Benjamin L. Stewart's Newsletter #3
Problem-Based Learning (PBL) with English Language Learners
This week has been primarily focused on project-based learning (PBL). I applied PBL to my Communicative Abilities in English II (CAE) and Listening & Speaking II (L&S) courses. In both courses, PBL was centered around giving a short public service announcement on topics related to what they had already seen in weeks one through three. In CAE, students focused on cancel culture while choosing additional keywords related to their specific project: fake news, deepfakes, misinformation, disinformation, platforming, de-platforming, and catfishing. In L&S, students could choose beauty, education, or fake news as topics.
In both courses, students were asked to develop questions to interview two people who they knew well about their chosen topic. Using their prior knowledge about the participants they chose to interview and their responses gathered from their interviews, learners were asked to analyze their data. Students could compare and contrast both personal characteristics, histories, and experiences of their participants and their opinions and perspectives regarding the questions they were asked to answer. Learners were asked to only include the most interesting, surprising, and relevant information to include in their final presentation. Their final reporting was in the form of a five-minute Flipgrid video.
PBL was used to scaffold assessment by doing activities they were already familiar with related to topics (and vocabulary) they had already been exposed to. What was different (and more cognitively challenging) was the interview piece where they were asked to analyze and synthesize data obtained through personal interviews. The additions to my website this week relate to some of these PBL activities.
Learners taking Writing Workshop were finishing up their academic (persuasive) essays, which included significant feedback. Various forms of flipped learning were used this week as videos were used to deliver feedback, both from online sessions with the whole group and videos intended to be accessible to learners outside of class.
I'm always interested in your own current educational experiences with teaching, learning, and/or research, so please reach out to me if there is anything you would like to share or if there are educational topics you would like for me to cover in my podcast, YouTube channel, and/or newsletter.
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I'm currently teaching three courses, which are located in Canvas Commons: Communicative Abilities in English II, Listening & Speaking II, and Writing Workshop.
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If you are currently using PBL, what successes have you had? Have you faced any challenges? What questions do you have? Feel free to share your stories and questions @bnleez. Would love to hear from you!