1. Project-Based Learning Made Easy
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge
of 21st Century Learning
10 to 11 September  Cebu City, Philippines
Project-Based Learning Made Easy
Sonia M. Alensub, Ph.D.
10 September 2008

2. What is Project-Based Learning?
PBL
a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning essential knowledge and life-enhancing skills through an extended, student-influenced inquiry process structured around complex authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning

3. Elements of PBL An essential question
Specific learning activities and tasks
Definite ending point: product/outcome
Built-in assessment of progress
Combination of group and individual work
Reflections on a regular basis
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning

4. PBL Teaches 21st Century Skills
Communication and presentation skills
Organization and time management skills
Research and inquiry skills
Self-assessment and reflection skills
Group participation and leadership skills
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning

5. PBL In Our College Curriculum
Create and apply PBL in unit plans for unit portfolios that pre-service teachers are expected to develop in the Educational Technology courses (Ed 105A and Ed 105B)
One of the instructional approaches taken up in Principles of Teaching (Ed 107N)
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning

6. First Challenge Encountered
How to make PBL real and easy to Second Year and Third Year students who are still enrolled in or have just completed the general education courses
little exposure to real classroom situations and still starting to learn about the principles and methods of teaching
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning

7. How I Taught PBL: Ed 105A
Present the ready-made multimedia presentation on PBL
Tell my students to come up with project-based activities
Tell them to plan for the technology support for these activities
The result: No PBL ( show samples of unit plans)
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning

8. How I Taught PBL: Ed 105B
Evaluate the unit portfolios that students started in Ed 105A
Conduct an enhancement activity on “PBL Units” where they were instructed to: turn samples activities into PBL then, later, develop their own PBL ideas
Still, PBL seemed something abstract to them
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning

9. How I Taught PBL: Ed 105B
Conducted the activities on designing web-enhanced learning activities in conjunction with the end-of-the-semester topic on online treasure hunts and web quests
Result: in a week’s time, Ed 105B students were able to create PBL activities when they designed WebQuests
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning

10. Is a WebQuest a PBL Activity?
A WebQuest is “an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet, optionally supplemented with videoconferencing”.
It is “an inquiry-based activity developed by Bernie Dodge and Tom March in 1955 at the San Diego State University”.
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning

11. Is a WebQuest a PBL Activity?
The elements of a WebQuest are elements of PBL
Both: are inquiry- and technology-based; involve learners in taking roles and doing tasks; promote collaboration; expect learners to create products; have built-in assessment and reflection activities; teach 21st century skills; and target higher-order thinking skills
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning

12. Challenges
Teachers have to be creative and patient, lifelong learners/researchers, the first ones to open “new portals of information”, and ensure sustainability of technology-supported learning activities
How can I reprogram the activities on “Designing WebQuests” to suit the needs of pre-service teachers within a limited time frame?
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning

13. Reflections
Students believed that using WebQuests in the classroom would definitely change the way they teach and their role would have to shift to being a facilitator/guide/mentor.
If I were to teach PBL again, I would conduct the activities on “Designing WebQuests” in Ed 105A, right after the multimedia presentation on PBL.
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning

14. Works Cited
Arinto, Patricia B. “WebQuests: An Overview”. Web_Enhanced Learning Activities: An Instructional Design Workshop. FIT-ED, 2005.
Dodge, Bernie. “Some Thoughts About WebQuests” San Diego State University. 18 Aug 2008 <
“Project-Based Learning”. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 12 Aug Aug 2008 <
“Project-Based Learning: Bridging the Gap Between Education and Technology”. Intel Teach to the Future: Pre-service Curriculum (v. 2.0). Intel Corporation, 2005.
“What is Project-Based Learning?”. 18 Aug 2008 <
Teaching the Net Generation:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and the Challenge of 21st Century Learning