Using web-based projects to prepare teachers and students for 21st century learning

Dr George Cicchetti Brown University USA

American students are not being prepared to compete in a global marketplace and they must be able to think flexibly and critically, collaborate, communicate and work as interdisciplinary teams to solve problems. Reading informational text on the internet imposes even greater literacy demands on students.

Genuine education comes through experiences and learning by doing. The learner is at the centre of experiences, with the teacher as co-partner and guide. The goal is to have the student become an independent learner and thinker.

Reading informational text on the internet requires new and higher level literacy as compared to reading traditional text-based content. Internet reading now includes navigating, as opposed to turning pages. Readers must evaluate sources, verify accuracy of information and synthesise multimedia information. Speed is important.

Web projects provide an authentic, real life context for learning 21st century roles and responsibilities, literacy and problem-solving skills, as well as the use of technology and web resources. Web projects have also been used to increase literacy and student engagement and 21st century roles and skills with minority high school students.
Curtis (2002) states that many teachers, administrators, parents, and students agree that project-based, hands-on learning engages all students in ways that traditional lecture/worksheet/textbook/written test cannot and there are fewer absences and discipline problems.

Nonetheless, there are system, logistics and professional development barriers that interfere with the use of project-based learning by teachers. At the system level, Curtis states that:

‘Most current approaches to curriculum, instruction, and assessment are based on theories and models that have not kept pace with modern knowledge of how people learn. Alignment among curriculum, instruction and assessment could be better achieved if all three are derived from a scientifically credible and shared knowledge base about cognition and learning in the subject domains. Many school systems lack a central theory of instruction and programs and practices are often fragmented, inconsistent and, at times, at odds with each other’.

Assessment and high stakes testing often drives instruction and teaching to the test, especially with minority students. Direct instruction, lecture and discussion, and teaching to the test are often the norm in high schools and these approaches will not prepare students with the skills and competencies necessary to function successfully in this 21st century. A district and school must have a clear vision and goals for how teachers and students will interact, work and learn in their classrooms.

At the logistics level, projects are time-consuming for students to complete and there are time demands and pressure on teachers to teach to state mastery tests and curriculum standards. Further, it is difficult for teachers to deliver, organise and manage projects and students’ work for multiple sections of students. At the professional development level, few teachers have expertise with instructional design of web projects. On-site, hands-on training, plus follow-up support and coaching, are necessary to implement a project-based learning approach. This is in contrast to the typical one or two sessions of professional development without follow-up that tends to be the norm. Additionally, professional development training should lead to collegial, supportive practices at a school such as; planning, sharing of ideas and projects in order to sustain a program.

The prototype ‘Web-Projects Collaboratory’ delivered through Moodle helps overcome the aforementioned barriers. The first phase consists of a hybrid (online and onsite) professional development training, follow-up coaching, support and resources for teachers. Participants are expected to design and teach web projects.

A second phase is for a school to subscribe to a Moodle host and set up a students’ web projects course. The Moodle course is used to deliver, organise and manage web projects and assess and archive students' work.
The ‘Web-Projects Collaboratory’ program provides a balanced relationship among curriculum, instruction and assessment.

Project-based learning. Learning is organised around meaningful projects that provide real world context and roles and responsibilities for students. Each project contains a big idea or core concept, driving question or problem that is aligned with state and local curriculum standards and the construction or creation of a project. Students serve as team leaders and scribes. Students actively engage in creating their own knowledge and learn by doing, rather than by listening, in a hands-on, meaningful context, with the teacher serving as a mentor and coach.

Social construction of knowledge/collaborative learning.
Scaffolding is designed to enable students to work together to socially construct knowledge and complete products. When students work with others to complete projects, they develop background knowledge beyond what can be learned individually (Vygotsky, 1977) and learn 21st century skills such as planning, researching questions, teamwork and communication and problem-solving.

Cognitive apprenticeship. Teachers mentor, model the thinking, language and skills of a discipline and coach apprentices as they work on web projects. The thinking of the teachers and students is made visible so that understanding and problem-solving may be clarified. As students acquire skills, the teacher gradually removes the coaching and scaffolding. Cognitive apprenticeship plays a major role in reading comprehension instruction and math and science problem-solving (Collins et al. 1991).

Scaffolding and differentiated instruction. Scaffolding is a broad concept that involves students with support for completing a final product. Scaffolding is designed to enable all students to learn and may include direct modeling, coaching and feedback or designing scaffolding in the body of the web-based project such as written directions, hints, graphic organisers, scripts, collaborative activities and ‘chunking’ of a complex task into simpler, more easily learned parts. Multi-level and often multimedia web resources are built into all projects. Students are able to learn with resources that go beyond the limits of the classroom and traditional textbooks.

Reading comprehension across content areas. Web projects provide an authentic context, purpose and scaffolding for students to learn before, during and after reading strategies and comprehension monitoring and fix-up strategies. ‘Reciprocal reading scaffolding’ is an integral part of the ‘Dialogue Centre’ process. Students also learn to do research and evaluate the objectivity and validity of information on the internet. Reading skills and strategies are built into all web projects.

Process writing across content areas. Web projects provide an authentic context, purpose and scaffolding for students to learn process writing strategies. Composing and reading comprehension are active, constructive processes that support each other. Process writing is consistent with a constructivist view of learning and has three stages: prewriting, composing or drafting, and revising. Effective writers move back and forth between these stages. Scaffolding for self-editing and revising of compositions with rubrics is emphasised. Writing skills and strategies are built into all web projects.

Metacognitive strategies. Scaffolding is provided to develop students’ metacognitive skills. Metacognition may be defined as internal planning, monitoring and evaluating and adapting thinking. Metacognition may be used across domains such as reading comprehension, math and science problem-solving and composing and contributes to transfer of learning.

Maths problem-solving strategies and skills. Web-based projects provide an authentic context, purpose and scaffolding for collaborative learning, with George Poyla's tried and true sequence for maths problem-solving (Polya, 1945). The emphasis is on reading and understanding the problem and devising a plan. The crucial element is making thinking visible and open to building and clarifying preconceptions and misconceptions.

Authentic assessment. Products are assessed with rubrics that students use for self-assessment and improvement of work. All rubrics in the library of web-based projects have been thoroughly field-tested.
The general framework for the instructional design and use of web projects follows Robert Gagne’s (1970) ‘Events of Instruction’.

Event 1: engage and gain the learner's attention. Introduce the core concept and driving questions in the context of a project/problem. ‘Students should be challenged to think deeply about the content and apply concepts and principles to the solution of interesting and relevant challenges within a domain … This is far more than ‘hands on’ and fun activities. Identifying good problems and the effective scaffolding of project/problem-based learning is quite demanding from an instructional design perspective.’

• Present or situate the students’ product in a meaningful context, a project, and try to connect the project and core concept to what is already known by them.
• Frame the big idea or core concept with essential or driving questions and align with state and local standards.
• Transfer of learning increases when projects and problems are authentic, engaging and meaningful to students.

Event 2: inform the learner of objectives. State the task for students to complete. The part of a project require students to create a product that requires higher level thinking or problem-solving as contrasted with products that require only memorisation of terms or following procedures. Learning in the context of tying material to important concepts and principles is more likely to lead to a transfer of knowledge to new situations than factual or rote learning.

Event 3: recall relevant information and prior learning. Design a ‘develop background knowledge’ section. All new knowledge depends on previous learning. All students come to the classroom with preconceptions and, in some instances, misconceptions. The goal is to determine students’ preconceptions and also misconceptions about the core concept and help students construct appropriate understandings and organisation of knowledge. ‘Students come to the classroom with preconceptions and prior knowledge about concepts to be learned. The initial understandings have a powerful impact on the integration of new concepts and information.’

Integration and organisation of new knowledge with existing knowledge facilitates transfer of learning. Simply put, the more you know about a concept, the easier it is to learn more about the concept.

When students collaboratively develop, share and clarify knowledge, their ideas are validated and self-esteem increases.

Events, 4, 5 and 6: present the materials, provide learning guidance, ask for and elicit a performance. Design scaffolding for a learning activity such as directions, materials, task sequencing and graphic organisers that help students complete the learning activity. The type of scaffolding is created in the body of the web project and helps many students complete the project and product. Scaffolding is always a ‘work in progress’ and should get better with field-testing and use of the projects. Since students bring individual differences and backgrounds to a web project, some students will require cognitive modeling, coaching and fading of scaffolding to successfully complete a product.

Event 7: provide informative feedback. Design collaborative, reciprocal teaching, discussion and metacognitive scripts and activities. Collaborative scaffolding leads to social construction of knowledge. A metacognitive approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them. (Pellegrino, 2006)

Debriefings, dialogue centre scripts and reciprocal teaching are strategies that foster reflection (metacognition) and feedback.

Peer review is another way of providing reflection (metacognition) and feedback about both products and process.

Event 8: assess performance. Develop valid rubrics for the assessment of students’ work. Rubrics may also be used for self-assessment of products and peer review of products. Students learn metacognitive strategies when they define learning goals and monitor their work with rubrics and revise accordingly.

Well-designed rubrics provide informative feedback to the learner and assist students improve their products.

Posting students’ work in Moodle is an effective way to organise and manage students’ work and validate the quality of students' work.

A real audience for products and feedback and comments from others help students revise and improve products.

Event 9: apply learning to new situations. Design for the transfer of learning and application of what has been learned to new settings. Factual information should be linked and organised in a conceptual framework to facilitate retrieval and application. Students should make their thinking and problem-solving processes visible and open to reflection and discussion. Debriefing after a project has been completed is an effective way to foster transfer with questions such as ‘What has been learned?’, ‘Where and when can we apply what we have learned?’, ‘What might have been done differently?’.

Transfer of learning increases when projects and problems are authentic, engaging and meaningful to students. Determining preconceptions and connecting, building and organising new with old knowledge leads to transfer of knowledge. Modeling, coaching and the gradually fading of scaffolding leads to transfer of learning.

Access to library of web projects

I have provided online conference participants with access to a library of web projects. Go to: www.ctdlc.org
At ‘username’, type (ACEL). At ‘password’, type (guest). This library is a major resource for teachers who participate in the ‘Web-Projects Collaboratory’. All projects are created in Microsoft Word and were designed to be downloaded and adapted by teachers for new core concepts and driving questions. The web projects are student-ready and complete with scaffolding and rubrics and not simply lesson plans that must be translated into practice by teachers.

References

* Contact the online conference manager for the comprehensive list of references for this article.