Turbo Boost' Learning with Technology
By maximizing the use of digital tools to reach essential learning goals, teachers can overcome the boundaries and limitations of the traditional classroom. Some tools open new windows into student thinking, setting the stage for more productive classroom conversations. Others facilitate the process of drafting and refining, removing obstacles to improvement. Still others allow for instant global connections, redefining the meaning of a learning community. When teachers and students thoughtfully integrate these tools, the result is a ‘turbo boost’ that can take PBL into a new orbit.
Reinventing Project-Based Learning, 3rd Ed.
In the Plastics Project example, you saw students and teacher Jim Bentley using a variety of low-tech tools (fishing poles and sorting bins) as well as digital ones (drones and video gear). At different times in the project, students video conferenced with an expert, pulled debris out of storm drains, used literacy strategies to understand texts, and conducted online research. Technology wasn’t the main focus. And technology wasn’t introduced just at the end, once the main learning was over. Instead, tech tools were used at key times throughout the project to take learning deeper.
In high-quality Project-Based Learning, digital tools aren’t dessert! They support main course learning.
Let’s take a closer look at the hallmarks of PBL for digital learners.
Hallmarks of Project-Based Learning for digital learners
Projects form the centerpiece of the curriculum—they are not add-ons or extras at the end of a traditional unit of instruction.
Students engage in real-world activities and practice the strategies used in authentic disciplines.
Students work collaboratively—and sometimes globally—to solve problems that matter to them and to real-world audiences.
Technology is integrated as a tool for discovery, collaboration, creation, and communication, taking learners places they could not otherwise go and helping teachers achieve essential learning goals in new ways.