Project-Based Learning as a Vehicle for High-Impact Practices
A Three-Part PBL Webinar Series with the Chronicle of Higher Education
Creating a valuable educational experience for undergraduates in the 21st century is complicated. Students need to learn how to solve problems, think critically, work effectively with others on teams, and communicate well; higher education institutions need to keep students engaged and help them persist through graduation. Delivering on all these outcomes presents big challenges to traditional classrooms. Moderated by the Chronicle of Higher Education, this webinar series explores how senior campus leaders and professors can reinvent opportunities for creating successful students using project-based learning in service of high-impact practices.
PBL Webinar Part 1 of 3: Reinventing CoursesTuesday, November 12 – 2 – 3pm ET | 11am – Noon PT |
Project-based learning is a powerful and versatile tool to support student learning and engagement. However, it is sometimes viewed as being too difficult to implement compared to traditional approaches. In a world that has too much information to cover, how can using valuable time for projects do anything but reduce the amount of learning? But is this true? Is project-based learning too tough to use? Do you have to abandon content to adopt projects?
In this webinar, panelists representing a large public college and a private research university will share approaches they have used to strengthen project-based learning at the pedagogical level, and the benefits they have seen from doing so. The experiences of these faculty members and administrators from institutions that differ so greatly in size and mission can serve as a resource to participants as they reflect on their own contexts and the challenges and opportunities for project-based learning.
PBL Webinar Part 2 of 3: Reinventing ProgramsTuesday, February 4, 2020 – 2 – 3pm ET | 11am – Noon PT |
This second installment in the webinar series features panelists from institutions who have incorporated project-based learning into programs as specific as humanitarian engineering and as broad as a gen ed curriculum spanning four years. Panelists will discuss how project-based learning not only helped them make their programs more distinctive, but how it helped them create more cohesive integrative learning experiences. Audience takeaways from the webinar will include fresh ideas on how to use project-based learning to help both faculty and students think more critically, creatively, and innovatively, and, ultimately, learn more deeply.
PBL Webinar Part 3 of 3: Reinventing InstitutionsTuesday, October 27, 2020 – 2 – 3pm ET | 11am – Noon PT |
In this third and final installment of the three-part webinar series, panelists will include higher ed experts whose colleges and universities have embraced project-based learning at the institutional level. They will share insights into approaches and practices that helped their institutions build a culture of project-based-learning — and how their PBL work is playing out in online environments—offering strategies that can assist others in advancing their PBL initiatives.
PBL Webinar Series Takeaway Report |
In a final wrap up report of the three-part PBL webinar series, Michael Anft—Chronicle of Higher Education contributor and moderator for the webinars—highlights the key takeaways from all the panelists, representing institutions of all types, and how they are reinventing courses, programs and their institutions through project-based learning. Don’t miss the opportunity to download the report.
More about the Project-Based Learning Webinar Series
Key questions by faculty and leaders will be answered during these webinars. For faculty, how do they balance the need to teach disciplinary content while embracing more open-ended, problem-focused work? How can team projects address learning outcomes, and how can faculty grade teamwork fairly? For leaders, how do they best support faculty who take new risks in their teaching? What staffing models, approaches to faculty evaluation, or shifts in course schedules can help? How can projects provide institutions with a distinctive difference while retaining a core identity?
Through conversations moderated by the Chronicle of Higher Education with experts and leaders in higher education, these webinars will examine such questions and more to give participants opportunities for reflection, ideas to share, and motivation to tackle the challenge of educating students for an ever-changing world.