A.

Introduction to Project-Based Learning

There is nothing new about Project-Based Learning (PBL). Good teachers have
always used projects as a supplement to their regular course of instruction. Any
teacher who has taken a group on a field trip, had students enter projects in a science
fair, had a class garden, collected and measured the pH of various water sources, or
any one of a thousand activities that involve students in studying and interacting with
the real world around them, has conducted a project-based learning activity.
We are seeing a resurgence of interest in the idea of PBL and its consistent and
successful application and management in classrooms. Many educators, schools,
communities, and other organizations are exploring aspects of project-based learning.
We believe that at least some of this renewed interest is due to the project
opportunities presented by the Internet and World Wide Web... as this guide attempts
to demonstrate by introducing you to projects that use the Internet and World Wide
Web.
While the Internet adds critical and valuable dimensions to a PBL experience, the
management issues you face as the classroom learning manager of a networked
project are the same as those faced by every teacher who has embarked on a
traditional "old-fashioned, low-tech" project.
Therefore, this first section briefly introduces familiar PBL management issues and
provides some resources to help you grapple with classroom management issues.
1. What is Project Based Learning (PBL)?
In research conducted by the AutoDesk Foundation, teachers from seventeen schools
agreed that PBL exhibited similar characteristics:
Characteristics of project- based learning

Students make decisions within a prescribed framework.

Theres a problem or challenge without a predetermined solution.
Students design the process for reaching a solution.
Students are responsible for accessing and managing the information they
gather.
Evaluation takes place continuously.
Students regularly reflect on what theyre doing.
A final product (not necessarily material) is produced and is evaluated for
quality.
The classroom has an atmosphere that tolerates error and change.

Generally speaking, students engaged in a project...

...have some choice in deciding what they will work on.

...plan their own project.
...participate in defining criteria and rubrics to assess their project.
...solve problems they encounter while working on their project.
...make some sort of presentation of their project.

The project-based learning approach creates a "constructivist" learning environment

in which students construct their own knowledge. Whereas in the "old school" model
the teacher was the task master -- in the "new school" model the teacher becomes the
facilitator.

2. PBL Pedagogy and Educational Reform

Current literature on educational reform identifies a number of important qualities of
improved learning that schools should strive to achieve. Over the past decade, we
have visited and observed numerous school and classroom Web sites, and have talked
to countless students and teachers who have conducted online projects. We are struck
with the large number of similarities in the experiences of their students to what
educational reform literature says they should be experiencing. Research studies are
also pointing to the efficacy of networked Project-Based Learning activities.

This section briefly describes some characteristics of improved learning taken from
the reform literature, with commentary taken from our observations and conversations
with teachers and students regarding their NetPBL experiences.
Improved Learning Strategies & Thinking Skills
Learning To Learn

Effective online projects encourage students to work on a problem in depth, rather

than covering many topics superficially. Students also engage in "just-in-time
learning..." learning what is needed to solve a problem or complete a project, rather
than in a preset curriculum sequence. Both of these strategies are cited in educational
reform literature as being important tools to improve learning.
Life-long learning

Web projects build learning experiences connected to the kind of learning one does
throughout life, rather than only on "school" subjects. By using the real tools for
intellectual work that are used in the workplace, rather than oversimplified textbook
techniques, students become familiar with the kinds of knowledge that exist. Finding
information and people on the Internet gives students the knowledge of how to go
about acquiring the knowledge they may need.
Active Learning

We all learn best by "doing." In a well-designed Web project, students work in a

hands-on mode with the physical world. They gather information and data, explore,
create, experiment, physically manipulate things, and organize information. They
have access to people and information from the real world, and they develop a closer
relationship to the real-world context of problems and projects. The connections to
real people, events, and problems in the world brings a relevance and connection that
is immediate and involves their interest, their intellect, and their participation.
Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning encourages active engagement by the students in learning, and it

also builds critical skills needed in today's workplace. Online projects vastly widen
the audience and opportunity for cooperative learning by involving and
communicating with a wide cross-section of people around the world. Students work
directly with people from other places and cultures, and collaborate not only with
peers, but with mentors and experts in a large number of fields.

Contextual Learning
In her article "Public Access to the Internet," Beverly Hunter has written, "Trends in
educational reform might be summed up in the one word 'authentic.'" Indeed, when
students use the Web to publish and communicate with people from all walks of life
around the world about their work, they are engaged in "authentic" enterprises.
In the best online projects, students regularly communicate and share data and
information with their peers and experts in the community. This helps to establish a
close relationship between the students and the real-world context of problems and
projects. Learning becomes less abstract and becomes more connected to their own
lives and experiences. They also learn in an interdisciplinary context, rather than
always separating subjects into isolated topics.

High Standards for All Learners

Well-designed online projects foster the development of high standards by building in
response and quality-control loops in which feedback from the community... peers,
mentors, and experts from all walks of life... hold the student-as-author accountable
for accuracy and completeness. Dialogs between author and audience work in much
the same way that scholars have always worked to maintain accuracy and
accountability in their scholarship. Assessment of peers, teachers, and community are
natural and logical steps in the development of every Web project, and tend to hold
every student to the highest levels of accountability and quality.
Personalization
Students learn best when their learning and activities relate to things which they can
identify with personally, and when they work on projects and problems of intrinsic
interest to themselves. When students are involved in the selection and definition of a
learning project they assume more ownership of both the process and the outcome.
The wealth of people and resources available on the Internet can cater to any
appropriate interest students wish to pursue.
Furthermore, since the best online projects involve local and accessible resources,
students can readily identify with the tasks required to complete the project.
Individualization
Research clearly demonstrates that different people learn best in different ways (See
Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) at Andy Carvin's EdWeb. Students
learn best when the materials and testing applications, teaching applications are
customized to respond to these individual differences in learning styles and cognitive
strengths. Web publishing and communication on the Internet helps to support
individualization, with varying options for presentation, feedback, and discourse.

Changing Roles and Increasing Participation

Students as Teachers

The age of the teacher as the primary fount of knowledge in the classroom is gone.
Today, with the universe of experts and information available through the Internet,
students can access new and relevant information not yet discovered by their teacher.
Internet-using educators are discovering a new mode of learning that we call "Sideby-side learning." It is becoming a more and more common experience to find
students assuming both informal and formal roles as teachers... of their peers and
younger students, and in many cases of teachers.
Teachers as Coaches

Teachers who involve their students in project-based learning activities also find their
own role logically and naturally changing. Rather than being simple dispensers of
knowledge, they discover their primary tasks are to guide and coach and mentor their
students. They teach their students how to question, and how to develop hypotheses
and strategies for locating information. They become co-learners as their students
embark on a variety of learning projects which chart unfamiliar territory. Most
teachers who experience this find it a heady and rewarding experience.
When students can share their projects and activities with the "community" through
their Web page presentations, they are not the only ones to benefit from the
interaction with a larger audience. Teachers, also, find new collegial connections,
support, and encouragement from a wide variety of their peers and content experts.
Parent And Community Involvement

With the growth of the World Wide Web, more and more of "the community" can be
found online, therefore permitting closer relationships between people inside schools
and outside in the "real world". Parents, business leaders, scientists, political and labor
leaders, and many other members of the community can play more effective and
innovative roles as motivators, role models, sources of information, critics, evaluators,
guides, and mentors.
The Internet also creates new paradigms of school-community involvement. As
students move from simply consuming to producing and publishing new and original
information and knowledge, members of the community seek out and appreciate the
information presented on their Web site.

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