Every Teacher Can Be PBL Ready

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Review of PBL Global’s Intro to PBL & Best Practices

By Editorial Staff

More and more districts are searching for a way to implement project-based learning into their schools. Finding concise, high-quality professional development is proving to be a challenge. Intro to PBL & Best Practices is a self-paced, stand-alone online professional development course written specifically to introduce teachers to the principles, practices and instructional benefits of Project Based Learning (PBL).  Available for teachers at all levels of training, the course outlines best practices for successfully planning, managing, and assessing a project. With its emphasis on using PBL to teach problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, inquiry, and core academic skills, the course aligns well with Common Core State Standards, IB Curriculum and country-specific standards for 21st Century Students.

Intro to PBL & Best Practices is the gateway course for The Project Based Learning Master Teacher library, including PBL 2: Essential Competencies for PBL Teachers, PBL 3: Teach 21st Century Skills through PBL, and PBL 4: Design Social-Emotional Growth into PBL. Together, this series will fully prepare teachers for 21st Century instruction and inquiry-based classrooms as a Designer, Coach, Facilitator, and Mentor. The Intro to PBL & Best Practices course will help teachers and administrators:

• Understand why PBL is critical to 21st Century teaching and learning.
• Learn key methods and best practices for designing high quality projects.
• Learn PBL management tools used by successful PBL teachers at all grade levels.
• Prepare students for working collaboratively through well-organized, accountable teamwork.
• Integrate the 4 C’s into project design and assessment.
• Build innovation and inquiry into projects.

The Courses are available through the PBL Global website. PBL Global gives schools, districts, and individual teachers an entirely new, affordable, and accessible way to master the essential competencies required of 21st Century educators: To master the principles, practices, and skill set for succeeding at Project Based Learning. PBL Global provides a library of courses that show teachers how to design, manage, and assess projects, as well as how to blend PBL with inquiry-based teaching methods that lead to deeper learning, 21st Century skills mastery, and a growth mindset in students. Each course in the library is designed as a refreshing, engaging journey that integrates hands-on content with cutting-edge collaborative and game-based technology, including PBL 1: Intro to PBL & Best Practices, PBL 2: Build Your PBL Skill Set, PBL 3: The PBL Master: Nine Keys to More Powerful Projects, and PBL 4: Ultimate PBL: Design Social-Emotional Growth into PBL.

These highly interactive courses were designed by Thom Markham, a founding father of project-based learning with experience in coaching over 350 schools and 6000+ teachers in PBL. Built on a world-class model of PBL that fuses inquiry, core knowledge, 21st century skills, design thinking, positive psychology, social-emotional strengths, and authentic themes to create an inspirational, masterful experience for students, the courses enable teachers to use PBL to teach problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, inquiry, and core academic skills while aligned with Common Core or state standards, IB Curriculum and country-specific standards for 21st Century Students. 
 Most importantly, teachers LIKE these courses. As one high school teacher stated, “I found the PBL Online course to be very useful and easy to use.  I like the way that the site was intuitive and easy to navigate.  The short videos caught my attention without boring me and the additional resources added to my learning.  I like the way that users can see and comment on the feedback of others – and the race to the high score.  I would definitely recommend this course to someone else.”

Why not step into the future of PD? No need for special professional development days. No subs. The course is self-paced and works on any device, using a collaborative platform and continuous learning, with a dashboard to assess mastery. The online model offers substantial money savings over conventional learning. Intro to PBL & Best Practices is a great way to scale PBL in your school or district!

Further Reading

1. ABC – 5 tips for getting started with project-based learning
2. edCircuit – Navigating Chaos
3. edCircuit – SEL and PBL: Let’s Have One Conversation