Shelly Henderson - EDT 3470 - Reading Reflection #5

There are important things to consider before starting a project.  First, you need to consider the resources you will need.  Do your students have easy and consistent access to technology?  How available is your school’s computer lab?  Think about whether or not your students will need access to “experts” to answer questions throughout their project.  If so, how can you foster a connection between your students and the experts?  Will it take place face-to-face or will you have to get creative and help them make a virtual connection?  Look at your school staff and get to know others that can help you.  Media specialists, computer lab aides, etc. may prove to be very beneficial sources as you work to put your project together.  Don’t hesitate to ask for help!  In addition to lining up your resources, you will need strategies to support time management, teaming and assessment.  These are 21^st century skills that your students will benefit from, not only in your classroom, but in their other classes and real-world.  Think about scheduling deadlines along the way, break larger tasks into smaller ones, and tap into some learning management systems.  As you plan, keep in mind that the times your students are working with you may look different from one day to the next.  Don’t make a plan for teaming your students up that you can’t adjust or shift around.  Also, you need to plan for assessment during the projects.  You have the freedom to design tools to help you assess their progress and performance as you go along.  Look to formative assessment, as that will allow you to check in on them along the way. 

Keeping track of and managing in-depth projects is a pretty tall order for both teachers and students. Teachers need tools to help them communicate about the project, tools for keeping a calendar/schedule for themselves and students, ways for making resources available and managing work products, structures that support a positive and productive learning environment, and tools and strategies that support assessment.  Students also need systems in place that will help them manage their time, work flow, resources, work products, etc.  They need help managing their tools for collaborating, the methods available for getting help, and the overall flow of their project.  Students should be shown tools that will help them get and use feedback from their teachers, allow for self-reflection, and team input.  I think the most important management need for teachers is some tools for effective communication.  Teachers need to be able to communicate with students, parents, other teachers, supporting adults, etc.  Being able to effectively communicate will make the job more manageable for all involved.  For students, I think it is important that students are given and shown some management options.  Each student is different and one that fits for one may not fit for another.  There are a lot of management tools available, it is important to explore the options and know them ourselves.

The number of technology applications for use on a project is generous!  Web pages such as wikispaces and blogs are great places to start.  With pages like these, teams can write and edit together or one person can have control over the content.  Either way, content can be viewed and commented on.  You can start with a project wiki that gives students a way to communicate with you and a place from which they can create pages of their own.  They can also link podcasts, blogs, other wikis, photos, etc.  Students can also create their own virtual offices on the Web.  There are a lot of valuable tools available through a personalized web page, and students can tweak and make them truly their own.  You should know enough to lay the foundation for them, but they should be given the challenging 21st century  task of creating their own pages that will work the best for them. 

From this chapter I learned that there a lot of valuable tools available for teachers and students when working on a PBL project.  I learned that organization and communication are two important elements.  I learned that I need to pay closer attention to how things are facilitated and managed.  I think that it would be easy to think that projects could just be managed along the way, but now better understand that management strategies need to be in place when starting out.  I need to step back and look at my project with these things in mind.  Being prepared at the beginning will help everyone’s projects go more smoothly and be more successful.  Also, it would keep things much more manageable for me.