Student Choice and Collaboration in PBL

Video Transcription

Hi, my name is Ashley. And today's lesson is titled student choice and collaboration in PBL.

In today's lesson, we will review the stages of Understanding by Design for creating a CBE, PBL lesson. We will also look at how you implement student choice in your lesson. Let's go ahead and begin.

There are three stages to creating your own CBE and PBL lesson using Understanding by Design. Stage one involves identifying the desired results. Stage two is determining acceptable evidence. Now remember with personalized learning, student's progression is based on being competent and having mastery of objectives. So consider allowing students to retake assessments, and plan for plenty of formative assessments so that students may meet mastery.

Stage three, developing learning activities to go along with the lesson. Incorporate personalized learning in this area by giving students choice in letting them drive their own learning path, which means to allow them to own their knowledge.

Also remember that personalized learning focuses on flexible learning. So students won't have a specific time restraint on completing their activities, but they'll be able to work at their own pace. This is also where you will incorporate authentic learning activities.

So how can you implement student choice in your classroom? Provide the students with three options during instruction. This could be through the use of centers the students will select. Students have a choice of what activity they will choose, but you, as a teacher, have already decided that all the activities are aligned with your UbD objectives.

If you provide online learning stations, make sure that there is some type of collaboration involved where students have to respond to questions and communicate with others, either through a blog post or forum. If you decide to use teaming or group collaboration, make sure that the members of the team have predetermined roles and expectations to allow you to measure the established outcome.

Also when using online learning sessions, provide authentic learning opportunities that allow students to go deeper with their learning. Using the online tool gives the student choice, but the authentic learning opportunity must be incorporated in order for problem-based learning to occur. These activities should allow for creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication to take place. Also don't forget when providing your students with three options, that you can even create your own problem-based or project-based learning task.

So let's recap what we've learned in today's lesson. We reviewed the three stages of creating your own CBE and PBL lesson using Understanding by Design. And we also looked at how it reflects to personalized learning. One in particular, such as in stage three, is where the teacher creates the learning plan. This is where you can incorporate authentic learning.

We also looked at some options on how you can implement student choice in your classroom. Remember, you can provide your students with at least three options, and you can also create your own. This is where you will allow students to have problem-based authentic learning activities that can also incorporate online learning and teaming.

As we bring the lesson to a close, consider the following. Consider recording yourself as you teach your PBL lesson. Remember your role as a teacher should shift between a coach, mentor, and a facilitator. Because we want our students to be self-directed and own their own learning, your job is to guide students through the process, and allow them to make meaning for themselves.

To dive a little deeper and learn how to apply the information, be sure to check out the Additional Resources section associated with this video. This is where you'll find links targeted toward helping you discover more ways to apply this course material.