Project Based Learning and WebQuest

Part Two

In the previous part, I shared my thoughts and experience about the use of  Rubrics as a tool of alternative assessment  in my classes. Here, I am commenting  and sharing my own experience about Project Based Learning (PBL) and Web-Quest.

I think that PBL and Web Quest are two faces of the same coin. Web Quest is somehow a novel term for me. I am familiar with its counterpart, Pro Quest. Anyhow, after reading about it and watching a number of videos, I came to know that a Web-Quest is an inquiry-oriented project using the internet as the main resource of information and knowledge. One of the main assumptions on which Web-Quest  is based is that authentic tasks are more engaging. However, many instructors are of  the view that sources on the internet are most of the time written by students and by all folks of people and that makes them unreliable sources and thus cannot be used in academic and scholarly writing. Anyhow, I will try it with my students and then judge its credibility.

Throughout my teaching career (33 years now) , I have used several activities that have different names, but they share and lead to the same goals of PBL. I use the Jigsaw technique in my reading and writing classes. The students work in groups of 4 or 5 to reconstruct a passage or a paragraph. They work collaboratively and help each other in solving the problem of the Jigsaw activity. They become very motivated and autonomous. Furthermore, the weak students feel more secure working in a group than working alone and they receive help and support from the other members of the group. When they solve the Jigsaw activity, each group present their solution to the whole class. In short, the Jigsaw activity involves less teaching and more learning. The teacher’s role is a facilitator only.

My favorite activity that I use in most of my classes is writing a Portfolio. Every two or sometimes three students write a Portfolio throughout the semester. Towards, the end of the semester, they present their Portfolios to the whole class and sometimes they invite their parents or their close friends to attend their presentations. This makes them very motivated and creative. Some of them create Portfolios that are of high quality and sometimes are really beyond my expectations.

Our Level Four students, have to write a graduation research project  which is 2 credit hours and in about 100 pages length. Students work in groups of 4 or 5 to accomplish the project. Every year, I supervise 3 or 4 groups. Last semester, I supervised 3 groups and I assigned them the following tasks:

1.       The Difficulties that Stand against the Use of the Internet and Multi-media in the Teaching /Learning Process in the Department of English, Faculty of Education, Sana’a University.
2.         A Survey Study of the Obstacles that Stand against Using the Internet in Sana’a University.
3.       A Survey Study of the Problems that Level Four Students in the Department of Students Face during their Practicing Teaching (Practicum) at Schools.

I use a checklist to evaluate such projects. Getting the students work in groups has some advantages, but sometimes has drawbacks as well. The first group work together and the 5 members took it seriously and performed well. The second group, on the other hand, was different. Only one person took the lion’s share in doing the task. He had a laptop and a connection to the internet. He was the one who communicates with me on Facebook and reports what they are up to . When I assigned them a time to come and present an oral presentation only 3 came and 2 were out of the city.  The one who did most of the work made a good presentation. He really knew what he was doing. Now, I will use the Checklist to evaluate the project and the question that arises is “Shall the 5 members of the Group get the same mark? One of the qualities of a good teacher is being just and doing so, I believe, will make me unjust to the student who made the most part of the work and to all the members of the first group who collaboratively worked. This is, I believe, the main advantage of working in groups.

To sum up, PBL and all collaborative activities have advantages and disadvantages, but their advantages overweigh their disadvantages. I am looking forward to reading your comments.

The following videos give a good background on PBL.

http://www.bie.org/videos/video/and project_based_learning_explained

The Blood Bank Project

http://www.bie.org/videos/video/the_blood_bank_project

PBL for English Learners

http://www.bie.org/videos/video/pbl_for_english_learners