Get Your Students Hired
To implement a project in a topic being taught may be helpful, sometimes to learn a subject at hand involves kinesthetic learning and I feel it to be very effective.
Hello Jennifer,
Your shared activity is definitely a good example, honestly I am strongly considering revising my course final project to model your idea. Excellent idea!
Zakevia
I have not heard of the feature in Moodle that tracks view and posts - great tool to keep students engaged.
Maintaining oversight of projects in online courses is tough. Too often I would hear from the team leader at the END of the project about a student who didn't do their share. Now, I use the feature in Moodle that tracks views and posts and I check weekly on each team member - students that are not engaged get a notice from me that I'm aware of their activity level. It does help to keep everyone engaged.
I agree that it is important to allow students opportunities to engage in ways that support their natural learning styles. This approach builds confidence and promotes a true team environment. In an advanced writing course, I have students create a community service proposal. The research can be done individually, but then the group must collaborate on creative solutions. If they can see real world applications for their project, they tend to take more ownership as a group and collaborate more effectively.
Jeff,
Yes, agreed. I believe that project management should be modeled and implemented in successful project work with students. Good point!
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Projects are always a challenge. If a group works on a project, then roles need to be defined. The teacher must interact often so if one student becomes docile and the others do the work, the teacher can redirect the group.
I addition to teaching college level courses, I also teach at a high school that uses project based learning. We start with the end in mind and determine what the end product will be. Then students work in groups or pairs to create the project all along the way there are scaffolding activities that can be individual and help with the learning process.
We have lab groups of 3 students,this way they can discuss all aspects of the project,so they get it in different ways for their understanding
Jennifer,
I like your design here - it is important to "set up" a project by providing the context and background AND provide the tools for application and continued exploration - good balance!
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Recently I started a group project and I decided to break it into two parts so I could engage different learning styles. The first part was more individual and research based, while the second part was much more hands-on and creative. This way they got a good background on why they could make certain choices with part two and not just choose any materials or ideas they wanted. I liked the outcome of the project as I really evaluated what the end should be when designing the two parts and it appealed to two sides of learning. I could also give plenty of feedback on what direction the project was going in based on what they had learned from part 1.
Students can Aldo present the topic and gain further interaction and feedback from others.
Ralph,
So the learning involves interacting with different presentations of the content, engagement with and demonstration of learned content. Good points...
Dr. Ruth Reynard