This is now my 4th post in my Project Based Learning series – find the first three here. I want to show all these posts as a page (filtered tag) but I don’t quite know how to so if you do, please leave a comment below.  I’ve been meaning to add to the series and this PBL conundrum post by @biancah80 prompted this; I’ve got a few more to write yet. 

A quick review

Projects result in products or deliverables.  Projects have a timeline which means there is a definite start and end.

Project managers have to balance scope, time, budget, people and quality; i.e. these are all the elements that have to be managed in order for the project to be deemed successful.

Project success cannot be guaranteed but there are ways to make it more likely.  With regards to PBL, previous posts have suggested ways to promote collaboration (vs group work) as well as task and time management.

This post will take on a meta view of projects.  This is another framework that should help PBL-planners to plan and evaluate PBLs.

Process, Tools, People

Projects involve people who have been brought in for their specific skills (collaboration).  With the right tools, skilled people are able to be more efficient and productive.  The process acts as the structure that holds together what needs to be done, why, how, by whom, when and where (promise to post more on this but if you can’t wait, try searching for 5W1H planning).

These are not all “necessary” but every experienced project manager will tell you that they are.  I used to provide consultations along these line and I’m struggling to keep this simple here so please bear with me.  If I get too vague, just say so!  This is more in-line with process-based planning (see post 1)

I think what I’ll try to do is just list questions you might ask when creating, running or evaluating a PBL.

People

1. What are the skills required to create a good product?  If it’s movie-making task, do the students know how to write their story, create and edit footage, etc.?  Be really specific.
2. What training do the students need and when?
3. What concepts do students need to know?
4. How will students be grouped?  What are the roles? (see post 2)
5. How will students work together?  How can teamwork be promoted?  There is a reason why team-building is an industry in itself.
6. What are the implications at individual, group and class level? How will this PBL pan out at all these levels?
7. Do the students have the skill to manage their tasks and time?  Time management is a skill in itself and merits teaching.

Tools

1. What tools are needed to create the product?  Note that not all tools are technology-based.  Scaffolds like blackline masters are tools too.
2. Do students have tools to manage tasks?  Checklists can work well at this level.
3. Do students have tools to manage time?  Student diaries could work but a collective (group) view is essential.  Does the schedule show critical points which could delay the project altogether?  Accountability is good. (see post 3)
4. Is there a tool to help students understand quality requirements? An evaluation criteria or rubric is helpful.
5. Do students have tools to communicate with each other?  with the teacher?
6. Do students have tools to keep track of problems and solutions as they arise in the project?
7. Are there tools to help students share ideas and resources even with other groups?
8. Are the students having to learn too many tools?

Process

All this makes sense to me.  The question is: does this make sense to you? If not, what can I clarify?

This is now my 3rd post in my PBL series and this time my focus is on helping students succeed in their projects by ably managing tasks and their time.

In my first PBL post, I mentioned that project managers have to balance scope, time, budget, people and quality.  The second post talked about setting up collaborative teams which goes some way in terms of managing people; perhaps I’ll revisit this later with more ideas.  For now, let’s focus on managing scope, time and quality.

Some of you may have heard of scope creep, the idea of scope changing and quite often getting bigger and bigger (read: project is getting out of hand).  Clarity of Includes and Excludes is important.  For first-timers in PBL, it’s important that the teacher explains clearly what should be included.  Exclusions can be negotiated depending on student capacity and interests.  A corresponding rubric should support this.  I think that it should contain at least these 4 items or deliverables:

1. Project Plan – an overall overview to how the team will proceed with the project.  This is a good one to check whether or not the students actually understand the work to be done
2. Design – this is a more detailed documentation of what needs to be built.  This does not have to be a printed document as an electronic portfolio would work just as well, depending on the project
3. Actual product – this could vary depending on the project.  This may be a movie, poster, booklet, website, etc.  Depending on the product, it may make sense to break this down into further details.  For example, a project on raising awareness might actually involve creation of movies, posters, presentations, websites, etc.  For the latter, I’m more inclined to break the project up into phases (see below).
4. Evaluation – this is the group’s evaluation of the product/s and the process, including their roles and teamwork.  Aim to get both individual and group perspectives.

Key Points

Among the things I like about Project-Based Learning (PBL) is that it provides a context for learning.  Most PBL advocates would say it should be to target real world problems.  I think not necessarily.  There is merit in doing work we value or interested in, which may not be a real world problem at all such as building virtual worlds or any fictional world, for that matter.  I think it would be rather fun to create a project to solve problems of fictional characters such as Harry Potter in his own world – complete with magic and Hermione, of course.

Building on my previous post on defining PBL, projects and having either a proces or product focus to planning, this post is on PBL as a context for learning, and specifically by collaboration.

Collaboration can be loosely viewed as working together towards a common goal.  One might very well ask, as @T_Milkins had, “Are we confusing collaboration with sharing and conversation?”   I could add to that “group work” as well.

courtesy of www.lumaxart.com/

What does it really mean to collaborate?

In the IT systems development projects I’ve been involved in, project team members collaborate.  That is, each one contributes towards achievement of the goal. Is there sharing? Yes. Is there conversation? Definitely. More importantly, each one contributes something that is uniquely their own contribution.

To effect collaboration in PBL, the teacher must ensure that each group member has a role to play that is uniquely their own and for which they are personally accountable.

This means that part of PBL planning is identifying roles and responsibilities which helps determine how many should be in a group.  Ideally, the roles are aligned with the actual context the PBL is designed for.  Here are some examples:

1. IT projects (e.g. for IST and IPT): Project Leader, Analyst/Designer, Quality Assurance, Developer
2. Drama projects: Director, Set and Costume Designers, Scriptwriter – more drama goodness from @karlao_dtn
3. Movie projects: Director, Storyboarder/Scriptwriter, Editor, Actors
4. Science projects (via @jybuell): Prediction Manager, Evidence Collector, Researcher, Skeptic (love this)
5. General projects (via @rileylark and really via @jybuell): Facilitator, Task Manager, Resource or Materials Manager, Reporter/Recorder

My conversations with regards to PBL have increased in the last few months and typically, I would refer BIE.ORG. They publish a fantastic handbook and well worth the money you pay for it.   Prior to becoming a teacher, I worked as an IT professional for years working in software development projects with roles ranging from developer, analyst/designer, project team leader.  I also worked as a consultant for IT process management, project management and program management – in various industries: Banking and Finance, Manufacturing, Foreign Exchange and Medical insurance.  Application projects ranged from transactional systems through to Global Data Warehousing and Strategic Reporting (think data mining)…..I have no gaming industry experience.

Still reading? Great. Apologies for it sounding like a bio – not too keen to head back to IT at this point anyway.

(skip to here)

I have years and years of IT project work and have benefitted from skills I learned applied to the teaching profession.  I’m thinking of distilling some of this + some new things I learned and attempt to write a series of PBL-related posts.  Hopefully, it will be of some use to somebody out there.

Projects – Defined

There are many official definitions but I go by this: projects are purpose-driven work, of a desired quality, and requiring resources (time, effort, tools, money).  Purpose can be to address requirements, problems, opportunities or all of the above.  Typical constraints are with regards to time and money although I heard that in Engineering projects, quality is paramount, i.e. the main constraint.

A project manager should manage the scope (what needs to be done), time (schedule), budget (money), people (project team and stakeholders) and quality.   It is not surprising why project managers demand the pay they do – good ones anticipate problems and address accordingly (Risk and Issue Management).

Project Approaches

There are many but I think the 2 main categories are process-focus and product-focus.

The philosophy behind process-focus is the implementation of best practices; there is no need to re-invent the wheel.  Innovation is not ruled out.  Rather, the idea is to “stand on the shoulders of giants” and if the process can be improved, then feed back into the system.  Best practices evolve.  I daresay that CMM-compliant projects would have a process-focus.  In simple terms, process-focus will start with the Work Breakdown Structure or WBS (what tasks are to be done by whom, using what tools).

Product-focus starts with identifying what products (outcomes) need to be delivered; hence the term deliverables.  Best one I’ve come across with in real life is from PRINCE2 – Product-Based Planning to create the Product Breakdown Structure or PBS and Product Flow.  BIE.ORG has a more product-focus particularly for PBLs used for assessment.

In both approaches there are processes and products; the difference is how you plan your projects. Do you plan based on given steps or desired outcomes?

PBL

PBLs can either have process-focus or product-focus.  I would recommend that students be exposed to both; both exist in real life, after all.

Process-focus PBL is a good start for teachers and particularly students new to project work.  Essentially, they just need to follow the given steps.  In theory, if they don’t need to think of what needs to be done constantly, they are more free to be creative and/or improve the quality of their outcomes.  When I did a year 9 movie-making PBL unit, I gave them the steps to do (complete with milestones – deadlines at the end of the steps) so they could focus on movie-making itself rather than managing their projects.

Product-focus PBL provide students with greater flexibility with how they develop their products.  They work out what needs to be done and how to get there.  A teacher can act as a process consultant to guide students along as required.  I did this with a year 12 project management PBL unit.  Groups had to create a project plan so they start with elements of the plan and then the steps to develop those.  I enjoyed this very much as it was similar to my project management consultancy days – granted, without the usual pay. 😉

Important Points about projects and PBL

1. Learning is a process as well as a product.  Have a balance of both and students benefit.  Ditto with projects.  Try both process-focus and product-focus PBL.
2. Projects are typically collaborative work.  Ensure each project has a defined project team with members clear on their roles and accountability.  Point 8 in this Classroom Management post by Always Formative has some great ideas and links.
3. Encourage chunking.  Even with assessments, enforce some minor deadlines.  This helps students with time management and prioritising.
4. People are arguably the biggest variables in projects. Manage them well and the rest follow.
5. Real projects are negotiable, i.e. the juggling of scope, time, budget, people and quality.  Pursue opportunities to develop communication skills.
6. Evaluate both process and product.
7. Sometimes the best option is to cancel the project altogether.  Plan for failure – what will you do as a teacher if a project team is really struggling?
8. Identify assumptions and clarify expectations.  Reminders are good.

UPDATE (8 December 2011)

If the above seems a bit too hazy and you need a clear illustration, lucky for me this has been done brilliantly by Heidi Siwak in her post: Teaching Process and Planning.  She is essentially promoting the use of product-based approach.  In my comment, I state that she is able to do this because she (and likely her students) are familiar and comfortable with the processes involved in project-based learning.  One approach is not necessarily better than the other.  A PBL-practitioner should be able to switch as the need arises.