Project Based Learning with Daily Tracking

How do you capture the day to day tracking of project based learning? What even is project based learning are why would I do it?

Let’s face it. A high stakes test to measure the education level of our students doesn’t tell us everything. Our students are trained to take these tests to make us look good. Much of the material on these tests will only later be used in Pub Quizzes. And if you played the game of school well you were always a sought after teammate.

But what about real world day to day skills? Are our students really interested in learning those facts for the test just to learn them? At the heart of project based learning is the “Why?”. Why are we learning this? The learning is the central focal point to get to complete a meaningful project. The why can easily be answered by students when the project is meaningful to them. ie Why are we studying fluid dynamics? Because we're building a sailboat.

We can also think beyond a project and aim for a problem with no easy answer. Large global problems are great but we also need to identify realistic scopes with our students. If we were to solve global warming we'll need to work with students to identify if we were going to tackle it for a class, a school, a community and so forth. What level is reasonable? You and your class my find you can reach further than you anticipated.

Students learn best when they are engaged, and interested in what they are working on. Project based learning identifies a big project or problem to work on from various subject areas. It's not a single classroom methodology. It can work this way and has been done but it's not the most effective. Ideally the problem or project is looked at from various content areas to provide knowledge and information. Sometimes it's the most unlikely sources which inspire innovative changes. The more collaborative a team of educators are in discussing their student's experience the more effective project based learning can be.

What would this look like? Here's a sketch of an idea. Students are tasked with some project. Let’s suggest they are going to develop a self sustaining food source for the entire school. Students then focus various subjects into exploring the problem and executing solutions. Literacy can revolve around non-fiction text about self sustained farming. Throw in a chapter book in which the protagonist has to survive in some environment. History topics can stay on track with the aligned time period with a lens always over-hanging asking where did they get their food from? Science is easily brought in from physics through chemistry and biology. Math is necessary for creation and measurements. Arts provide aesthetics and get the creative parts functioning. Physical education can be far more about the physical doing (ever moved a bunch of dirt?).

But how do we track the work done day-to-day? It's not the end product describing the learning that happened it's the process that came before. The successes and failures are to be celebrated equally. The reflection on what has happened and recognition of self contribution is the greatest reward. So shouldn't we capture everything for later review?

I've previously captured student work using two forms. One for when they enter the class. I used it to focus them on the task ahead. and one when they exit class to capture what they did and when they intend to do. In order to further support this daily capturing I created some code that will combine the two forms so I can look at a student's daily efforts. I also created a way to send the captured information to individual students. They become the creators and owners of their data and progress. Students can look at what they have done and reflect on the process. It's key in the forms to have balanced questions so they align vertically when read on a spreadsheet. The exit form has one extra question capturing a photo or screenshot of what was done for the day.

You can access the materials for yourself here. Make a copy of the Forms and the Log file and place it in a folder of your choosing. Besure your forms are linked to the spreadsheet appropriately and you should be good to go.

When working this way the educator becomes the facilitator. they are no longer the only person in the room with the answers students are expected to work to solve problems on their own. The educator is there to support and direct learning. I've experienced a need to collect formative feedback while facilitating. To do this I created a drop down menu which feeds a spreadsheet I can monitor. You can see and modify the sample called Demo. The Spreadsheet key in the Tools>Script editor section will need to be modified for a spreadsheet you have edit rights on or simply one you make for yourself.

The code in these documents is fully modifiable by you. I've left some comments to help in understanding what it does. I do hope it helps someone in the coming school year. You can access the Google Apps Script Code by going to the Tools menu at the top and selecting Script editor. 

Authentic Technology Learning Experiences

Education is full of flashy tech tools to help students grasp concepts. Many are very effective at the goal. Some are just fun to play with. But which tools offer experiences students will encounter in the real world? How is learning with technology relevant and authentic to their lives? 

When choosing educational technology we rely on the SAMR , TPACK, and Bloom’s Taxonomy models to guide us. The goal when implementing technology into education is to support student learning. While these models influence the learning experience it’s also important to keep it grounded in reality. Tasks can be modified for real world scenarios. We’ve all heard or said the phrase “where am I ever going to need this?” The internal response is “the state test that measures how well you are doing at ‘school’”. Realistically where do we use calculus in our daily lives? 

Technology just to teach a concept is less effective than using it for authentic learning opportunities. When the experience is realistic and the outcome is meaningful the learner is more engaged it the task. Surrounding a project with opportunities for learning enhance and deepen the learning process. Making the project authentic with industry standard tools creates a meaningful experience.

When we look at educational technology for use in our classroom it’s also important to ask where and how is what we we are choosing to use being used in the real world. How can we provide an authentic experience to students? To do this we can follow this flowchart:

Using authentic technology tools works best for authentic experiences. If students can work cross curricular on a particular project supported by a full school community the experience can be much more meaningful and engaging. This level of project based authentic learning requires a strong collaborative community.

Applying Digital Skills in the everyday classroom

Our students come to us with interests, some with passions. How can we harness that interest/passion and teach them the digital skills they need for success in the workplace? 

Google has begun supporting the digital learner with a framework of video centered activities to teach the digital skills of GSuite while engaging with curriculum content. Applied Digital Skills has been released for the CSFirst team to teach the GSuite along side some virtually authentic tasks. Students have the opportunity to explore data analysis while creating a concept for the next big blockbuster movie, make a map of some favorite places from a sheet, or do some organized college research.

What Google Provides:

• 20 units of authentic tasks which can be tailored to the student. 
• Lesson plans for the teacher with actionable tips on teaching each one. 
• Rubrics: Customizable with created project samples. 
• Tracking of student activity. 
• Extension tasks. 
• Videos with transcripts (transcripts only can be translated) of demonstrated instruction.
• Steps bulleted as a summery of action. 

What you need to figure out:

• How work will be turned in. I recommend using Google Classroom and linking the activity as a resource. Materials are some times built on top of so if you are taking a series of assessment snapshots ask students to turn in a copy of their work so you don't have to rely on Version History. 
• What topic(s) you will center the lesson around. Not all lessons provide the opportunity to frame the work around a content topic. Be sure to review the work first. 
• A full set of devices for your class to use. While this can be done in small groups it's best geared to a 1-to-1 environment. It's developed to support students working at their own pace which means they need the digital ability to do so. Devices do work for this so if you are a BYOD environment even with cell phones it can function for you. 
• How to do the work students are doing. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a simple learn how to alternate row colors in a spreadsheet. The lessons shift into basic programming and you will have a lot of questions you won't expect unless you do it yourself first and even a second time. If you are new to GSuite put yourself out there and take the risk to do it with them. 
• Why are you doing this work. The why is very important to students. The dreaded answer I get when we talk about why we do something is, "for a grade". That's the soul killer for all of us. Develop with your students the "Why" so it's authentic and has a real world impact. If you are doing an If-Then Story partner with another class or elementary grade and make the "Why" about developing stories for them. 

All students need digital skills. Not just in Digital Citizenship but also in Digital Production/Creation. We need to develop students that not only have content knowledge but will think beyond the facts and innovate the future. Giving students an end goal product and allowing them to select what fills it supports developing digital production skills while exploring passions. Google has provided the framework for just that. A student passionate about sports can be directed to develop an interactive spreadsheet of their favorite sports icons. Add in a map of where each player grew up. Compare players through an interactive slide deck discussing the pros and cons of each player while including comparison graphs as evidence. Wrap all this up into a website and we have a completed project which has taught a student more than just content. They’ve developed digital skills which can be applied to the workplace.

According to Bloomberg our students are most hirable when they can creatively problem-solve, communicate, think strategically, and lead. To do all this our students need to be able to Apply Digital Skills. 

Project based learning with the teacher as facilitator and differentiated delivery of instruction and assessment is a recent push in education. Don’t just talk at them, engage them in building authentic projects and even better if they have real world applications. I would even augment the previous example to suggest students interested in this subject working as a group pick an accessible local sports community team as their topic. Students become connected to an authentic audience and work with real data and information making the experience more meaningful in an ideal world.

While my experience with the Applied Digital Skills delivery platform from the teacher side hasn’t been without issue, I have found the guided activities accessible and helpful for many learners. It gives an entry point for each and works best in a classroom when all learners have access to technology on a 1-to-1 basis. It can work in grouped technology settings but some students may be left behind. I recommend weaving the units as self contained pieces through out your regular curriculum. Thank Google for helping us to develop applicable digital skills.