Designing Assessments for Project Based Learning

You have developed your big idea and polished the driving question, now for the most important aspect of Project Based Learning - planning the assessments. The project based learning design process concludes by developing a plan to assess whether learners are able to demonstrate the instructional objectives you set out for to begin with by completing one or more projects. I consider this to be the most important part of the design process because it is where you evaluate whether the lesson was successful or not. In this post I highlight some best practices that will help you ensure a successful project based learning assessment.

1. Demonstrates Objectives
It seems obvious that your project based learning assessment must require learners to demonstrate the performance described in the instructional objectives but it can be easy to become carried away with a creative project and lose sight of your goals. A great way of ensuring that the assessments demonstrate the objectives is to design an assessment where learners complete the actual task or project that they will be required to complete on the job. Yeah, it may seem boring to just have learners simulate what they have to do on the job but this is a great way to ensure that they have learned something that will truly improve their performance. If the learner comes back to work from the lesson with a task completed then you already have a return on investment to point to.

2. Scaffolded
It is often more effective to scaffold project based lessons to include multiple assessments or projects. I recently designed a project based lesson that gradually built on the learners skills by including an assessment at the beginning, middle, and end of the project. The assessments at the beginning and middle of the project provided the opportunity for a formative assessment where the learners can be given feedback as the project progresses, while the assessment at the end provided the opportunity for a summative assessment where the learners can be given a culminating appraisal of their performance. Scaffolding the project so that it builds up to a final assessment that represents a blend of all the content covered in the project ensures that the learners have improved over time and achieved the instructional objectives.

3. Able to Assess
Some of the greatest assessments for project based learning can also be the most difficult to assess. It's easy to give a test where each question is worth a certain amount of points but when it comes to assessments where learners are completing a project it can be difficult to measure exactly how well the learner performed. A great way of overcoming this obstacle is to create a rubric to use as a scoring guide. A well written rubric not only helps the facilitator score the assessment but it also helps the learner understand what is expected of them and serves as a guide for their project. Rubrics are a great tool that I think may be underutilized in the corporate world. There is a lot of information available that will help you create rubrics so I am not going to dive into the details here. The links below will take you to a couple of sites that will help you get started creating rubrics and to an example of a rubric I created for a project based lesson.

• Creating Rubrics - This link takes you to teachervision.com which has a variety of resources for creating rubrics.
• My Example - This link will take you to an example rubric that I created for a project based lesson.
• MS Office Template - This link will take you to a template for a rubric on the MS Office site.
  

These are just a few of the best practices that I have developed in the short amount of time I have been developing project based learning in a corporate environment and should by no means be considered an all inclusive list of best practices. I would love to improve upon the tips I have in this post with your suggestions. My next post will conclude the project based learning series by summarizing the posts into a "quick guide" for developing project based learning. If you have any ideas or tips that will help others maximize the effectiveness of project based learning please leave a comment so that others can benefit.

References:

• Buck Institute for Education. (2003) Project Based Learning: A guide to standards focused project based learning. Novato, CA: Buck Institute for Education.

Related Posts:

• Project Based Learning - Are you doing it?
• What is Project Based Learning?
• 3 Steps to a Driving Question for Project Based Learning
  

3 Steps to a Driving Question for Project Based Learning

In the last post of the Project Based Learning series, I introduced what project based learning is and the benefits of using Project Based Learning in corporate environments. Now that we know what PBL is and have seen an example of it's use in a corporate environment, let's dive into developing Project Based Lessons for corporate training. Project Based Lessons begin with what I believe to be the most critical aspect of the instructional design process, the Driving Question. Houghton Mifflin's "Project Based Learning Space" defines driving questions as;

"A driving question or problem that serves to organize and drive activities, which taken as a whole amount to a meaningful project."

The driving question is both the foundation and the blueprint that gets learners started and guides them throughout the project. A well designed project is based on a driving question that sets off an inquiry based learning process where the project activities, and objectives are all determined by the driving question. It's obvious that the driving question is make or break to the project based lesson, so how do you create a quality driving question that achieves all of this. This post breaks down the process of developing a driving question that organizes and drives activities in a project based lesson.

Step 1: Develop the Big Idea
Before you can begin constructing the driving question you need to develop the "Big Idea" that the project will be based on. This is where you need to be creative and come up with an idea or theme for the project that is intriguing, complex, problematic, and most importantly requires the learner to demonstrate the outcomes of the instructional objectives being taught in the lesson. While it's important to create a driving question that is intriguing, the main focus is to design a question that elicits the performance required of the learner upon completion of the lesson. When it comes to project based lessons in corporate environments it's best to come up with a big idea or theme based off of problems that the learners face in the workplace. A big idea that matches what people do in their daily work makes it easy to design a project based lesson that will improve the learners performance back at the workplace.

It can be all too easy to get carried away with an elaborate driving question that ends up having nothing to do with the performance described in the instructional objectives. The"Project Based Learning Handbook" suggests staying focused on the performance by asking yourself;

"Where is the content I am trying to teach used in the real world?"

A great way to stay focused on authentic concerns is to enroll the help of learners in the brainstorming process. Engaging the learners in the process of developing the big idea not only makes it easier to develop a "real world" concern, but it also ensures the learners "buy in" on the lesson. This is particularly helpful with adults in a corporate environment where the training facilitator may not necessarily be an expert on the subject at hand and the learners can add perspective that makes the lesson more effective.

It's helpful to see examples of driving questions to get you started but there is really not many examples available. The Selling Sleep Disorder Relief project based lesson is a corporate example that may help you get started especially if you are developing a project based lesson for sales professionals. Please leave a comment if you have any other examples that you can contribute.

Step 2: Rough out the Driving Question
Once you have the big idea or theme for your project based lesson you are ready to rough out your driving question. In this step you will be taking the big idea developed in step 1 and forming that into a realistic scenario requiring the learner to demonstrate the performance described in the instructional objectives. The "Project Based Learning Handbook" describes the goal of developing the driving question with the following quote:

"Once you have a project theme or a "big idea" for a project, capture the theme in the form of a problem or a question that cannot be easily solved or answered."

A great way to capture the "big idea" into the form of a problem is to present it as a realistic scenario that learners come across in the workplace. Think about what is going to happen on the job that will trigger the performance being taught and capture that in the form of a question or multiple questions. The driving question does not have to be told in a storyline but a good story is a great way to engage the learner while communicating the driving question(s) and guidelines of the project. In the Selling Sleep Disorder Relief project based lesson, I communicated the driving question through a story that caught the learners attention and was actually fun for me to write. The "Project Based Learning Handbook" has some great tips for developing driving questions with the guidelines below:

• Driving Questions are Provocative
• Driving Questions are Open Ended
• Driving Questions go to the heart of a discipline or topic
• Driving Questions are challenging
• Driving Questions can arise from real world dilemmas that students find interesting
• Driving Questions are consistent with standards (Objectives)
  

Once you have roughed out a driving question you are ready to put it through the final inspection to make sure it meets the goals you set out for in the instructional objectives. In the final step of the driving question design process you will improve upon what you started with by refining the driving question into a complex, engaging issue that requires the learners to demonstrate the performance described in the objectives.

Step 3: Polishing the Driving Question
Before considering your driving question complete there are some important factors to take into consideration that will help you polish the driving question you roughed out in step 1. The list below describes some questions to ask yourself before finalizing your driving question.

• Is it open ended? If your driving question can be answered with a "Yes" or "No" then you will need to go back to the drawing board and ensure that it does not lead to an easy answer. Driving questions require learners to demonstrate higher level thinking.
  
• Is it challenging? If the driving question does not challenge learners they will not learn as much from the experience. Give them a challenge that will allow them to confront difficult issues.
  
• Is it realistic? A driving question depicting a realistic scenario that learners come across in the workplace will keep them engaged and help to ensure they retain skills that will actually be used on the job.
  
• Is it complex? A broad driving question requiring multiple activities and open to many possible solutions will keep students engaged and allow them to demonstrate the higher level thinking required to achieve the instructional objectives. Ensure that your driving question is broad enough to require learners to make a number of different decisions.
  
• Does it require a performance or artifact? This is the "Project" in "Project Based Learning." What will the learners be doing as a group or individually to demonstrate that they have achieved the instructional objectives. Do your best to make the performance or project that learners are completing as realistic to what they will experience in the workplace. Whether it be creating a business proposal or simulating a sales presentation the project should mimic what will be required on the job. This provides a fail safe opportunity to practice what they will be doing at work.
  
• Is it consistent with the instructional objectives? Are you asking a question that requires learners to demonstrate the performance described in the instructional objectives. Don't get caught up over complicating your driving question and forget about what you are trying to achieve in the first place. Achieving the instructional objectives is your focus at the start of the project and needs to remain the focus through the end.
  

If you can answer yes to these questions then your driving question may be ready to put into action. Once you have polished your driving question you are well on your way to a quality project based lesson and are ready to finalize the details for the project or artifact that learners will be developing as a result of the lesson. In the next post I will cover the details of the project or artifact but before getting into that, what are your thoughts on developing driving questions for project base lessons? Do you have anything to add or modify that contributes to a successful driving question? If so, please leave a comment with your thoughts on driving questions for project based learning.

References:

• Buck Institute for Education. (2003) Project Based Learning: A guide to standards focused project based learning. Novato, CA: Buck Institute for Education.
• Houghton Mifflins Project Based Learning Space

Related Posts:

• Project Based Learning - Are you doing it?
• What is Project Based Learning?
• Designing Assessments for Project Based Learning?
  

What is Project Based Learning?

In my last post I set out on a quest to dissect Project Based Learning in the corporate world by starting some conversations and writing some blog posts. I believe that project based learning is ideally suited for adults in corporate training but sadly there is not much information available. I am hoping to shed light on some best practices that will improve the effectiveness of my project based lessons and hopefully help other instructional designers out there looking to get started with project based learning in a corporate organization. Part of the reason why there is not much information available may be that many instructional designers are creating project based lessons but they haven't put any label on it. I know I was already doing it but until I took a recent instructional design class, I did not realize there was an actual name for it. For this reason I'll start out my series of posts by covering what project based learning is and why there should be more of a focus placed on it in the corporate world.

So, what is project based learning? The textbook definition provided by the Buck Institute for Education in the "Project Based Learning Handbook" described standards focused project based learning with the quote below:

A systematic teaching method that engages students in learning knowledge and skills through an extended inquiry process structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks.

In my opinion it's a flexible term that boils down to scaffolding a lesson so that learners construct their own solutions rather than being told what the solution is through formal instruction. In project based learning students use a variety of resources such as the internet and books or even better, resources used to perform their jobs such as company intranets, software, job aids, manuals, and wikis to construct their own solutions to the problem they are being asked to solve. Project based learning helps learners to gain a deeper understanding of the instructional objectives by engaging them in an interactive lesson requiring them to perform the objectives in a safe environment.

Project based learning's focus on the learner constructing their own solutions using available resources is what makes it so ideal for the corporate world. In the workplace, employees don't have their training facilitator there to give a lecture any time they come across a problem they don't know how to solve so it is important that employees are trained to use available resources to solve the problem on their own. Project based learning achieves what a lecture cannot by providing the opportunity for the learner to practice using the necessary resources so that when they do come across a problem they are prepared to solve it on their own.

By now, I am sure you are well aware of what project based learning is so let's take a look at an example. Hopefully sharing my example will inspire readers to describe or post a link to their examples as a comment to this post. For my recent instructional design class I designed a project based lesson called "Selling Sleep Disorder Relief" which required participants to research a sleep disorder then create a presentation of how to make a sales presentation to a customer with the sleep disorder. By designing a project based lesson for this topic participants were not only better able to retain the information but they were also required to practice applying this information in a realistic "fail safe" situation. Hopefully this example will help others understand what project based learning is and hopefully spur some ideas or best practices for using it in the corporate world. Do you have any examples or insight you are willing to share? I am by no means an expert and would love to hear what others have to say about project based learning in the corporate world. Please continue the conversation by posting a comment with examples or just your thoughts on project based learning.

References:

• Buck Institute for Education. (2003) Project Based Learning: A guide to standards focused project based learning. Novato, CA: Buck Institute for Education.

Related Posts:

• Project Based Learning - Are you doing it?
• 3 Steps to a Driving Question for Project Based Learning
• Designing Assessments for Project Based Learning
  

Project Based Learning - Are you doing it?

Are you implementing Project Based Learning in a corporate environment? If so, I would like to hear about it. In an instructional design class I took over the summer we focused on "Project Based Learning." What I learned in this class inspired me to make it more of a priority in my work as an instructional designer in a corporate environment. I love the principles behind project based learning because they focus on the learner performing the instructional objectives being taught in a realistic situation. All fired up to do more with project based learning I set out on a Google search for examples of it being used in corporate environments. To my surprise there is a severe lack of information available about implementing it specifically in the corporate world. Just about every search result has to do with project based learning in K-12 education. So, I am going to try and help do something about that.

I am going to try and make a small contribution by writing a few posts about implementing "Project Based Learning" in a corporate environment. I'll cover important topics such as developing the "Driving Question" and "Artifact" of the project while citing specific examples of it being used in a corporate environment. After writing a few posts highlighting the key points and receiving your insight I'll put it all together into an article covering the project based learning design process from start to finish.

Before diving into project based learning in more detail I would love to hear about your experiences implementing it in a corporate environment. I was hoping to find insight with a Google search but as mentioned earlier there's really not much information available. I can't be the only one with something to say about it so help contribute by posting a comment with your thoughts or experiences with project based learning. I look forward to hearing your ideas and sharing them in upcoming blog posts.

Related Posts:

• What is Project Based Learning?
• 3 Steps to a Driving Question for Project Based Learning
• Designing Assessments for Project Based Learning
  

Telecollaboration and Project Based Training

I just finished another course in the Ed Tech program at San Diego State called "Advanced Teaching with Tech." Being that the class is called "Advanced Teaching with Tech," I thought we would dive deeper into using technology but unfortunately we didn't dive much deeper than Google Apps and Questgarden. However, I did pick up some new instructional design skills that I will be able to apply at work right away. This post describes a couple of projects I developed for this class and what I learned from them.

Early in the semester we were assigned to develop a Telecollaboration lesson using Google Sites. This was the first time I had heard of a telecollaboration lesson so I was curious to hear about something with such a fancy name. A telecollaboration or telecollaborative lesson is an educational project where participants learn by sharing information with other groups of people over the internet. This is an ideal project for me because a large part of my responsibilities at work involve developing eLearning courses and I am always looking for new ways to facilitate collaboration with others through eLearning. A common hit on eLearning is that it does not have the benefits gained through face to face interaction and collaboration with others that ILT can provide. However, telecollaboration lessons can help eLearning courses overcome the challenge of facilitating interaction and collaboration online.

The telecollaboration activity I designed for this project is called the "Handling Customer Objections Showdown." I wanted to develop something that I could also use at work where the majority of my learners are retail sales professionals. Participants of the showdown will improve their ability of overcoming customer objections by competing to post the best solutions to customer objections on a discussion board. Not only will this facilitate the sharing of best practices but it will also contribute to a database of solutions to customer objections that can be used as a job aid. I've been trying to come up with way's to take advantage of forums in Moodle and this will be a great lesson to do so with. Check it out and let me know if you have any suggestions.

Another focus of the semester was designing project based lessons where participants learn through working on a project in a group or individually. I love this type of lesson because it focuses on learners demonstrating the performance and generally there is not much lecture involved. To sum it up there is less telling and more doing. Project based lessons are definitely something I can take back to work as they work well as part of a blended training approach including both instructor led and eLearning solutions. In the past I have had success using eLearning to teach the pre requisite information that learners need to know before attending an Instructor Led course where they will apply what they learned in the eLearning with a project based lesson.

The Project Based Lesson I created is called "Selling Sleep Disorder Relief" and is designed to help sleep products salespeople improve their performance with customers who suffer from Sleep Disorders. The lesson is designed so that participants are broken into groups according to the retail store or region they work in and are assigned to research a sleep disorder then deliver a presentation about the disorder to the rest of the class. The presentation must include a "Role Play" simulation of an ideal sales presentation for a person with the sleep disorder. This improves learning due to the fact that they are going out and researching the information then forming a hypothesis on their own of how that information can be used back on the sales floor to improve their performance. This lesson personifies the notion of "more doing, and less telling."

Although the class didn't cover as much technology as I was hoping for I did learn a lot about instructional design. Learning about Instructional Design may not be as fun but we have to take our medicine in order to use technology effectively. I look forward to implementing these lessons at work and please leave a comment if you have suggestions.

Personal Learning Network 3

An assignment for my "Tech for Teaching" class at SDSU requires us to follow Ed Tech related blogs on our reader than write up a summary of what we learned from reading these posts and how these lessons apply to our professional goals. This is the third of 3 Personal Learning Network reports on some lessons I have learned lately through blogs I follow in Google Reader.

Over the past year, I have been working on the major project of transitioning my organization from only instructor led training to a "Blended" training approach consisting of eLearning, Instructor Led Training(ILT), and Job Aids. The blog posts highlighted in this Personal Learning Network (PLN) report provide valuable information that will help improve the effectiveness of my organizations training solutions by transitioning to a "Blended" approach. The first article, "When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom" tells the story of a school that is maximizing the potential of a "Blended" approach by banning power point from the classroom and the second post titled, "Best Moodle Modules and Plugins" provides information on useful ways to customize Moodle. Together, these posts provide ideas for improving the effectiveness of a Blended training approach and the tools to help make those ideas happen.

I believe that there is no one best way to deliver training, and that in most cases, a blended approach is the most effective. ILT, eLearning, and job aids have different advantages that when used in combination can result in a more effective training solution. The article "When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom" featured on "The Chronicle of Higher Education" website describes what a Dean at Southern Methodist University is doing to push instructors towards a blended approach. I found this article intriguing because I think it hits the nail on the head of the best way to take advantage of ILT in combination with eLearning. By removing power point from the classroom and taking advantage of computer based resources, instructors are given the freedom to facilitate a more interactive session resulting in an improved learning experience.

A valuable tool in implementing a blended training approach is the learning management system, Moodle. As a Moodle administrator, I am always looking for customizations to help Moodle fit the needs of my organization. The post, "Best Moodle Modules and Plugins" describes tools that can improve the effectiveness of elearning. By using modules discussed in this post such as "Book" and "Questionnaire" we are improving the effectiveness of our ILT courses by making them more interactive. In the past, a portion of the ILT course would be reserved for lecture to introduce the topic. This type of information is now delivered via Moodle prior to the ILT course so that learners are familiar with the topic and ready to practice the skill they are learning when they arrive at the instructor led course.

Migrating to a "blended" training approach from nearly 100% ILT is a difficult battle and the posts highlighted in this PLN report are helping my organization's training dept reach it's goal. By taking advantage of tools such as the modules and plugins described in the blog post, "Best Moodle Modules and Plugins," while embracing the theories discussed in the article, "When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom" we are improving the effectiveness of our "Blend" of training solutions. I can't wait to see how what I have recently learned from my PLN helps my organization get closer to our goal of a blended training approach.

Related Posts:

• Personal Learning Network 1
• Personal Learning Network 2
  

Moodle 1.9 Multimedia

A new book just arrived on my doorstep that I am excited about reading. Much of the reading I do about Moodle has to do with administration tasks I am struggling with so I am looking forward to learning some content development tricks from "Moodle 1.9 Multimedia" by João Pedro Soares Fernandes.

As a Moodle administrator and eLearning content developer, I am always juggling the behind the scenes Moodle tasks while looking for more effective ways to present content. It looks like this book provides a little of both by covering how to make the most effective use of multimedia in Moodle. I mainly use eLearning tutorials developed in Adobe Captivate for my Moodle courses so I am curious to see what other tools are discussed in this book.

I am amazed at the amount of options and tools available for customizing Moodle content to your learners needs and am eager to dive into this book to learn more. I am also amazed at the variety of different methods Moodlers around the world are using. How about you? How are you presenting multimedia in Moodle. Please share by posting a comment.

If you would like to read more about Moodle 1.9 - Multimedia check out the Packt Publishing site. They also have some other good Moodle books

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• Moodle 1.9 eLearning Course Development