Project Based Learning: Determine Your Outcomes

Project Based Learning Step 1: Determine Your Outcomes

This is the second installment of our Blended Learning Tech Tip series.

As with any lesson planning, begin by determining your learner outcomes.

• What is the end learning target for your students? 
• What should learners know and be able to do when they are finished with your Project Based Learning (PBL) experience? 

Once you have answers to these questions, you can begin to design the PBL experience. Ideally, your project should include two types of learning targets:

• curricular content standards 
• 21st century success skills

By including both, you will be more fully preparing students for the world's best workforce! This article explains how you might frame your project to meet content standards.

Content Standards: "Educate"

Identify content standards to find outcomes that align meaningfully to your intended project.

• Which outcomes group logically together for a project?
• Which outcomes can be developed organically through a project experience? 

21st Century Success Skills: "Empower"

Identify which of the 4 C's students will learn and apply through this project. Ideally, students will develop and apply all of these at some point in the experience. These are transferable success skills that will help us fulfill our mission to empower our students and prepare them for the world's best workforce!

• Collaboration: In what way will students need to interact with others to solve their problem or complete their project? Not only are collaboration skills important, but they also allow students to process their learning through conversation.
• Communication: How will students communicate with other learners, and how will they communicate their learning? Giving students choice in this area allows them to find what is most effective for them.
• Creativity: How does your project idea allow students to think outside of the box and get creative? If everyone turns in a final product that looks the same, it's more of a recipe than a project. Students needs room to be original within the parameters of the assigned task or problem.
• Critical Thinking: How complex is the problem to be solved? Students need to move past recall and enter into higher level thinking challenges. If the student can Google for the answer, it's not complex enough and will not stretch students.

Next week: Creating a driving question, problem or task for your project.