PROJECT-BASED LEARNING, RUBRICS AND WEBQUEST

Knowledge is limitless and dynamic! Through this week I was able to distinguish between busywork and projects! In one of the week’s articles, Seven Essentials for Project-Based Learning, I reflected on my previous classroom practices and discovered that most of my “projects” were actually busywork since they involved lesson activities which ended within that lesson. This article was an eye opener into what real project work is and I a looking forward to engaging my students into project work. Indeed, most teachers engage students in busywork during a lesson and regard that as projects. The readings for this week reminded me about my previous readings concerning seamless integration of technology into the classroom. Similarly, I noticed that project work should weave itself into content to be learned such that as students enjoy the 21^st century skills, among them collaboration, they are actually learning effortlessly!

Dealing with rubrics was very interesting. It was very clear and worth noting that rubrics provide a kind of contract between the teacher and the students in terms of assessment and expectations. Learners are made aware of what their scores would be like, depending on when they meet or fail to meet some requirements. Rubrics are therefore understood by both teachers and learners prior to assessment. I found this essential for objective assessment and saves time. In most cases here, the teachers create the rubric but do not expose learners to it, although learners are supposed to meet the teachers’ expectations set out in the rubrics. As I read about rubrics and got engaged in creating my rubric through Rubistar, I reflected on my previous assessment of learners: how fair have I been in my assessment of learning especially in narrative and persuasive writing? Wasn’t my assessment greatly biased by the learner’s ability to impress? My previous assessment practices have to change through use of rubrics. Rubrics save time since the teacher is guided during the process of assessment, and learners know what is required of them.

WebQuests were yet another area that I explored. I cannot hesitate to recommend this site to any teacher who would like to learn how to use Project-Based Learning. This site provides, various options and uses simple, comprehensible instructions to guide the teacher through!

With the course half-way through, a course project is underway. What a week!!