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PBL Toolkit: Getting Started

Getting Started

Gold Standard Project Based Learning by PBLWorks is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Learn more about the Buck Institute's Gold Standard Teaching Practices

Gold Standard Project Based Learning by PBLWorks is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

GETTING STARTED!

WPI Webinar Series: Parts 1 - 3

PBL @ MDC: Definition

Project-based learning (PBL) is an evidence-based high impact teaching practice that enhances student learning and success. PBL at MDC engages students with real-world problems or questions (local to global) and challenges them to share findings or propose solutions. Problems investigated are rooted in the curriculum and may require students to apply knowledge and/or skills from more than one discipline. Projects may take place over several class sessions or last the entire semester; they can also extend beyond one semester or course. Students work in teams under the guidance of a professor. In the process, students develop critical, creative, and practical thinking as well as communication skills. Student work is self-directed and culminates in sharing a public product in the classroom or beyond.

MDC TRAINING SERIES

  • A Taste of PBL -   An enticing array of success stories, student and faculty testimonials, research on effectiveness, research on need, evidence of impact at MDC, sample student work, PBL @ MDC definition, and the Gold Standard.
     
  • Introduction to PBL - (7 hours):   This workshop is intended as an in-depth introduction of participants to best practice, “Gold-Standard” qualities of project-based learning initiatives and related activities and to the components of project-based learning at Miami Dade College in order to advance the institutionalization of project-based learning as a high-impact, pedagogical practice at Miami Dade College.
     

  • PBL: Managing Student Groups: Logistics, Tools, and Strategies - (6 1/2 hours): This workshop is intended as an in-depth introduction to strategies and tools for establishing and facilitating productive and effective groups. Best practices for forming and managing groups will be addressed. Strategies for self and peer review, as well as conflict resolution methods, are included. 
     

  • Project-Based Learning Assessment: Tools, Strategies, and Best Practices - (7 hours):  This workshop is intended as an in-depth introduction of best practice assessment tools and strategies for  “Gold-Standard” qualities of project-based learning initiatives and related activities to advance the institutionalization of project-based learning as a high-impact, pedagogical practice.

  • PBL Project/Course (Re)design - (10 hours):  This workshop is the final in a series of PBL-related trainings. This final workshop serves as the capstone experience for faculty seriously planning to develop a PBL course or project and will advance the institutionalization of project-based learning as a high-impact, pedagogical practice at Miami Dade College. This proposed workshop will also provide tools intended to support the development of students’ essential (soft) skills, which employers self-report that they value, such as problem-solving, project management, communication, and critical thinking. 

PBL Stories

PBL STORIES

Explore recent articles, blog posts, research studies, and other resources related to Project Based Learning.

New Research on the Power of PBL (and a new program for AP teachers!)
PBLWorks
A new body of research using randomized control studies makes the case for PBL with the strongest evidence yet. As a result of this research, PBLWorks launched a new series of AP and PBL professional development workshops. 

Project Based Learning in the Arts and Humanities
WPI: PBL Brief #3
This research brief focuses on the extant research on PBL in the contexts of the arts and humanities in higher education.

High-Impact Practices Work
Inside Higher Ed
At a time when some people question the value of higher education, preparing students for successful, satisfying lives through such practices is crucial, argues Richard F. Vaz.

Collaboration Transcending Crisis
Inside Higher Ed
Despite COVID challenges, large-scale collaborative projects remain feasible and have the power to reimagine undergraduate education in the humanities, write Nicholas Henriksen and Ian K. Cook.

Project-Based Learning in Minority-Serving Institutions
WPI: #1PBL Brief
Although proponents of PBL are often situated within relatively privileged institutions, there is evidence that the pedagogies and curricula of PBL benefit the students who enroll in Minority-Serving Institutions.

Project-Based Learning in Community Colleges
WPI: PBL Brief #2
There has been a push in the community college sector to increase the presence and quality of engaging, student-centered pedagogies. The empirical evidence supporting PBL as one possibility for doing so is promising.

Project Based Learning Helping Student Teachers
KFYR TV.com
A local news report from Bismarck, North Dakota (whose school district was last year’s PBL Champion district at PBL World) about a project BIE is spearheading, to train student teachers in PBL at several colleges around the U.S., including North Dakota’s University of Mary and Dickinson State University. 

Student Perspective

Student Perspective

Video Credit to Worcester Polytechnic Institute