Everything you need to run project-based online learning
PBL aims to prepare students for how we learn, work, and succeed in the professional world. We’ve put together a list of everything you need to set up a project-based online learning environment that promotes agency, equity and transfer of knowledge. As teachers, we’re are used to scrambling to find all the tools, strategies and functions to build a true project-based virtual learning experience. But we’ve got everything you need to run virtual PBL all in one place.
PROBLEMS THAT NEED ADDRESSING.
Students need carefully-designed projects that keep them engaged and allow them to work independently. But that isn’t enough. Although the topic may inspire or motivate students to learn, sometimes this is not enough to hold them accountable for their process of learning. How often do students fall behind, skip steps, get stuck, leave things to the last minute, or simply disengage throughout a project? I can tell you from my years of IN-CLASS project-based learning… A LOT. So the stakes are even higher in an online PBL environment. Also, a teacher’s job is to be each student’s mentor, but when they have different needs, different roadblocks, and different schedules - how can teachers ensure that quality driving questions are formed, student inquiry is sustained, learning partnerships are productive, and incremental improvements and ongoing reflection are constant? Basically, how do teachers help their students go deeper online?
5 STEPS TO SETTING UP YOUR VIRTUAL PROJECT
1. CHOOSE THE RIGHT ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
PBL is fueled by constant reflection and iterations. The wrong message is sent when we use assignment-based or activity-based software to facilitate student progress (Aka your traditional LMS). When work is chopped up into activities and only submitted to the teacher, we are telling our students that learning is stagnant, finite, teacher-centered and silo’d. When students “submit” their work, they don’t consider revision as a necessary and ongoing part of the learning process. Find a tool that pulls students through their project.
Ensure your project-based online learning tool promotes learning that is:
- agile & iterative (students have a low-stakes practice ground to try and fail)
- in partnerships (peer-to-peer, cross-team)
- co-designed
- is self-assessed and reflected on
- metacognitive (students learning how to learn for themselves)
- organized & structured
- micro ( break down the project into micro-steps, giving students an opportunity to reflect, seek feedback, iterate and practice executive functioning skills)
- process, not product-based
2. VALUE PROCESS > PRODUCT
How do we give more credit to the growth in key 21st-century skills like creative thinking, critical thinking and executive functioning skills than a fancy YouTube video at the end of the project? Establish an understanding in your classroom that you are assessing and valuing the work the students put in and not just their final work. We want students to build ownership and agency. It’s not just about giving them a choice between creating a poster or a documentary, it’s more about giving them control over how they learn. There are many ways to create opportunities for more student agency, while still holding them accountable for their process. The Edtech Class shares a great blog on how to find the right process vs. product balance.
Break-down the project into metacognitive, micro tasks.
his is the best way to scaffold your remote project and support strong executive functioning skills. What do you want to see from your students at every step of the project? For example, usually when you launch a project, you want your students to explore certain “hook” materials to get their wheels turning, identify their prior knowledge, as well as, identify their gaps in knowledge. Perhaps for task 1, you could have your students share their know and NTK brainstorm in any medium of their choosing (mind-map, google sheet, doodle). Remember, we don’t need to dictate how they do this work, but just hold them accountable for the process of doing it. When we use metacognitive tasks, students begin to see how to transfer their learning to new experiences.
“Spinndle allowed some of my truant students and struggling learners to catch up with more confidence and control. ”
Share to learn. Get students to share their knowledge at every step.
For PBL online learning, ensure that deliverables at every step of the project don’t just get shared with the teacher, but with peers too. This not only help other students along who are stuck on the task, but will add an extra layer of accountability for their process. Students can do this on a forum or feeds. Students can learn to identify their needs or gaps in knowledge and seek support when they are stuck. This is the most relevant real-world skill we can give our students. The ability to learn how to learn for themselves. The ability to ask questions. This is the growth mindset, the agile learning, the iterative work that we should get our students to strive for. This is what we need to value. Make it known that students get credit for seeking and giving feedback on project process. On Spinndle, students have a network to engage in the cycle of feedback, reflection and iteration required of real-world projects. Spinndle acts as a safe space for students to direct their own learning: reflecting and questioning their work at every step to improve and inform next steps. Here are 3 other strategies from Crafted Curriculum on how to strengthen peer-to-peer feedback.
“Spinndle helps students move meaningfully though phases of a project”
“Spinndle helped me understand my learning progress, what I need to work on, and what I do well.”
“I changed the way I learned by seeing what other people said and brainstorming ideas to make my project and their better. I feel like an actual entrepreneur. ”
Establish an ongoing reflection / self-assessment routine.
Self-reflection or assessment shouldn’t be the finish line in project-based online learning. My students often set their rubric aside until the end of their project. Once they were done the final product, they would peak at their rubric and fill in the blanks. How can we get our students to self-assess and self-check skills along the way? When students leave grade school, are they able to self-identify what their challenges and strengths are? Are they skill-aware? I know I wasn’t. What if you had students tag the skill they are working on as they are working on it. They may not always get it right, but at least they are working towards the greater goal of building greater skill-awareness. After each task or milestone of the project, have your students tag skills that they were working on and reflect on their strengths and challenges. Get them to fill-out an online PBL self-report like this one. This is a great way to embed SEL in PBL and cultivate equity. Here are some other resources from edutopia to embed assessment throughout the project.
“Spinndle has helped students understand competencies and break them down into manageable pieces”
Spinndle curates a bank of skill evidence. Students use this evidence to engage in self-reporting on an ongoing basis… commenting on their strengths, challenges, and needs.
3. MAKE CHECK-IN’S & FEEDBACK LOOPS MORE EFFICIENT
According to John Hattie, specific and timely feedback is the #1 job of a teacher. 20+ students to share meaningful interactions with, 20+ different processes of learning to document, multiplied by several different projects. Unless you clone yourself from 9 am to 3 pm, Monday to Friday, you are going to miss out. You and your students need a living and breathing portfolio in order for these feedback loops to be a success. Not another “work folder” but a space online to see each student’s learning process unfold in real-time. The only way to do your job as a project-based online learning mentor is to capture the learning process as it unfolds and put it in one place. Giving students the space to act on your feedback and support is key. Here is more information on how to establish feedback loops in the classroom. Students need timely feedback and differentiated support based on their individual learning needs to work towards mastery of competencies. For teachers to be effective mentors, they need to be able to guide and track each student's process. Spinndle empowers students with a system to track their own process while giving teachers streamlined insight and communication tools so they only need to look to one place to provide feedback.
“Spinndle will document the growth and progression of project-based learning.”
“I love that I can see my students’ work right in one place instead of having to go to different places to see their information.”
4. HOLD GROUP MEMBERS ACCOUNTABLE
In a project-based virtual learning environment, often some team members pull more weight than others. Establish a system where students must delegate tasks, forward plan and hold team members accountable for specific tasks.
5. CO-PLAN PROJECTS
Students need to see themselves in their projects. Create an overall roadmap (stages and tasks) to guide students through their PBL virtual learning experience without taking away their agency. Give students the opportunity to plan and add their own tasks to the roadmap. Check out some of the roadmaps Spinndle teachers have posted to encourage more student-driven PBL.
Want to test Spinndle out with your students for free? Get your students started in minutes with our practice project.