PBL Course Design & Creation Process

I have had so much fun and enjoyment from creating this PBL course. This definitely made me realize that I have found my niche. The whole process from start to finish is exactly what I love to do.

The course I have created is an 8-week fully online course for teachers to work at their own pace. This course will allow for busy educators to learn the best practices and essential elements of Project-Based Learning. I chose to use Canvas as the LMS platform for its user friendly design and features. I found that it is perfect for what I need in this course.

When course participants enter my course they will begin with the "Start Here" module. The start here module contains all of the important information about the course including the syllabus, course outline, course objectives and goals, readings, and a bit about me such as my contact information.

Following the "Start Here" Module is Module 1. Module 1 contains the beginning of the course assignments videos, readings, and discussion boards. It also is the first time students will be tasked with creating and posting to their own e-portfolio. Module 2 expands on this information by providing learners with tutorial videos for Canva, resources for incorporating PBL, and also contains a discussion board. After the participants post to the board they will post a new page and blog post on their e-portfolio.

It is my goal that by having teachers utilize their own e-portfolio they will come to find that e-portfolios would be greatly beneficial to their own students when they are carrying out their project-based learning assignments. E-portfolios offers numerous benefits that can take our students learning a step above the rest.

I created the following video to give an overview of the beginning creation of my course. This video covers the first three modules and all of the resources, assignments, etc. I look forward to finishing this course out strong and presenting it to my learners.

Innovation Project Reflection & Update

In reflecting on my innovation project I am astounded by all of the work I have done. In the beginning, when I made my innovation proposal, I was extremely conflicted and indecisive about the direction that I wanted to go with the project. There are so many routes and tasks that I felt could positively make a difference in my organization. Honing down one specific project that I felt would be the best bang for my buck was difficult. However, once I gave it more thought I felt that the implementation of Project-Based Learning could target multiple needed improvements all in one innovation project. 

Ultimately when I was working on my literature review I was very pleased with the direction I chose in the journey to make a difference in my organization. Project-based learning has given my students exactly what they need and has incorporated C.O.V.A into my classroom. One of the challenges I see in education today is the lack of 21st-century learning. Being stuck in the 19th century, industrial-era learning is doing nothing to prepare our students for the real world. 

Currently, I have implemented my innovation project in my classroom but have yet to bring it outside the classroom. I am preparing to plan my end-of-year showcase where my students will showcase their learning journey and their work that they have created. I am working on getting as many community members and other stakeholders as I can to attend the showcase to show the students that their voices and work matter in the community. This will be one of the last stages in the PBL process but not in my innovation project as I still have to work to spread PBL into other classrooms in my organization so that it is more widespread and all students in my organization get the same opportunities as my students.

I have had many compliments and questions from teachers, and even admin, who have witnessed the learning that is taking place in my classroom. This leads me to believe that it will not be difficult to gain the teacher's buy-in next year. Many teachers have already come to me to let me know that they want to try PBL in their classrooms next year. In planning my student showcase I have to admit that I have a bit of an ulterior motive. I am going to invite other teachers in my organization to come so that they can see first-hand the learning and creativity that my students have done throughout the year. I know that if they see this, they will want in on the action as well. They will be able to see that learning leads the way in PBL and students can do things that they would not otherwise be able to do by themselves. 

Once I gain this teacher's buy-in I will be in the last stage of my innovation project, which is spreading the wealth to my whole organization. 

When working on my innovation project I noticed that by me doing what I was being asked to do for my students was very beneficial. I was being tasked with projects that gave me COVA which is what I was learning was best to give to my students as well. By doing this myself I could see that it truly worked best for learning. Humans learn best through a variety of methods but through COVA it can be any method that is best for the learner as long as the learner is willing to put in the work. We could make videos, podcasts, writings, articles, whatever was best for us as long as we got the message across. This is exactly what I want for my students. I do not care if my student writes me a 1,000-word essay or creates a 1,000-word podcast as long as they can prove that they are learning the material and that should be the case for all teachers. I was recently faced with this dilemma with a fellow teacher who has a student who does not like to write because their “hand gets tired”, however typing and talking are not an issue for this child. I taught a fellow teacher about COVA and how she could give the students a choice in how they delivered their learning. As long as they are delivering, then it shouldn't matter how they do it because the student can prove they know the information. This has completely changed the student's year as well as the teachers. Her class now moves much more smoothly and the student is growing, glowing, and learning in ways that they were not before. 

Reflecting on the process of my innovation project, I think I could have been better at posting more of my journey on my e-portfolio. I love posting on there when I do it, I just get so busy with life that I often forget to post or take pictures of learning in my classroom. I want to show more of these highlights in my e-portfolio. I love reflecting back on these moments even if things didn't go exactly as I wanted and posting these reflections on my e-portfolio can help me and my peers if I made more time and was more consistent. 

I feel like the best lesson I have learned in this program is the importance of COVA. I know I keep speaking of it but I truly feel that by giving your students COVA it can completely revamp learning in a positive direction. We are currently faced with outdated processes and models to follow but COVA is the current and future model that we need to follow to prepare our students for the future. Students need to be able to test things out for themselves, use their voices to be heard, and be given authentic learning environments that will prepare them for the future that they will be faced with. If we do not give this to them now, then we are failing them by not preparing them for success.

As mentioned above COVA can be easily implemented through the use of PBL. I plan to promote and communicate my innovation project by continuously gaining teacher and stakeholder buy-in by showcasing my students learning and using their learning journey to show what endless possibilities are available to students who are allowed to drive their own learning. I know that when teachers and stakeholders witness what I have witnessed in my classroom there will be no denial of the potential that PBL holds when implemented fully and correctly. 

In my next innovation project, which I have already been pondering up, I will apply every bit of what I have learned in this program. From the proposal, outlines, designs, blog postings, literature review, action research, plans, podcasts, and everything else it helped me to organize and make sure that everything was thought through without missing a beat. I would be lying if I said I did not question the reasoning behind a project or two, but I now see the importance of every single project, task, and assignment that I was tasked with in this program. The importance of making sure that every detail of an innovation project is thought through is critical in ensuring that the project succeeds and is not a wash. My innovation project would have failed miserably without making sure that all steps were thought through, researched, and planned. It would have been a jumbled mess without the help of this program. I feel like I am now prepared and have the tools to make a difference in any organization or project that I undertake. 

COVA Reflection & Application

Upon entering the ADL program at Lamar University, I did not know what to expect. I was nervous but excited. I realized that I had a choice, ownership, and voice through authentic assignments from the moment that I received my first grade in the first course of the program. I would say that it was the first assignment but honestly, I thought there had to be some kind of catch to the assignment. However, when I received my feedback and grade that is when I truly realized that this program is instilling in me what they want me to instill in my learners. The ePortfolio was the first assignment and the whole time I thought I had to have been missing something as I could not possibly have this much freedom to do as I wished. To my surprise, that is exactly what this program wanted us to do. This program does not involve a lot of busy work or rote memory content like in many other courses. The content and assignments are real, true to our learning, and allowed me to learn through doing rather than merely listening to a lecture. 

I was a bit hesitant at the beginning of the program and would frequently collaborate with my partner about whether we were doing the assignments and learning correctly. I know she was just as taken aback as I was. This type of learning was new to me but when I got the hang of it and realized what was expected, I fell in love with it. I have always learned through doing and being hands-on so this was perfect for me. In the beginning, I felt like I relied on and modeled a lot of my assignments on previous student examples to make sure that I was doing it correctly. However, now that I have the freedom and flexibility to tailor my learning and assignments how I see fit, I no longer rely on others to guide my work. It is a lot easier now as it just flows rather than being so modeled. 

Once I became confident in the program I did not find it difficult at all to take control of my own voice and focus on my organization as the audience for my work because this is what my passion is. I have been ready and waiting to make a difference in my organization so to now have the tools to do that, it just flowed with ease. I knew right away what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. 

However, in the beginning, I was nervous to promote change in my organization. I felt as though I would be judged based on the fact that people would see me as “just a teacher” trying to control things. However, now that I have the tools and knowledge to back up what I am aiming to do I feel empowered to lead the change that I wish to see in my organization. 

My innovation plan is something that I have been wanting to incorporate for years. As a child, I always learned best through real-world knowledge and I knew my students would as well. Students need to be able to figure out how to problem solve and have critical thinking skills in order to be successful. Sure they can learn to count to 10 but if they cannot figure out how to budget that $10 will they be able to live comfortably when they are older? I noticed a huge gap in problem-solving skills after the pandemic. Students were left to their own devices and that left many to become sort of helpless in a way. Through PBL students will learn that they can figure things out and solve problems on their own, even if they do not get it the first time. 

The COVA and CSLE approach is greatly aligned with my learning philosophy. I am all about giving my students the choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning assignments and creating significant learning environments. I feel this is why I chose Project-Based Learning as the star for my innovation plan. I aim to give my students learning that will help them not only now but in the future as well. I want them to be successful not only on the tests that they take in my class but more importantly in life. My perspective on learning has changed in that I am able to know no the power of giving my students more flexibility and freedom in their learning. As teachers, we want to control the learning so that we can push in as much as we can but that is not how individuals learn. People learn through trial and error and solving those authentic problems so that is the type of learning environment I now seek to give my students. This is the new culture of learning. We are out of the industrial era so our methods of teaching need to be as well.

I will use the COVA approach to plan all of my assignments and focus on this approach when structuring my classroom next year as well. I am so excited to hit the ground running next with all of the tools I have learned in the course. I know that it will make an astronomical impact on the learning of my students. I will give my learners choice, ownership, and voice through authentic assignments by planning backward to ensure that I create a significant learning environment that fosters COVA in every way possible. I believe by leaning into the Project Based Learning model, I can ensure that COVA is always on the frontline in terms of my teaching and students' learning. I will also aim to instill a growth mindset in my learners as I believe this is what keeps a learner from failing and giving up in life.

I will prepare my learners and colleagues for the COVA approach and CSLE just as this program has prepared me. Learning by doing. That is the best way to see how something works. I can speak all day long but unless someone views it with their own eyes, I feel like it is just words. However, when the learning that happens is witnessed, I feel the COVA approach and CSLE will soon spread throughout and students will quickly learn the usefulness. Some challenges I may face in using the COVA approach and CSLE are pushback and lack of training. I teach elementary-aged students so to truly create a significant learning environment that fosters the flexibility to allow choice, ownership, and voice through those authentic assignments students need to be trained for behavior to fully be independent enough to do it. However, once procedures and structure are set in place, I believe this will no longer be an issue. Another challenge I see is teacher pushback. However, when other educators see the action behind the words, one will not be able to deny the power of the COVA approach and CSLE.