Introduction

Every teacher knows the feeling: students complete the task, hand it in and forget it a week later. Project-Based Learning turns this around. When students work on a real problem, for a real audience, learning stops being something they do for the teacher and becomes something they do for themselves. In other words, the project becomes the learning itself, not the dessert served at the end of a unit.

This course takes you through the method one step at a time, even if you have never tried PBL before. You will see what every real PBL needs, how it differs from traditional projects, inquiry-based and task-based learning, and how long a project can last, from a single week to a whole semester. Then you will start planning: choosing a topic that fits your curriculum, writing a driving question that gives the project its direction, deciding what students will research and create, assessing their work and mapping the whole project like the acts of a play, from the entry event to the final presentation. Along the way, practical activities will help you turn each step into a project for one of your own classes.

By the end of the course, you will be able to design a complete PBL experience that engages your students, connects to your curriculum and fits the time and resources you actually have.

All you need is basic computer skills, and you can study at your own pace, whenever it suits you.

Ready to start planning your first project?