EDTECH 542: Manage the Process

With the complete of the Product and Processes section of the Cold War PBL I am working on with Tim Stark, I am starting to see some change in the original plan.  Like any activity in teaching, the first time around is the test period to see what went well and what needs to be revamped.  Looking ahead I could see my role in the learning process being turned over more to my students.  As a high school teacher, one of the goals is to help your students become independent researchers and creators.  Social studies sometimes revolves around a good amount of lecture to explain people, events, and results.  If done correctly, I would limit what I taught the students and teach them how to find valid information to complete the activities.

My role as a effective facilitator is to design and plan the group process and select the proper tools to help my learners accomplish the instructional objective.  This project has individual and group activities and as the facilitator I will guide and control the group process.  This includes making sure there is participation and that the students take an active role in their group.

The students will develop the competencies and skills needed to be successful during this project.  Students will be using research and critical thinking skills throughout the project.  New technology might be introduced with online blogs and the creation of the infographic.  Depending on the skills of the students there would need to be time prior to the project to go over the steps to properly use these online tools.

The changes that might need to be made to the project based on experience is the timeline.  The goal is to complete the project in two weeks based on the state required content that must be covered.  Depending on the students and their previous learning experiences I may need to review how to do proper research and work on how to write a letter.  This could be done during the earlier part of the year and reviewed before the project.  There are several online blogs the students can create and if they have never used one before there would a training session to ensure all students were able to use the technology required.