Despite the fact that Covid-19 has affected the educational sectors a lot, however, in many ways, the spring of 2020 gave an appropriate time to launch into a demanding project. It has been seen that several well-designed projects allowed students to work independently at home. Nevertheless, what about this year?

Project-based learning or PBL is still a good way to encourage students during challenging situations. PBL method is an inclusive approach to education where your learners can participate in various practical projects and practice an interdisciplinary collection of skills from math, language arts, fine arts, geography, science, and technology.

David Daniel, a well-known psychology professor has directed the ground between learning several core skills and beginning of new & challenging projects.He stated, “the goal of learning should be to create knowledge that is durable, usable, and flexible: durable far beyond the length of your course; known well enough to be usable by students; and flexible enough that they can use it in new contexts”.

Virtual or Online PBL Checklists

1. Start with a confirmed project

Try to start PBL with an established project that you can implement and familiarize yourself as you see fit with your learners too. These types of projects allow you to have much more freedom as these had all been pre-designed and planned. A proven template will give you the boost to try out different kinds of PBL with your students after a successful experience.

2. Core Knowledge and Skills

Try to build the core knowledge and skills of your students significantly. Use direct instruction for any gaps in knowledge. You may include tangible instances, stories, and correspondences.Establish typical questions and check your students’ responses through model answers. Distribute the study material in a small chunk size with frequent, in-lesson decisive assessments to examine the understanding as you proceed.

3. Modify

If you want, you can change an existing activity, assessment, unit, or project. Try not to be a bystander, add the part of your curriculum, not an additional piece.Layer the work into the curriculum as an alternativeto making it something supplementary to the work you are already doing. This will create a better learning experience through PBL.

4. Combining

Incorporate repossession practice, spaced practice, and self-explanation in the days and weeks after the course material is first educated. This will help to help accumulate key knowledge and assistances in long-term memory which lessens cognitive freight when students start the project. All PBL practices need to be low or no-stakes.

5. Plan a PBL Unit

Here’s the checklist for planning a PBL unit —

GOALS –Instructor-defined and learner-defined learning goals.

SKILLS – Essential standards specific to level/subject, cognitive aids, soft skills, and ISTE NETS skills.

EXPERIENCE –Problem or question is clear at the start of the project, distinguished during the project, the authentic audience is defined before the start of the project, and is distinguished throughout the project.

LEARNING – Learning targets are clear and measurable, standards are aligned accordingly and student choice in any of content, procedure, tools, materials, technology, and signifying understanding.

COLLABORATION – Students collaborate with each other and work with teachers.Make projects very collaborative and socially engaging.

6. Final Check

After that, do a final check for knowledge. Check if apprentices are ready for the project with a concluding and short formative assessment.

Try to connect the projects to purposes as this will increase student motivation. Well, in the field of new product development, practicing empathy is rule number one. Search for problems that need to be spoken in your local community, allow your learners to choose the problem they talk, within limitations.

Incorporate these suggestions –

• Formulate your collaborative tech tools and explain to your apprentices how to use the tech tools you’ve decided.
• Set very clear purposes with framework aptitudes like planning, choosing approaches, self-monitoring development, making changes, and defining when you are finished.
• Creating formalities as well as practices aids you let scholars have the self-determination to explore.
• Before you start your project, validate that there’s fairness in prior knowledge.
• Provide immediate feedback as it is extremely beneficial.

Also, there are several online and free resources accessible that could be used to support your apprentices’ knowledge like Ted Talks, university lectures, etc.

The use of these above-mentioned checklists keeps your students on track along with the help of a diploma in virtual online teaching program. As lesson planning is time-consuming, the PBL approach takes to transition your teaching style from the old method to project-based learning. PBL allows your learners to take accountability for their learning through peer and self-evaluation practices.