Getting Set Up for Collaboration in

Online PBL Units

Student collaboration is a hallmark of project-based
learning, but it can be tricky to manage online. Here
are some basic strategies for helping students work
together.
Hedreich Nichols October 8, 2020

Project-Based Learning (PBL)

SDI Productions / iStock

Project-based learning (PBL) and collaboration conjure up images of

students sitting in groups, working through problems in a shared space.
Covid-19 may be a game changer for education, but the lack of shared
physical space doesn’t have to mean the end of collaborative learning.
While online and hybrid learning do pose serious challenges, the
strategies below can help give students the continued opportunity to
reap the many benefits of PBL.

Online Collaboration Basics

Before starting any projects, you should be comfortable using Zoom and
should have practiced sharing hosting, managing breakout rooms, and
having students chat informally in the virtual classroom. Students should
also know how to ask for help from a breakout room.

Establish community norms around respectful communication and allow

students to practice collaborating in low-stakes challenges and games or
the Jeopardy-style quiz game Factile, which allows you to create
personalized questions related to academic content. Community-building
activities will help students get comfortable working together and give
you the opportunity to troubleshoot any recurring tech glitches.

Once students are working on a project, monitor progress by moving in

and out of the breakout rooms to keep them on task with time limits and
deliverables.

Overcoming Video Conferencing Challenges

Even when teachers and students have a certain level of mastery, tech
sometimes has a mind of its own. You can help students stay focused on
collaborating by preassigning breakout rooms. That way, when glitches
come, you won’t be struggling with your list while students disengage. If
you have separate links for each class you teach, you can preassign
breakout rooms. If you use one link for different sections, it’s a little more
time consuming. You can choose a group size and have Zoom create
groups randomly to kick off a project—spending time assigning students
to groups during class is not advisable unless your students have
independent assignments to work on. Once a project is underway,
assigning students to breakout rooms can be delegated to a trustworthy
student while you do a warmup activity.

Students lose connection often and end up back in the waiting room or
the main session. If you’re circulating, be on the lookout for them.
Discussions can also be difficult because of lagging connections, and
garbled voices make it impossible for students to be understood—having
them close tabs or turn off their camera when talking may help. As a last
resort, have students use the chat function.

You too may sometimes need to use the chat because of lagging. Use
the chat to communicate or drop links to premade videos that explain
concepts in that case.

One other commonly encountered issue is students disengaging.

Lectures and text-heavy slideshows all day are exhausting, and game
sites, puppy videos, and other distractions abound. Creating engaging,
highly interactive lessons is key, and you can also use class norms and
mid-class deliverables, like polls and graded discussion boards, to keep
students engaged.

Other Challenges of Online PBL Collaboration

Even when Zoom is working smoothly, there are many obstacles to

running PBL units in a virtual classroom.

Students missing synchronous sessions: Post clear written and video

instructions that students can refer to whenever needed—this will help all
students, not just the ones who missed a live session. Post the project
scope and timeline in your learning management system (LMS). And
make sure students can reach each other via texting or instant
messaging so they can keep in touch outside of class time.

Students not completing their part of the assignment: This is

sometimes a problem in the physical classroom, but it seems to me to be
more prevalent in distance learning. Assign roles so each student has
clearly defined responsibilities. Design projects so that individual parts
are as valuable as the whole, and decide ahead of time how you will
assess work so as not to penalize group members who are on task.

Hybrid learning or quarantined classes: This is going to be a big issue

this year. When students are in the midst of working on a project, video
conferencing will allow them to collaborate whether they are in class,
remote, or a hybrid of the two. Have them use comment functions in
Google Docs and Slides, Padlet, LMS discussion boards, etc., to
communicate.

Organizational difficulties: Students working remotely are likely to have

issues with motivation and time management. Use design or engineering
processes to divide projects into parts, and assign a student project
manager. Provide ongoing feedback to encourage revision, and hold
office hours so students can drop in and work with teacher support.

Differences of opinion: There are always differences of opinion when

people work together, and these can be exacerbated during remote PBL
units by tech and other issues that make clear communication more
difficult. Explicitly teach students how to provide appropriate peer
feedback, and consider providing sentence stems to teach them how to
work out differences. If groups are really struggling to work together,
offer mediation and mentoring help, and consider trying peer mediation.

Project Completion

The virtual setting offers many options for students to present their
learning. Allow as much student choice as possible. Some possible
formats students can use:

Slideshows or Prezis,
Flipgrid videos, and
Socratic seminar or multi-student screen share on Zoom.

Be flexible, making allowances for variance in digital skills and device

access. Mostly, remember to praise and reward student work as you
would in face-to-face instruction.

Online and hybrid education do not signal the end of collaborative or

project-based learning—they can give students more opportunities to
practice innovation and critical thinking. And if there’s one thing last
spring taught us all, it’s that there can never be too much innovation and
critical thinking.

Project-Based Learning (PBL)

A Beginner’s Guide to National History Day

National History Day—which, despite the name, runs through the school
year—is powerful project-based learning for middle and high school
students.

April 22, 2021

Think of National History Day as a science fair for history classes. It
allows students the opportunity to engage in historical inquiry on a topic
of their choice and—if they’re interested—enter their project in regional,
state, and national competitions.

In our experience, National History Day (NHD) is one of the best forms of
project-based learning; it prompts students to engage in sustained
inquiry as well as in critique and revision, all the while making a public
product for an authentic audience—hallmarks of effective PBL. This rigor
is particularly relevant as state and national social studies standards, like
the C3 Framework, encourage students to analyze, explain, evaluate,
justify, and interpret content. Real history goes beyond the memorization
and recall of names, dates, and places, and NHD can be key to
supporting students in making that leap.

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