Creating Life-Long Learners by Stanley Todd M.;

Author:Stanley, Todd M.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2018-01-04T14:46:40.247663+00:00

As the project manager/teacher, your job is to navigate students through the risk zone, keeping them challenged and learning new things, without going too far and entering the danger zone. One way to avoid the danger zone is to consider the possible sources of risk. Here is a list adapted from Richman in Improving Your Project Management Skills (2012):

Technical

Administrative

Environmental

Resource availability

Human

Logistical (p. 164)

Most of these risk factors can be avoided by an observant project manager/teacher. Technical concerns whether students have the skills in order to achieve their product. In other words, if you have required them to create a Prezi, do students have the training and knowledge to use that piece of technology to create their product? It is also about providing resources. If you are asking students to research databases, you need to either provide them time in the computer lab or have a classroom set of laptops that they can access the information. Administrative is whether you the teacher, the administrator of the project, are giving your students the support they need to accomplish the project but at the same time, providing enough space where they feel they can work without being interrupted by too many deadlines, check-ins, or busy work. This will be discussed in more detail later in the book. Environmental is setting up the best atmosphere for students to be able to work on their projects with much success. The way you set up your classroom from the desks and chairs to the resources and mood can go a long way in ensuring the success of students working on independent projects. Resource availability is whether students have the resources needed to create an innovative product. That might mean access to technology, experts, books, etc. Human risk comes down to the people you are working with. In a group, is everyone on the same page and moving in the same direction toward the group goals? The creation of group norms and the performance reviews where students conduct peer evaluations go a long way in ensuring that the people in the group are doing what they are supposed to be doing. The teacher as the project manager also has a lot of influence on keeping students on task and contributing to their projects. Logistical comes down to the project design itself, or what lesson plan did the teacher create. Is it clear to students what the expectations are? Has the final product been demonstrated for students so they have a clear idea of what they are to be producing? Is the timeline the teacher has set out realistic for students to be able to complete their project in a timely fashion? Like any lesson, the teacher will want to reflect upon the process with the class and discuss what worked and what could be improved for next time. You as the teacher are certainly taking a risk with a new project where you do not know exactly how things are going to turn out because you have no past experiences to go on.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.