsophisticated and unreliable exams).

Given the substantial shortcomings to this lecture/regurgitation scheme (and other similar variations), empowering and engaging you to discover answers to these PBL “driving” questions on your own is a far superior pedagogical approach. Moreover, it yields proven sustainable results.

As a student in one of our graduate classes, would your learning be enhanced in a PBL instructional environment where these “driving” questions stimulate your own inquiry? Yes, of course. Then why not transform your own teaching to emphasize project-learning experiences in your classroom?

Several viable reasons (such as unfamiliarity with PBL, too complex to implement, unavailability of useful resources, a lack of time to learn something new) are likely. These concerns have been addressed, and in some cases shattered, in a book from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

Reinventing Project-Based Learning is Your Field Guide to Real-World Projects in the Digital Age. (A field guide is intended “to be taken along on the journey . . . whether you are reading alone or working with a group of colleagues. They help you focus on the details that matter.”)

Project-based learning, according to edutopia.org, “is a dynamic approach to teaching in which students explore real-world problems and challenges. With this type of active and engaged learning, students are inspired to obtain a deeper knowledge of the subjects they're studying.”

Then how do the authors propose “reinventing” project-based learning? Here is their evolutionary, conceptual framework.
•    [PBL] projects form the centerpiece of the curriculum – they are not add-on or extra at the end of a real unit.
•    Students engage in real-world activities and practice the strategies of authentic disciplines.
•    Students work collaboratively to solve problems that matter to them.
•    Technology is integrated as a tool for discovery, collaboration, and communication, taking learners places they couldn’t otherwise go and helping teachers achieve essential learning goals in new ways.
•    Increasingly, teachers collaborate to design and implement projects that cross geographic boundaries or even jump time zones.

These principles, appropriately coupled and infused with technology, catapult us to the next generation of PBL.

Organizationally, this field guide is a step-by-step blueprint to PBL transformation. Section I, Anticipation, is followed by Packing Up, Navigating the Learning Experience, Expanding the Circle, and Unpacking. Specific chapters, under each of these general headings, offer practical and useful details.

They include Mapping the Journey-Seeing the Big Picture; Imagining the Possibilities; Strategies for Discovery; Project Management Strategies for Teachers and Learners; Project Launch-Implementation Strategies; A Guiding Hand-Keeping a Project Moving;  Making Assessment Meaningful; Celebrating and Reflecting. Content covers PBL basics to advanced strategies.

The authors include four types of sidebars throughout this field-guide to provide readers a deeper understanding of the various topics. “Spotlight” sidebars feature exemplary school practices (Examples: Teams That Maximize Results; Just-In-Time Feedback); “Your Turn” offers readers practical, hands-on learning experiences (Examples: Design a Project; Create an Asset Map; Analyze Your Classroom Conversations); “Technology Focus” highlights specific tools to enhance your PBL activities (Examples: Project Management with Technology; Screencasting; Online Collaboration); and “Side Trip” includes relevant supplementary information and resources (Example: Tour the Blogosphere).

The authors also tackle some potential pitfalls. Two of the most common we encounter in aspiring PBL classrooms, “technology layered over traditional practices” and “long on activity, short on learning outcomes”, are directly addressed. 
Another pitfall we hear is the lack of technology to fully implement project-based learning. There are, however, glimmers of hope. The state of Maine in collaboration with Apple, for example, is the first to provide a laptop computer to every seventh and eighth grade student statewide. Soon, every public high school student in Maine will also receive their own state issued Apple laptop. This one-to-one (laptop for each student) program will certainly facilitate PBL implementation and serve as a model for our nation.

We commend the authors’ vision and join their advocacy. “Project-based learning – powered by contemporary technologies – is a strategy certain to turn traditional classrooms upside down. When students learn by engaging in real-world projects, nearly every aspect of their experience changes.”

And it changes for the better. For many reasons, Project-Based Learning (PBL) is obviously Preferred By Learners (PBL) and Promoted By Leaders (PBL).
Now is the time to honestly reflect on our opening PBL “driving” questions. Now is the time to transform your classroom. 

David Freitas' email is dfreitas@iusb.edu
 

Dr. David Freitas has served in a number of leadership positions throughout his career including College Dean at three Universities, University Professor, University Vice Provost, Public School Teacher/Administrator, State of Illinois Teacher Certification Board Member, State Department of Education Official, and Elected City School Board Member.
 
Janet Buckenmeyer, Ph.D., a former elementary school teacher, is currently Chair of the Masters of Instructional Technology Program at Purdue University Calumet. She has published and presented nationally and internationally about various topics, with a primary focus on instructional technology and design.