Week 7: Project Based Learning and Technology

The first thoughts that come to mind watching Brian Crosby's TEDxDenverEd - Back to the Future, that is simple, free and collaborative! Crosby seamlessly integrated everyday technology Wiki, Blog, Flickr, editing software and cross-collaboration with Skype. The software that facilitated these lessons where free, social and common technologies students should become familiar with, if they are not already. With the project based learning at the core of his lesson, Crosby is able to keep the students engaged and focused to achieve a successful lesson - the class learned and wants to continue learning!

Project based learning with technology has a multitude of benefits for the lesson, the student and the teacher. With this model you can create immediate engagement with your class, and bring reading, writing, science, social studies, and math together in a way that the students do not even realize the amount of learning they have done!

The most challenging aspect of this style of teaching/learning environment is assessing and highlighting that the students have learned what is necessary for success on standardized test, such as the NECAPs.  It would be great if we could create a Project that had a rubric aligned to the NECAP assessment and the ability to grade/align the core standardized testing fundamentals to the project based learning curriculum, and this wiki shows that there are some districts and educators who are already attempting this in the classrooms.

In relation to the NECAP and the struggles the Manchester School District continues to have with bringing technology to the classroom, the state wants to move all testing to an online format but can not because our city is not able to facilitate this for the entire district, this recent Union Leader news article highlights what we are struggling with and how constrained the entire district is with lack of funding and outdated technology. As usual, I think about the technology we are learning about and its uses, then wonder if Manchester will ever be able to accommodate these innovations within the classroom.