This is a cross post from my work on my Masters of Educational Technology at Boise State.
In this week assignments we were tasked with further developing our Project Based Learning assignment and using different tools to accomplish this goal. What I really like about Project Based Learning is the complexity that lies in the assignment. While projects are are great for a short time frame, there is a vital flaw in them. They are teacher lead. Their really is not much authentic learning going on in projects. They are more designed to take the place of a test rather than drive inquiry and learning. This is why I prefer Project Based Learning over projects. In Project Based Learning, students have more authentic learning opportunities and are able to tap into their passions.
One of the hardest parts of developing a PBL is the Driving Question. Recently, I have been doing a lot of research about driving questions and essential questions because the needs of our students are changing. In this age, when students can just Google many questions, we need to ask more open-ended questions that will make our students think and dig for answers. With every driving question I come up with for a PBL, I Google the question to see if I can easily find an answer. If I can’t then my question is Non-Googlable. These are the questions I am looking to ask my students, if the answer is Googlable, then back to the drawing board!
The other part of this weeks assignment was to use digital tools to help in the creation of our Project Based Learning activity. I have been using some of the apps available in the Google Suite. The first is Google Sites. While I like that it is free (always a great point in education), I feel that their is a learning curve behind the program. It is not as user friendly as I would like. You do need to know a little bit about coding to be able to embed Google Forms or other add ons. If for instance you were to use Weebly, you find what element you want to add to your page and drag the element onto the page. No coding required.
The second tool I used was Google Draw. This tool can be used to make graphic organizers among other useful applications. It was quite easy to use. What might be the best about these two tools, are that you can share them with others and collaborate with each other.
NoTosh Limited (n.d). Googleable vs Non-Googleable Questions. NoTosh The Lab. [online] Retrieved from: http://notosh.com/lab/googleable-vs-non-googleable-questions/ [Accessed 29 June 2013]
Wiggins, G. (2013). On Genuine vs Bogus Inquiry using EQ. Granted, and…~ thoughts on education by Grant Wiggins. [online] Retrieved from: http://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2013/02/08/on-genuine-vs-bogus-inquiry-using-eqs-properly/ [Accessed: 29 June 2013].
Musallam , R. (2011). Cycles of Learning. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.cyclesoflearning.com/page1/page1.html [Accessed: 5 Jan 2013].
George Phillip is a social studies teacher and designer.
Ramsey Musallam - www.cyclesoflearning.com
Karl Lindgren-Streicher -
Josh Stumpenhorst -
Jason Bretzmann -
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