Project Based Learning

Of the five criteria defined for true project based learning, centrality may be the most difficult to achieve. Centrality means that the project forms the basis around which the curriculum is built. So much of what is delivered in today’s post-secondary classroom is centred around and driven by the course textbook. Some professors seem more concerned with covering the required content than with what their students actually learn. In our program we set out to improve our students’ learning by implementing project based learning across our curriculum.

In order to achieve centrality our development team had the following quote posted on the wall as we planned our program:

“project work forms the central and dominant component of their curriculum and conventional didactic teaching is only provided to supplement the requirements of the project topics. The subject material studied is determined by the demands of the project topics, in terms of understanding both theoretical and methodological issues necessary to complete the project..” (my italics) Alistair Morgan, Theoretical Aspects of Project-Based Learning in Higher Education, 1983

Considering all of our team members had been educated in the “traditional” university way, and many had been teaching that same way for a number of years, it was sometimes difficult to put the project needs ahead of all the topics in a given discipline that we were ‘sure’ needed to be covered. By focusing on a different set of related subjects each semester, we were able to more easily identify the key concepts, knowledge and skills that each student needed to acquire. These key elements helped us identify projects that were both real and realizable for our students.

Technorati Tags: authentic learning, PBL, problem based learning, project based learning

While preparing a presentation on Project Based Learning (PBL) for pre-service college teachers, I came across two interesting resources. The first was an article reviewing research done on Project Based Learning (Thomas, 2000), and the second a PBL handbook for teachers (Buck Institute for Education, 2003). As the academic leader for the development and delivery of a fully project-based 4-year electronics degree in applied technology, I was interested in comparing the characteristics of “true” project based learning to our program.

Thomas indicates that the five criteria that a project needs in order to be considered project based learning are centrality, a driving question, constructive investigations, autonomy, and realism. The PBL handbook adds a few more including the use of essential tools and skills, ongoing standards-focused assessment, and collaboration.

As we’re about to graduate our first class, our internal review process has begun. Based on the above-stated criteria, we achieved what we set out to do … design and deliver a program that integrates all required subject areas into a series of authentic and achievable projects. Over the next few postings I’ll take a look at each of the criteria and provide some insight into successes and struggles that we encountered as we rolled out our program.

Technorati Tags: project based learning