What is PBL? To help teachers do PBL well, we created a comprehensive, research-based model for PBL — a "gold standard" to help teachers, schools, and organizations to measure, calibrate, and improve their practice. In Gold Standard PBL, projects are focused on student learning goals and include Essential Project Design Elements: Free Guide to Self-Publishing eBooks & iPad Apps Now Available Press release from the issuing company Quark announced today the availability of a new, free resource for self-publishers from graphic design expert and self-publisher Jay Nelson. Titled “Jay Nelson’s Guide to Self-Publishing,” the comprehensive guide outlines everything self-publishers need to know about getting digital projects, like ePubs and iPad apps, started and finished – without programming. The guide is free in ePub format or as a PDF and can be accessed here: www.quark.com/selfpublish. “I know from speaking with a broad community of designers, self-publishers, and authors that for many, understanding digital publishing seems like an awfully steep hill to climb, especially if they’ve been focused on print publishing,” said Nelson. With the guide to publishing eBooks and iPad apps, authors and designers working on digital magazines, books, journals, newsletters, and other publications will learn how to: Like this: Like Loading...
Free Resources and Tools for Replicating Project-Based Learning Educators from High Tech High in San Diego, California, and the Whitfield Career Academy's 21st Century Learning Academy in Dalton, Georgia, have provided these resources for you to use in your own school. Students in Whitfield County take on a range of multidisciplinary projects. A middle school science student (left) identifies the parts of a fish before painting it to make a Japanese-style gyotaku print, and students (right) learn math and physics while building an outdoor classroom. Credit: Grace Rubenstein (left); David Markus (right) Click on any title link below to view or download that file. Tips for downloading: PDF files can be viewed on a wide variety of platforms -- both as a browser plug-in or a stand-alone application -- with Adobe's free Acrobat Reader program. To download a free version of the Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer, visit Microsoft's Download Center. Resources On This Page: Back to Top
Project Based Learning Our school’s need to adapt the most effective educational methodologies to produce literate, technologically superior, and democratic citizens for the 21st century. “Kids spend much of the day as their great-grandparents once did: sitting in rows, listening to teachers traditional classrooms lecture, scribbling notes by hand, reading from textbooks that are out of date by the time they are printed” written by Claudia Wallus from Time Magazine author of How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th century. The new 21st century school should be a true student-centered approach within the classroom. Students need to learn to think and apply information from a plethora of disciplines and new technology. Students need to be taught what’s reliable and what is not in this digital age of endless technology and information. Check out this great article from the Huffington Post written by Lisa Nielsen from her blog called The Innovative Educator or find her @InnovativeEdu 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Wheaton High to model project-based learning for Montgomery County schools This is project-based learning, where educational instruction moves away from a traditional academic setting to an active classroom that encourages collaboration and communication among students. As the Montgomery County Public Schools system plans to replace the Wheaton High School building in Silver Spring, officials aren’t just aiming for physical classroom overhauls. They’re also planning to redesign the curriculum, expanding a project-based learning environment that will resemble adult work settings and real-life situations. It is part of a larger quest to “redefine the school” and prepare students for “21st century education,” Schools Superintendent Joshua P. “Critical competencies for workers now include skills and knowledge acquired beyond a high school education as well as the ability to apply learning, think critically about information, solve novel problems, collaborate, create new products and processes, and adapt to change,” Starr said. School projects aren’t new.
Helping Students Make Better Movies on iPad (or any device) I’m gearing up for a film festival at the end of the month that celebrates the incredible talents and vision of the students in my community. The films are created by students in what is often an in-depth process. Starting with nothing more than an idea, students write story boards, scripts, choose film techniques, act, record, edit, process and polish until they have a video that depicts nothing less than the vision they started with. I’ve had many teachers ask how to help students make great films, so below is a series of activities that may help you during the process. Of course, the basis for a great film is a great story. There is a nice video on filming techniques. Possible Activity: List 7 Camera Techniques that caught your attention. Now that students are becoming aware of camera techniques, have them apply that knowledge. What is the overall tone and mood of this clip? Here is a clip from The Avengers. Marvel’s The Avengers
What Project-Based Learning Is — and What It Isn’t Screenshot/High Tech High The term “project-based learning” gets tossed around a lot in discussions about how to connect students to what they’re learning. Teachers might add projects meant to illustrate what students have learned, but may not realize what they’re doing is actually called “project-oriented learning.” Terronez, who teaches at High Tech Middle, a public charter school in San Diego, Calif says that when an educator teaches a unit of study, then assigns a project, that is not project-based learning because the discovery didn’t arise from the project itself. “If you inspire them to care about it and draw parallels with their world, then they care and remember.” For Terronez, the goal is to always connect classroom learning to its applications in the outside world. It takes a lot of diligent planning by the teacher to design projects that give students space to explore themes and real-world resonance to make it meaningful for them. Related
Introduction to Project-Based Learning A. Introduction to Networked Project-Based Learning We use the term NetPBL (Networked Project-Based Learning) to describe online collaborative learning. There is nothing new about Project-Based Learning (PBL). We are seeing a resurgence of interest in the idea of PBL and its successful application in classrooms. We believe that at least some of this renewed interest is due to the project opportunities presented by the Internet and World Wide Web. Therefore, this first section briefly introduces PBL concepts and provides resources to help you grapple with classroom management issues.
Practical Tips for Mobile Learning in the PBL Classroom Given the number of technology tools being used by educators and students, it's no wonder that mobile technologies and mobile learning are being explored in various implementations. From data collection tools to mobile phones, students are learning at school and on their own. Remember, however, that technology is a tool for learning, so we still need to focus on models that provide engaging uses for these tools. Project-based learning can pair well with tenets and best practices for mobile learning to create intention and flexible contexts for learning. Here are some tips and ideas to consider if you want to try mobile learning with your next PBL project. 1. Educators can use the "Need to Know" activity, and have students create a list of questions and "need to knows" to compete the project. Use Twitter, or another related tool, with a hashtag to create a backchannel list of "need to knows." 2. PBL projects present a great opportunity to have students go out in the field. 3. 4. 5.
Resources and Tools for PBL Start to Finish Tips for downloading: PDF files can be viewed on a wide variety of platforms -- both as a browser plug-in or a stand-alone application -- with Adobe's free Acrobat Reader program. Click here to download the latest version of Adobe Reader. Documents to Help You Get Started The Hunger Games Project Documents Below are sample project-based learning documents from teachers Mary Mobley (English) and Michael Chambers (world history) of Manor New Technology High School in Manor, Texas. They team-teach a sophomore world studies class. Back to Top Culture at Manor New Tech High School Manor Visitors Summary Sheet An overview of Manor New Tech for visitors, including mission statement, learning outcomes, and the school's commitments to their students Learning Outcomes Manor New Tech's learning outcomes for all classes Manor Bell Schedule Daily bell schedule for Manor New Tech Additional Resources on the Web Suggested Reading
10 Apps For More Organized Project-Based Learning Project-Based Learning, by definition, is flexible. It encourages learner-centeredness, provides the possibility of more authentic work, and allows learners to self-manage and self-direct in places they used to have their hands held. But this has its drawbacks. Learning is a capacity-building endeavor that seeks to, well, build capacity will ironically depending on that same capacity to progress, There are a variety of ways to support students in project-based learning, including organized digital learning spaces that support creative thinking, collaboration, and ultimately project management. Below are 10 apps for more organized project-based learning. 1. Platform: iOS How It Can Help: Pure overkill for most classrooms, but if an extremely powerful productivity and project management is what you need and you’ve got a $50 iTunes card burning a hole in your pocket, this could be just what the doctor ordered. 2. Platform: iOS 3. Platform: Android & iOS How It Can Help: 4. Platform: iOS 5. 6. 7.
naf.org/files/PBL_Guide.pdf