Project Based Learning: Personalizing the Learning Environment

Literature Review

Overview

There has been a movement to shift the traditional classroom environment into one that

encourages inquiry and a deeper connection with learning. In the traditional factory-based

model, the teacher is the center rather than the learner. Schools around the globe are beginning

to reconstruct the entire school experience in order to engage learners innovatively and

organically (Adams Becker, S., Freeman, A., Giesinger Hall, C., Cummins, M., & Yuhnke, B.,

2016). These innovative approaches structure authentic learning opportunities through

challenge, competency, or project based learning. Jean Piaget’s writings (1964), among others,

helped shape the foundations of these methods. Inquiry based learning provides guidance for the

learner to discover, activate curiosity, and learn how to learn. Project-based learning (PBL)

presents learners with an authentic opportunity to engage meaningfully with content by solving

real-world problems collaboratively.

The objective of this literature review is to emphasize the importance learner choice,

ownership, and voice has in creating authentic learning opportunities (COVA), the definition of

PBL and its relation to blended learning, and the impact personalized learning has in

empowering students’ self-efficacy.

COVA
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COVA is an active, inquiry based learning approach defined by Lamar University

professors Tilisa Thibodeaux, Dwayne Harapnuik, and Cynthia Cummings (2017) to navigate

the learning process in the M.Ed. Digital Learning and Leading program (p. 2). Through COVA,

learners are given the “freedom to choose how they wish to organize, structure, and present their

experiences and evidences of learning” (Harapnuik, 2016). Choice develops the foundation for a

personalized learning environment (Bolliger & Shepherd, 2010). In a PBL environment, learners

are encouraged to organize, collaborate with classmates, and choose how they wish to showcase

their work and learning experiences (Harapnuik, 2017). The Buck Institute for Education (2019)

calls PBL “a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an

extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex

question, problem, or challenge.” In the traditional pedagogical approaches, “teachers dictate

how students are to perform, organize, structure and present information and learning

experiences. When teachers do provide a choice, it is often a selection from a predetermined list

of options” (Harapnuik, 2017). Teachers determine the method of delivery, and rarely offer

authentic opportunities for students to formulate solutions to real world issues. If learners are not

able to associate their learning with personal interests or ambitions, the learning is centered

around the teacher and not the learner (Bray & McClaskey, 2013). In a learner-centered

environment, a learner’s contributions and expressions are built upon prior knowledge and

experiences (Swanson 2004, p. 261). Choice is imperative in a blended learning environment.

“Some element of student control is critical; otherwise, blended learning is no different from a

teacher beaming online curriculum to a classroom of students through an electronic whiteboard”

(Horn & Staker, 2015, p. 34).

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According to Buchem, Tur, and Hölterhof, learner control leads to learner ownership.

Allowing learners ownership initiates motivation, engagement and agency (2014, pp. 20-21).

The process of ownership is not by pure discovery, but by guided discovery provided by the

instructor (Harapnuik 2016). Attwell (2012) suggests the learner owns different processes

related to learning in which the learner “owns” his or her reflections and personal assessments.

According to constructivists, like Jonassen (1999), learners must own the problem because it

promotes learner agency and responsibility in developing solutions. Learners engage

dynamically through organizing and constructing knowledge in both individual and constructive

activity (Biggs, 1996; Piaget, 1968, 1983). Knowledge relates to an operation, in which to

engage in it, one must act on it (Piaget, 1964). Personal learning environments provide a space

for learners to take ownership and meet the expectations they have created for themselves (Bray

& McClasky, 2014).

Through the COVA approach, learners are encouraged to construct and organize their

ideas through the use of their own voice, and share their work and insights with their audience

(Harapnuik, 2016). A true PBL environment situates learners’ interests, voice, and prior

experience at the heart of the curriculum and supports a student-centered pedagogy (Ball, 2016).

Voice is a central component to PBL. Projects are designed to revolve and culturally respond to

learners’ unique backgrounds, interests, and needs (Schwalm & Smuck Tylek, 2012). PBL grants

learners the opportunity to recognize their own voice and own it by publishing their endeavors to

a real-world audience beyond classroom borders (Buck Institute for Education, 2017). Publishing
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to an audience other than the instructor deepens understanding, and bestows a sense of purpose

(Bass, 2014). Harapnuik (2017) advocates for the implementation of an online ePortfolio in

which students present their authentic work digitally to create an online presence.

The final component of COVA learning framework is to provide authentic opportunities

for learning to take place. Authentic learning requires active engagement in concepts in which

the learner learns “by doing,” cultivating and investigating solutions to problems that extend

beyond a textbook formula (Windham, 2007). Freeman et al. (2017) say “authentic learning is

not a trend - it is a necessity” (p. 4). In the 2016 K-12 Horizon Report, Becker, Adams,

Freeman, Giesinger Hall, Cummins, and Yuhnke argue that authentic learning is the foundation

in which metacognitive reflection and self-awareness blossom (p. 22). Harapnuik (2016)

suggests authentic learning opportunities that are significant to the learner stirs meaningful

connections. Authentic learning is not a new concept, however technology has further provided

learners new avenues to access learning in both real and virtual settings (Windham, 2007).

Ragone and Quale (2017) say PBL “requires children to embrace uncertainty while also

engaging with the great wonders of the world in a systematic way” (p. 60). An established

real-world view helps authentic learning to take root. An authentic learning environment helps

students grasp the purpose of why they are learning. (Yoshikawa & Bartholomew, 2017, p. 50).

Authenticity is not an isolated aspect of the environment, it is the result of reciprocity between

the learner, project, and the learning environment (Barab, Squire, & Dueber, 2000). Harapnuik

(2016) stresses that “without this dynamic and interactive authenticity, there would be no

genuine choice, ownership, and voice.”

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Definition of Project-Based Learning

PBL can be defined as learner-centered, inquiry-based instruction that occurs over an

extended time period, during which students select, plan, investigate and produce a product,

presentation, or performance that answers a real-world question or responds to an authentic

challenge (Holm, 2011, p. 1). These authentic learning opportunities guide discovery through a

constructivist method in which the learner uses prior knowledge to produce concrete evidence of

understanding. The projects require complex thinking and creative problem solving (Barron &

Darling-Hammond, 2008; Savery, 2006). In Jerome Bruner’s The Act of Discovery (1961), he

states that:

Discovery in its essence is a matter of rearranging or transforming evidence in such a

way that one is enabled to go beyond the evidence so reassembled to additional new

insights. A small part but a crucial part of discovery of the highest order is to invent and

develop models or ‘puzzle forms’ that can be imposed on difficulties with good effect. It

is in this area that the truly powerful mind shines (p. 7).

Blended Learning & PBL

Technology presents personalized learning opportunities for learners to engage in

hands-on or virtual projects. Personalized learning through the tool of technology can be

accomplished through blended learning. Blended learning is “any formal education program in

which a student learns at least in part through online learning, with some element of student

control over time, place, path, and/or pace” (Horn & Staker, 2015, p. 34). Although PBL is not
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directly associated with blended learning, when authentic projects are paired with technology,

learners are able to engage deeper and experiment with a variety of tools and platforms (Adams

Becker, Freeman, Giesinger Hall, Cummins, and Yuhnke, 2016).

Personalized Learning Environment (PLE)

Personalized learning can be defined as a learner-centered environment in which the

learner drives their own learning, and develops their own inner teacher. This creates flexibility

for the teacher’s role to shift into a facilitator or mentor. (Bray & McClaskey, 2014). “Educators

are now acting as guides and mentors, modeling responsible global citizenship and motivating

students to adopt lifelong learning habit by providing opportunities for students to direct their

own learning trajectories” (Friend, Patrick, Schneider, Vander Ark, 2017). The opportunity to

step away from the traditional problem sets and research papers students find learning fun

because they’re able to engage in hands-on meaningful projects with a variety of tools

(Windham, 2017). Personalizing the learning grants learners the chance to create, inspire, own

and receive support in their learning which in turn develops students into the biggest advocates

for a personalized learning environment (Friend, Patrick, Schneider, Vander Ark, 2017). A

learner-centered environment that is rich with genuine exploration, reflection, and expression

along with guidance and support frees learners to take risks to fail forward (Ackermann, 2003).

Carol Dweck (2006, p. 39) argues that when learners develop a growth mindset, failures may

sting, but failures do not define their identity. Failing forward develops agency and gives learners

the chance to own both their failures and successes. It is the responsibility of the learner to own

their learning (Harapnuik 2017) while it is the responsibility for the teacher to present learners
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with challenges manageable enough to spark interests and engagement (Duckworth 1987). Our

aim as educators is to inspire our audience to be autonomous life-long learners. Personalizing the

learning, providing authentic opportunities for ownership develops learner agency and efficacy

(Bruner, 1961).

Conclusions

The goal of education is about learning. Education sets students free to create, inspire,

dream, and lead if given authentic opportunities to do so. Educators have the great responsibility

to set the stage to encourage students to choose, voice, and own their learning. The PBL

environment provides the authentic learning opportunities necessary to connect students to

real-world context. In his TED Talk titled ​Bring on the Learning Revolution!, ​Sir Ken Robinson

(2010) says, “Human flourishing is not a mechanical process, it’s an organic process, and you

cannot predict the outcome of human development. All you can do is...create the conditions

under which [learners] begin to flourish.” PBL empowers learners’ self-efficacy, and provides an

environment in which learners flourish. Personalizing the learning environment through PBL

will develop the next generation of life-long learners.

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