Project-Based Learning Goes Post-Secondary: Educators' Voices and Visions for the Future

For the past four weeks, I've been teaching 02:210 Teacher Identity in Brandon University's PENT (Program for the Education of Native Teachers) program.  I had 37 students from all over Manitoba--everywhere from nearby Sioux Valley to Oxford House and Gillam in northern Manitoba.  It's been an amazing experience, one that has confirmed for me yet again that I love teaching big kids as much as little kids.  And as always, my students have taught me more than I could ever hope to teach them.

When I teach pre-service teachers, I strive to explore the course content while introducing teaching strategies and approaches that my students can use in their own classrooms.  For those of who you follow my work, you'll already know that project-based learning is one of my preferred pedagogical approaches regardless of the age of my learners.  In Teacher Identity, one of the outcomes is to gain insight into the nature of teaching as a profession.  I decided that an educator panel would be the perfect way to talk to real educators while participating in an authentic project-based learning experience.  My goal for this project was for my students to inquire into the teaching profession, construct new knowledge, and gain experience in designing and implementing a project-based learning experience. Throughout the project, I wanted to explain the teaching opportunities and links to K-12 curricula as well as how students of diverse needs might be included.

When I presented this idea to my students, they were enthusiastic about an educator panel, but many had little to no knowledge of project-based learning.  As a result, I shared a presentation with them that Leah Obach and I had developed to share at conferences.  We examined the history of project-based learning back to the days of John Dewey and reviewed the relevant literature from the field.  Exploring resources from the Buck Institute for Education PBL Works and projects from Kindergarten-Grade 12 gave students a clearer vision of project-based learning (PBL).  With this deeper understanding, we were more prepared to plan and implement an educator panel using a project-based learning model.

Steps in Planning and Implementation: Educators' Voices and Visions for the Future Panel 

Setting goals: enthusiasm was running high, so we jumped right into developing a to-do list for our educator panel.  We were floundering a bit until one student suggested that we needed to examine what we hoped to achieve from the panel.  We took a step back and had a group discussion about our goals for the educator panel.  We decided that we wanted to gain knowledge of the different roles and positions within the education sector as well as the role of the Manitoba Teachers' Society.  This was the perfect time to highlight the emergent nature of project-based learning, the importance of student voice, and the role of the teacher as the facilitator.

To-do list: with our goals more clearly defined, it was possible to develop a to-do list to structure the project.  As always, the to-do list grew and evolved throughout the project and structured our daily activities until the educator panel took place.

Student roles: once we developed our to-do list, we decided to form student committees that would be in charge of a group of tasks.  After much discussion we decided that the following committees were needed:

Our committees evolved throughout the project.  Originally, we had a hospitality committee, but when some of the students decided to create handmade cards, they split into two groups.  One group decided to handle the refreshments while the other group focused on the cards.  This was a perfect example of how project-based learning continually evolves and how students and teachers need to be flexible.

Students signed up for the committees that appealed to them.  In a K-12 classroom, I might have made rules about how many students could be on each committee--and you can see that the committees were not balanced.  However, I decided it was more important that my adult learners had choice--and I was delighted to see them solve problems and negotiate who should work on what committee.

Panel guest list:  all students had the opportunity to provide suggestions for potential panel guests, then our invitation committee made the final decisions and contacted them.  Our invitation committee was committed to a balanced and representative committee, paying close attention to factors such as gender, Indigenous/non-Indigenous, years of experience, and role/position.  Even the panel members themselves commented on the broad representation and balance of the group of speakers!

Panelists included Donna Prince (Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre literacy consultant), Noella Eagle (Assistant Professor, Brandon University), Rob Tomlinson (principal, Earl Oxford School), Steven Kaskiw (resource teacher, Strathclair Community School), and Adam Grabowski (Park West School Division local MTS president and teacher). 

Panelist Donna Prince with her daughter Jocelyn Prince, one of my students 

Panelist Noella Eagle with her niece Jillian Chalmers, another student in Teacher Identity 

Questions and event hosting: three students worked together to develop a list of questions for the panelists.  They also developed a form to solicit questions from other students, giving them the option to ask the question themselves.  These students liaised with the panel guest committee, sharing information so that our panelists were emailed the list of questions in advance. This was an excellent opportunity to discuss the interdependent nature of project-based learning, as well as some of the important ELA lessons that might be taught to support this portion of the project. 

Stacy Desjardins welcomed the panelists to our event, and Nicole Friesen posed questions and guided discussion.  Questions focused on student diversity (cultural, English language leaners, and special needs), the role of the Manitoba Teachers' Society, the panelists' reflections on their careers, and advice for our students.

Trevor McIntyre asked his question from the audience. 

Kyle McIvor shared closing remarks and thanked the panelists for their time and advice. 

Location, setup, audio/video: before we could choose a location, we had to decide if the event was open to other classes and/or the public.  The students decided to keep the event limited to our class, John Minshull (director of PENT), and Dr. Heather Duncan (Dean of Education).  Live-streaming the event seemed like the perfect way to keep the atmosphere small and intimate while sharing the panel with a larger audience.  One student approached the education office to find out if they would be willing to let us advertise and live-stream the even through their Facebook page, and they agreed to help us with setup and filming.

Setting up our Facebook live-streamed event, which has had 662 views so far!  Watch the recorded event here. 

We requested permission to use the Little Theatre across from our classroom.  We discussed how this would be an excellent lesson for children on capacity/area/perimeter when choosing an event location. Since there weren't enough microphones available, we conducted sound tests to find out if a non-amplified voice could be easily heard.  The Little Theatre's acoustics proved excellent, and the students and I remarked that this project would fit in well with the science outcomes on sound. 

Thank you cards and gift certificates: four students took on the task of creating beautiful handmade thank you cards.  We held a class vote to decide on gift cards for our panelists, concluding that Chapters/Coles gift cards would be the best choice.

Refreshments:  the students felt strongly that we needed to offer our guests refreshments and have a "meet and greet" after the panel.  The refreshment committee approached the director of PENT and asked for funding to cover the costs of refreshments and gift cards.  I was thrilled when Mr. Minshull asked the students to draft a letter outlining their requests and submit a budget.  As a class, we discussed these fantastic teaching and learning opportunities--numeracy, learning how to develop a budget, letter writing, and persuasive writing.

Mr. Minshull agreed to support our project and the students had the great idea of comparing prices between Tim Horton's and Forbidden Flavours for coffee and tea.  Forbidden Flavours was only $1 more with the added bonuses of setting up and taking away the coffee for us (as well as being a local business), so we decided to go with them.  Fruit, dainties, and bottles of water for the speakers were the other items on the menu.  Delicious treats from another local business, Chez Angela, seemed perfect for our event.

Jocelyn Prince, Jamie Mousseau, and Lori Campbell checking out the refreshments following the panel 

Donna Prince (panelist) and Delilah Bruce chatting after the panel

Dress code:  I made the suggestion that students might want to dress up as they would be meeting some well-known educators from the field who could influence their future careers.  We discussed how Brandon University logo wear was a great option to dress clothes.  On the day of the event, our class looked sharp!

Christina Cochrane Monroy and Nicole Friesen visiting with panelists Steven Kaskiw and Adam Grabowski following the panel.

Social media:  as part of our course, all the students set up Twitter accounts and learned how to use hashtags to participate in Twitter chats and back channels.  We decided to stay off our devices as we wanted to be present and focused during the panel, but we did want someone to share on social media as the event was happening.  Kyle McIvor agreed to be our official tweeter, taking on the role of paraphrasing and sharing important information from the panel using the hashtag #PENTteacheridentity.

Reflection:  the day of the education panel was quickly over, and due to the students' strong planning and execution, it proceeded perfectly!  The next day we spent time reviewing our social media feeds and photographs as well as debriefing, discussing favourite moments and what went well.  We were delighted with all the nuggets of wisdom shared by our panelists and how prepared they were.  We congratulated our classmates for their hard work and the great job they did fulfilling their various roles.  We spent some time discussing how project-based learning resulted in authentic learning that made a real impact in the world, and how it felt to complete a project that made a difference.  Many students expressed how much they learned about the education profession and their interest in trying this pedagogical approach in their future classroom practice and communities.

As always, following a project-based learning experience, I came away feeling amazed with my students' abilities and the amount of learning that had taken place--as well as incredibly grateful for the opportunity to guide a wonderful group of future teachers.

Interested in trying project-based learning?  Find out more here:
Strengthening Students' Numeracy Skills Through PBL 
A Road Map for Success in Early Years: Project-Based Learning 
Walking for Polar Bears 
Reindeer Rescue: Project-Based Learning in Junior Kindergarten