2020 Institute Workshops & Presentations

Microsoft Teams Navigation for PBL Institute 2020

2020 Institute Schedule

Project-Based Learning at WPI- Benefits

Action Plan

All times indicated are EDT

Monday, June 15, 2020

Virtual Cocktail Hour – 7 pm EDT

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/91518279176

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Welcome and Charge – 11:00 am EDT

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Lightning Intros- 11:15 am EDT

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Student Panel- 11:30 am EDT

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Keynote Address: Randy Bass, Georgetown University –  1:00 pm EDT

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Randy Bass 2020 IPBL

Workshop: PBL as a First-Year and General-Education Strategy –
Geoff Pfeifer and Lisa Stoddard- 4 pm EDT

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/94756152297

In this workshop we will share some of the work we have done in our first year Great Problems Seminars program. We will talk about what it is like to work with first year students in a project-based environment (both benefits and challenges), and tools we have developed for scaffolding project work so students gain the skills necessary to work on complex open-ended problems even in their first year. We will also talk about the ways that PBL can be utilized as a general education strategy. Participants will be given the opportunity to collaborate and to think about how to adapt some of our materials to their own courses and environments.

Workshop materials include:

GPS Syllabus Example
GPS First Mini Project Example
Stoddard Microproject Example

Workshop: Project-Based Learning in Online Environments –
Caitlin Keller and Valerie Smedile Rifkin- 4 pm EDT

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/98095766417

This session will address considerations in the design and delivery of project-based learning experiences in online environments. We will focus primarily on strategies for team formation, setting expectations for collaboration, and active facilitation of project work. Due to the virtual style of the Institute, this session is being offered in a flipped-style format. Participants will review some passive content beforehand to prepare and the live workshop will be used for active participation through discussion and activity. All participants will walk away with a set of tools and techniques that can be modified for their own implementation of project-based learning in an online setting.

Workshop materials include:

PBL Online Strategies – Resource
PBL Online 2020 Slides
Project-Based Learning for Online Courses – Top Tips
PBL Online- 2020 Scenarios

Workshop: PBL as a Capstone Strategy-Destin Heilman and David Spanagel- 4 pm EDT

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/94439412770

This workshop will examine the design and implementation of PBL-based integrative experiences as a capstone in either STEM fields (e.g. Chemistry) or the Humanities (e.g. History). Such experiences can be course-based but may also be standalone experiential activities. These can be individual or team-based and might include research, design, or performance-based activities. We will explore connecting the design of the activity to general and discipline-specific learning outcomes. The session will involve brief presentations as well as a chance to work in small groups.

Workshop materials include:

BIE_GS_Essential_Proj_Design_Elements
PBL in History CapstonesPBworks-Essential-Project-Design-Elements
Writing Course Goals/Learning Outcomes and Learning Objectives
Framing a research question workshop handout.206
PBLworks-Essential-Project-Design-Elements

Virtual Cocktail Hour @ 7 pm EDT

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/94011846835

Thursday, June 18, 2020

Plenary- 11 am EDT

Project Team Dynamics: Looking in the Mirror- Charlie Morse

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/93037280427

This plenary session will introduce you to a model of stages of team development, different personality preferences and their impact on team functioning as well as differences in conflict management styles. All of these aspects of teams point to the theme that differences within teams are both a predictable source of tension and conflict and an important component of teams reaching their highest potential. These themes will be further developed by providing opportunities for participants to reflect on their own team dynamics in these critical areas.

materials include:

Project Team Dynamics PBL 2020

Workshop: Writing in PBL | Writing for PBL- Ryan Madan- 1:00 pm EDT

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/96985689243

Will your students write as part of their project-based learning experience? If so, for what purpose and for whose eyes? This workshop will help you reflect on the role(s) writing can play in student projects, and the ways those projects might also help students improve as writers. You’ll leave the workshop with more clarity about foundational principles on which to ground your decision-making about writing’s possible roles in your PBL design, and you’ll have dedicated time to brainstorm and prioritize the competing purposes, communicative genres, audiences, and forms of assessment that you might lean on as you move forward. This workshop is equally appropriate for those who imagine writing to be a central deliverable to PBL (wherein PBL is in service to developing student writing competencies) and for those who envision discrete writing activities in service of advancing other PBL goals.

Workshop materials include:

IPBL worksheet – Writing in PBL
Infographic project- prompt
Infographic Project-Team CS reflection and rationale
Infographic project–Team CS Presentation
Jr Level Project–Student sample 1 of booklet deliverable
Jr Level Project–Student Sample 1b of supplemental materials for booklet
Jr. Level Project–Student Sample 2 (academic report AND implementation guide for a sponsor)
Kickstarter Project–Student sample of Kickstarter page
Kickstarter Project–Student sample of Reflection (Abbey)
Revision Project–Prompt for Rhetorical Analysis (groundwork for final project)
Revision Project–Prompt for SAVE revision (brochure and reflection)
Resource Handout

Workshop: Structuring Online Environments to Build Community- Joe Doiron and Sarah Stanlick- 1:00 pm EDT

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/98756752304

This session will engage participants in a skill- and philosophy-building workshop to create more effective, engaged online learning environments for robust community engagement. We will explore the importance of the instructor/facilitator in making intentional design decisions to ensure a space that is flexible, inclusive, and prioritizes learning objectives both curricular and developmental. Participants will work in small teams to design online communities to maximize cohort-building, bonding, personal accountability, and motivation. Using their own courses and contexts to inform the design, we will discuss ways to ensure the course experience is replicated, and even enhanced, in the online space. We will then reflect as a group on the educational design and strategies, and how they might be adapted online, but across contexts from 1:1 student/advisor research work to small-team collaborations to large-format cohort-building. This is an ideal workshop for anyone who is seeking to build an engaged classroom, build bonds for project-based learning online, and who seek to ensure a more inclusive, flexible space for learning amid challenges in our current context.

Workshop materials include:

Structuring Online Environments Worksheet 1
Hamraie, Aimi. (10 March 2020). “Accessible Teaching in the Time of COVID-19”
Neely, Tsedal. (16 March 2020). “15 Questions About Remote Work, Answered”
Pilbeam, R. (12 March 2020). Building Community Online.

Workshop: Working Towards More Equitable Team Dynamics: Mapping Student Assets to Minimize Stereotyping and Task Assignment Bias- Geoff Pfeifer and Lisa Stoddard- 1:00 pm EDT

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/94320966335

Our graduates will enter a diverse workforce and need to be prepared to work with people of differing backgrounds. Studies show that diverse teams are better at solving problems and innovating. Research also shows that bias and stereotyping on teams can eliminate these benefits and reduce student learning. We have developed several tools and modules to help students and faculty identify, manage, and mitigate these issues. Asset mapping and team asset charting are two tools we have used with over 150 students on project teams. Our research shows these tools can improve equitable and effective teamwork by overcoming stereotypes, building student confidence, and minimizing task assignment bias. Workshop participants will engage with these tools on teams as their own students would. They will fill out asset maps and discuss their assets (backgrounds, experiences, interests) with their team members. Team members will then determine who will take on what parts of a sample project based on each member’s assets and areas they want to develop. Participants will also see how we use a mid-project team processing sheet to help student teams assess their teamwork and troubleshoot problem areas. After testing the tools, participants will work to adapt them to their own classes, assignments, and projects.

Workshop materials include:

Stoddard and Pfeifer 2018 Team Processing Sheet
Asset Chart Handout – Sample Project
Asset Map Handout with Sample
Stoddard_and_Pfeifer_ASEE_Paper__March_12__2018

Workshop: Pedagogical, Curricular, and Institutional Culture Change for PBL- Rick Vaz and Kris Wobbe- 3:00 pm EDT

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/99053667165

This session will be highly interactive and largely driven by the interests of participants. It is aimed at those who wish to bring about change on their campuses, whether in pedagogical practices, curricular structures, or institutional support mechanisms for PBL. We’ll briefly frame the conversation by presenting a model for campus change, and share some of our experiences working with colleges and universities of different types and at different stages of the change process. Then, we will invite participants to describe the changes they hope to bring to their programs and campuses and the challenges they confront.

Workshop: Developing Reflective Prompts for Integrative Learning and Project-Based Learning – J. Elizabeth Clark- 3:00 pm EDT

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/96539929107

Reflection can be a key ingredient for groups or individuals engaged in project-based learning because it offers students the opportunity to process and analyze their learning. It also encourages students to uncover key lessons and results that faculty might not have anticipated.

Pre-work for this session will include reading 1 article about reflective writing and a short presentation available on-line on major approaches to reflective writing. Participants will be asked to submit their goals for a reflective assignment before the session to help guide our work in the face-to-face session. Participants will also have an opportunity to submit sample reflective prompts that did not work (or did work) well to share with the group.

In the face-to-face session, participants will compare and contrast effective and ineffective prompts and assignments. Then, participants will individually brainstorm reflective prompts for their project. The group will share and discuss these potential prompts. Participants will leave the workshop with a draft of a reflective prompt to share with their team and ideas for implementation.

Workshop materials include:

Workshop material

If you cannot access the link, please double-check that your VPN or firewall is not blocking links to Microsoft Office 365 (apparently some firewall and VPN programs do). If possible, please disable your VPN temporarily OR enable access in your firewall to Microsoft Office 365 so that you can view the presentation.

If this is not possible, please email Liz directly at lclark@lagcc.cuny.edu. Please put “PBL Institute–Need Materials” in your subject line.

Workshop: The Value of Using Rubrics in Project Work- Terry Rhodes- 3:00 pm EDT

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/91436857745

This session will focus on many of the ways that rubrics can be used with project work: to convey quality standards to students, to evaluate student work, to support student self- and peer-assessment, and to evaluate programs. The session will include a look at basic construction of useful rubrics and the differences between a) using rubrics for purposes of grading and b) scoring with rubrics for broader purposes such as program evaluation. Examples of different types of rubrics will be shared. Rubric construction can serve multiple purposes at the same time, but the key is alignment between the assigned project and the expected learning outcomes. Participants will be challenged to consider the costs and benefits of using rubrics in their project work with students.

Workshop materials include:

Workshop Overview using Rubrics in Project Work_2020
rubrics_Rhodes_2020
Projects Assessment Rubric with LOs
AAC&U Value Rubrics – Quantitative Literacy
Rubric for Presentations
Original Assignment Instructions
Original Cover Sheet
New Assignment Instructions – Annotated
New Cover Sheet
Grading Rubric
Intro to Materials Science

Virtual Cocktail Hour – 7 pm EDT

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/94386374039

Friday, June 19, 2020

Lightning Presentations – 2 pm EDT

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https://wpi.zoom.us/j/96407159520