EDTECH 554 Dr.

Elisabeth Silvers December 7, 2010 Workshop for Project Based Lessons Submitted by: Teresa Froehlke

Project Based Lesson Workshop for Educators For the final project for EDTECH 554 I have developed a professional training workshop that would educate the teachers at my school in project based lessons. There are ten elementary teachers that are at a tier 2 in technology integration and this workshop will assist them in moving into the tier 3 level of technology integration. The Workshop would be conducted over a teacher in-service period for 1.5 days. The technology group at our district will conduct the workshop. The topics that will be covered in the 1.5 day workshop are: Project Based Learning; What it is and Why I Need It, Pedagogical application of Project Based Learning; Application of PBL Across A Wide Variety of Disciplines, Integrating Curriculum Standards with Projects, Differentiated Instruction for All Learners, Networking Projects across the grades, Types of projects, the School as a Three Dimensional Textbook, the Critical Role of Technology in PBL, Real World Problem Solving, Critical Thinking Skills, and Inclusion. Project Based Lessons improve Students learning and differentiate the learning by: Project Based Learning has the potential to increase a student's feeling of responsibility for, and control over, his/her own learning. Project Based Learning may be used with all learners it gives structure to those who desire it, flexibility to others, and also allows time for building skills that are personally challenging. Project Based Learning can be used for students with special needs, it can help learners target certain skills, and also help improve metacognition, self-regulation, and motivation. Project Based Lessons with improve teacher effectiveness by: We are expecting the teachers to adopt a project-learning approach in their classroom. We are supplying a workshop in project based learning to give the teachers the tools to integrate technology into their learning environment. The goal of infusing project based lessons into the curriculum is to assist students in exploring, investigating, and understanding their world while developing 21st century critical thinking skills. We believe that project learning is an effective way to integrate technology into the curriculum. A typical project can easily accommodate computers and the Internet, as well as interactive whiteboards, global-positioning-system (GPS) devices, digital still cameras, video cameras, and associated editing equipment. The project based lesson workshop will also enable teachers to acquire the level of technological integration to move them into a three tier level of technology use.

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Activities that are planned include: The workshop is designed to give educators the pedagogical knowledge, understanding, and foundational basis of the Project Based Learning methodology. They will receive practical teaching and learning strategies with hands-on project based experience in the sessions, and view real students conducting real projects in and out of real classrooms (video). Participants will then create and refine their own projects. Outcomes: Philosophy, principles and practices of Project Based Learning Application of PBL across a wide variety of disciplines Essential role of Projects in fostering inclusion How to integrate curriculum and standards with projects How PBL supports differentiated instruction and multiple learning styles

How will learning be measured? Learning will be measured both quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative data will be collected from a pre assessment of the teachers skill at project based lessons. The data will be collected from a survey developed based on prior knowledge of the pedagogical framework of project based lessons. The pre and post assessments can be compared for improved knowledge. The qualitative assessment can be through observation. Each teacher will be required to complete a project based lesson during the school year. The principle will observe and offer a formative assessment of the lesson. During the workshop formative and summative evaluations will be given. The formative evaluation will include feedback to the participants during the workshop. The summative evaluation will be a survey at the end of the workshop in which the teachers can respond to their learning during the workshop. How will you measure the outcome on student learning? An effective assessment program will involve: Multiple strategies to demonstrate growth and performance, The assessment will be in alignment to the stated goals. Projects in which students create multimedia presentations, Web pages, artwork or songs will be evaluated differently than traditional written or word-processed papers. Assessment strategies will include performance tasks, teacher observations, personal communications, some standardized testing, and student and teacher developed evaluation rubrics.

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How will you know if learning returns to the classroom? The principle will work with the teacher and the technology staff to develop and implement a project based lesson in alignment with the curriculum. The teacher will be assessed based on the criteria addressed in the workshop. The principle will observe the teacher conducting a project based lesson. The teacher will be able to use the assessment as a formative assessment and continue and use the information to develop their skills in project based lessons. The teachers will also be giving updates and sharing their projects specifications during the collaboration meetings during the year.

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References

Critical issue: Providing professional development. Retrieved from http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te1000.htm Guerilla educators. Retrieved from http://guerillaeducators.typepad.com/ge/2009/08/project-basedservice-learning-workshop.html Project based learning. Retrieved from http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/students.shtml

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